Sprint to Debut Video-Streaming Cell Phone

[jones]

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Channel surfing is moving off the couch as Sprint Corp. debuts next week a faster video-streaming cell phone from Samsung.




With picture quality of 15 frames per second, the phone brings Sprint's MobiTV services, introduced last November, closer to traditional TV quality of 20 frames per second. The phone will retail for $249.99 after a rebate.


TV service, unique to Sprint in the United States, costs $9.99 per month for a "basic cable" option that includes content from NBC News, Fox Sports, The Weather Channel, an Olympics news site and a comedy network.


Additional "premium" channels, sell for $3.95 to $4.95 per month. Sprint also charges a $15 monthly fee Sprint for wireless Internet access.


Once users pick a channel, they can select from a list of clips ranging from Chicago's weather to Red Sox scores. Many channels are produced exclusively for mobile phones, including larger type for the small screens.


The market for video products on wireless phones is new and it's difficult to tell how much users will be willing to pay for such services, said Linda Barrabee, a telecommunications analyst for The Yankee Group. The high frame speeds and cable-television sales model should help Sprint attract customers, she said.

[bobolito]

Cingular was running a trial of MobiTV as well. It worked nicely over GPRS but it ate those kb VERY quick!

[Gabriel]

i know, that's pretty gay you have to use your kb for that!!

so yeah, does this mean that sprint is going to true 3g?? because most of their phones, for about a year now, have a little sticker on them that says "3g capable", or something like that, but i never saw anything that came close to 3g, which lead me to believe that that was only to make people believe they were getting the newest and best service in the world. kind of like when ATT brought out its GSM network and was telling every customer it was the newest technology...