You have to really love TV to spring for a portable TV like the FLO TV Personal Television I’ve been testing. While you can already “snack” on live and pre-recorded mobile TV offerings on some cell phones, this brand new FLO handheld is a dedicated television you might schlep in addition to a phone.
FLO’s pitch is that you can use this stand-alone digital TV to keep you and the troops entertained on the go. You might watch on the bus or train to the office. You might pass FLO TV to the kids in the back seat during a lengthy trip. Heck, you might even watch it in the bathroom or prop it up on your desk at work.
Only, for now, its pickings are too slim, the quality of the TV signal is so-so and its price too high.
The device arrives from FLO TV Inc., a Qualcomm subsidiary whose initial mobile TV fare is available on certain smartphones and soon in automobiles as well. Programming comes from the likes of CBS Mobile, CNBC, CNN Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile, Fox News, MSNBC, MTV, NBC 2Go and Nickelodeon. FLO can carry up to 20 channels, but only half that number are on the Personal Television at the moment.
Some shows are simulcast the same time they’re broadcast on regular TV. Others are time shifted, so you can watch the Late Show with David Letterman or The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien the day after the previous evening’s broadcasts.
Prime time doesn’t mean the same in mobile TV land. FLO says its usage peaks around 1 p.m., with the average daily viewer spending more than 25 minutes watching the service. The company says its largest ever audience came during Michael Jackson’s memorial in July. FLO can add channels during live events such as college…