Hands-on with the LG Vu, Samsung Access, and AT&T Mobile TV
By Chris Ziegler 
posted May 12th 2008 12:15PM
posted May 12th 2008 12:15PM
Considered AT&T Mobile TV's entry level device, the Access still ain't cheap at $199 after rebates have been applied. For that price, you get a fairly awkward-looking candybar with a measly 1.3 megapixel camera, though the landscape QVGA display (more on that in a moment), microSD slot, HSDPA, and stereo Bluetooth support are always nice to have.
For some reason, we'd expected the Access to be dwarfed by the Vu, but that's simply not the case -- it's actually taller, wider, and very nearly as thick. We can't emphasize this enough: it's not an attractive phone. It almost seems as though the handset was designed by two or three departments with completely different design goals; on the one hand, you have the mirrored keypads, then on the other hand you have matte black plastic that gives the Access a decidedly cheap look, and to top it all off the phone's bisected across its front with a black bar that serves no apparent purpose.
That being said, it's plenty functional, and we were smitten by the brightness and quality of the display. It seems as though AT&T said "hey guys, we're showcasing our new mobile TV service here, let's do this right" when it came time to discuss the screen's specifications. Call quality could've been marginally better, though it was plenty loud both through the earpiece and the speakerphone -- we imagine AT&T also had some input here, since you want to be able to hear your TV shows.
A huge new service launch like mobile TV naturally demands a glamor device. For Verizon, that was initially the VX9400, which was later dethroned by the Voyager -- and for AT&T, it's the Vu (notice the LG trend here?). The $299 on-contract price is a bit hard to swallow, but one look at the thing and it's hard to deny the phone's place near the top of AT&T's dumbphone selection, mobile TV or otherwise.
Anyone familiar with LG's touch interface on the Prada or Viewty series will feel right at home with the Vu. We wish the Vu had carried over the Viewty's 5 megapixel autofocus camera with xenon flash, but if we concentrate on the front half of the device, it's tricky to tell the difference.
Our first reaction to the touchscreen was "hey, not bad," but over time, problems cropped up. Bottom line, it's not as sensitive as it could be -- on one occasion we had to mash the "TV" icon on the home screen four frickin' times to get the app to launch, for example -- though we suspect the trouble is with the processor trying to catch up, not the physical sensitivity of the display itself. Another issue is with the placement of the loudspeaker: when the Vu is left to chill on a hard, level surface, the loudspeaker gets muted into near silence. We imagine owners will have to get used to setting their babies face-down for that reason, and you can pretty much forget watching TV in that position unless you're a lip reader.
So now, it's on to the million-dollar question of the hour: is AT&T Mobile TV worth it? Well, that all depends. Though AT&T comes to the table with a strong lineup of channels like ESPN, Comedy Central, and the PIX movie channel, that's counterbalanced by the fact that 11 channels is still positively anemic, no matter how strong those 11 channels may be. By contrast, MobiTV -- which is also available on these devices -- has several times that number of channels available, and it's much easier for them to add additional content because they don't need to multicast all of their channels simultaneously on dedicated bandwidth the way MediaFLO is forced to.
On the flip side, Mobile TV changes channels much quicker and its dedicated interface is much slicker and friendlier to use than MobiTV's, not to mention that the picture quality is far superior. That's not to say you can't see the occasional pixellation, but in general, the resolution's much better -- a Good Thing when you're dealing with devices with such beautiful displays.
So say you've already decided you're going to take the plunge (hey, it's only $15 a month, right?). There's another question on your mind, then: which of these bad boys is the better viewing device? The answer might not be as obvious as you think.
We're sure everyone (ourselves included) went into this mess thinking that the Vu was going to steal that crown, but surprisingly, the two actually finish neck and neck. It turns out that the Vu's greatest strength -- its larger display -- is also its biggest weakness, because the limits of MediaFLO's quality become much more obvious. We also found ourselves distracted by the pillar boxing that occurs on the Vu, since Mobile TV is viewed in landscape mode and the programming is 4:3, not widescreen. Finally, we realized that we had a much easier time controlling the service using the Access' physical keys instead of through the Vu's touchscreen, possibly because the Access' design is more akin to an actual TV and physical remote control. That's not to say the Vu isn't a great phone -- it's definitely been thrust into AT&T's elite -- but if mobile TV is priority number one, we'd recommend everyone give the Access a closer look than they may have otherwise considered doing.
