No TV tuner, no problem with Permian's MOBview dongle

The problem with mobile television services -- besides the fact that no one seems to use them, that is -- is that unless you happen to be in Japan or South Korea, very, very few handsets have the hardware necessary to take advantage. Chinese company Permian seems to have it all figured out, though, crafting a nifty dongle that does the heavy lifting of pulling in and tuning a TV signal, streaming the entertainment to a variety of WinMo-based phones over Bluetooth. We don't know what standards the so-called "MOBview" supports, when it'll be available, or how much it'll run, but if AT&T could somehow sell it for $39.99 in stores and recommend it for use with the Fuze, they might just monetize that MediaFLO stuff yet. Follow the break for the video demo of MOBview in action!

[Via pocketnow.com]

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 2nd 2008 11:57AM]

Is HTC actually using the Dopod name-plate on a version of the Touch Diamond somewhere? Or is that photo just making me hallucinate?

As for the TV functionality - I just don't see this being very practical. I'm not likely to carry that tuner/blue-tooth thing with me everywhere I go unless I'm taking a bag with me - but hotels have TVs too (and I generally have a couple of shows copied over to my Diamond's internal storage, to watch with CorePlayer anyway).

I mean - when, exactly, would this thing come in handy? Or maybe I just don't watch enough TV to "get it."

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 2nd 2008 12:00PM]

Oh - and by the way, guys? Their website (permian.cn) has an English-language version of that page, at:
http://permian.com.cn/en/Solution_01.asp

(for those that find Google's automatic Chinese butchering/translation less than optimal)

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 2nd 2008 12:29PM]

The true source of this article: http://www.gsmdome.com/phone-accessories/digital-tv-even-if-your-phone-doesn%e2%80%99t-support-it_2166

Please give credit! Thanks!