Earlier this summer, Virgin Mobile announced plans to pilot live mobile digital television in the London area.
I got to take a look for myself last night as one of my friends has been asked to participate in a three month trial. He's been given a Windows-based QTek 8020 smartphone with the capability to receive live TV from Sky News and Sky Sports News as well as 50+ radio channels.
The system works by broadcasting over the DAB digital radio network and the quality appeared fairly good given the resolution of the phone's screen and its small display, although I did notice the image freeze occasionally.
This service is not designed for hours of continuous use given the limitations of a mobile's screen size, but it enables people to watch snippets of programmes, perhaps when running late home to watch the start of a live football match, or to see the latest weather report. According to Virgin's press release, they also plan to eventually let customers record programmes for future viewing.
There's no doubting this service warrants entry into the Gadget of the Month (GotM) competition - see the beginning of my prior post for an overview of GotM - not least as my friend has been one of only around 1,000 people trialling the service before it launches.
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