So, is Mobile TV going on our bills next month? For the novelty factor, we'll consider it -- just as soon as we get a few smartphones in the arsenal. Chop chop, AT&T.
Just get a 3G connection and a Slingbox already... Sheesh.
Here's my take: http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/05/10/lg-vu-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
I'd like to see Apple take a shot at the Mobile TV service with the next iPhone, now that would be cool.
Live TV sucks. Gimme Orb/Slingbox over that crap any day.
i went to a corporate store and was about to but a Vu but it turns out not only do you have to subscribe to the $15 for the Mobile TV but also another $15 dollars for the unlimited data usage since it has to connect to the internet to work. Since it was $30 i just decided to buy the pearl and left.
the rep was wrong. at&t has freakin TERRIBLE PISS POOR training! i should know, used to work there. lol. not the fault of the trainers. the fault of the company not having materials, not scheduling time, or hiring idiot workers because they had to and the turn over rate is so high.
anyway, back to ur comment. you DO NOT need internet. Mobile TV does NOT use the internet. it uses over the air broadcast. only MobiTV uses the internet, which is something different altogether, has been out for years, and works on most phones.
within 30 days of purchase, you should be able to:
1) return that phone
2) tell them u want a credit for your freakin inconvenience, misinformation, and having to drive all around town twice
3) exchange it for a vu.
:)
That's actually not true. They use two different services. You pay $15 for the tv but you don't need the internet. It's true though that if you want the unlimited internet you can pay the additional $15 for it.
Whatever rep told you that you needed both just wanted to rip you off.
Although I was delighted with using the iPhone/iTouch they are not available on Verizon so I was quite anxious to try the LG VU from AT&T as I believe this unit will soon be released on Verizon as the LG 9700. I did feel it necessary to pay AT&T the $15 for TV plus another $15 for unlimited data transfer. As a casual and somewhat inexperience user, I found the TV services the easiest service to use on the LG VU. Even easier than trying to make a phone call. Turn it on and simpley press the TV button. In about less than 10 seconds it delivers. I was facinated by the TV service except for MTV and Sponge Bob. I'm not into cartoons but it is nice for those with a need or cartoon interest. For those people, they probably don't appreciate my interest in CNN and the other news broadcasts. Program selection was clear and easy. Scroll up or down and touch your desired program listing. My other interest was email, limited texting, web surfing and making phone calls. After spending about 2 days with the LG VU, I was unable to connect to any email, texting on the virtual keyboard produced numerous errors as well as making numerous errors in phone number dialing due to the virtual keypad. I do not have fat fingers, so perhaps with more time and careful experience, I could reduce my error rate. My largest frustration came with internet access. Entering URL was not an easy process and again took numerous attempts via the virtual keyboard. Once a page appeared, I found it very cumbersom navigate the page, to read and scroll. Still after 2 days, I was unable to connect to my computer for calendar, pictures and music download. Many of you are probably also saying I should use a phone with real keyboard. This could be true, however, when I demo'd the iPhone, within only a few hours of receipt, I was able to download ALL contacts, calendar, music, pictures, yahoo email, surf the REAL internet, read, with a fair amount of ease, actual web pages, have near instant access to multiple stocks, and weather pages, plus, I was able to make a phone call. The LG VU is probably a great device for the experienced user that also finds the TV service interesting. I have read it to be on par with iPhone. For my demands for ease of use, it is not even in the same ball field except for the TV service. For my use I have returned the LG VU after 3 days use and will be waiting for the NEW iPhone. Due to ease of use, I'll gladly pay the extra $100 for iPhone. It does not have TV but perhaps with 3G on the new version, TV services will become available. That would be the absolute home run. I am not normally an Apple advocate, however, they have redefined usage of the cell phone market some how raising the bar far beyond where the legacy manufactures have yet to even come close, even after a year of trying to play catch-up. With a new iPhone release in que, I can only assume the bar will be raised once again.
I am a tad bit pissy that ATT has exclusivity to Pix and CNN. I have the Voyager with Verizon and would love the 2 additional channels. They teased me with Pix on the preview channel of my Voyager. :-( I still favor my Network, but dang, can we get some of the cooler features guys?! It's the small things that can sometimes be the greatest appeasers, like offering every aspect of an available feature. Ok, so we added TR3's (now I have 2 MTV's) and ESPN radio (boooo). I WANT A MOVIE CHANNEL and CNN (which offers greater national coverage than NBC NEWS ON THE GO).