Rugged Review: FLO TV

Some people believe we need TV wherever we go. Whether it’s built into our phones, or through their own branded equipment, FLO TV thinks they can placate our desires to watch the latest episode of Lost on a train. Or on a plane. Would you…could you on a plane? Probably not – there’s no signal, but wherever there’s a bored commuter on his way into New York or a pack of noisy adolescents in the backseat of a Denali, FLO TV wants to be there.

FLO TV’S LOOKS

The first noticeable thing about the FLO TV Personal Television is that it’s hefty (a little over 5 ounces). It feels solid in your hands and if it accidentally met the floor, it doesn’t feel like the $200 device would shatter into a million pieces. Android-happy electronics company HTC produces the FLO TV unit, so there’s definitely a high production quality involved.

FLO TV isn’t exactly sleek, but it’s not quite utilitarian, either. It’s a solid gray box with most of the front devoted to the screen. The back of the unit is a gunmetal grey, but incorporates a black hinged cover with the FLO TV logo emblazoned across the center. The cover acts as a stand for holding the television upright on a desk or table, then closes flat across the back when not in use. It’s a nice addition, but having the cover flip up to cover the touchscreen would have been better.

iPhone and FLO TV - Size Comparison

Since FLO TV’s front is comprised of a 3.5″ QVGA touchscreen and a small Guide button off to the side, HTC was able to minimize the number of buttons on the rest of the device. On top is the power/sleep button and battery indicator button. On the right side are a 3.5mm headphone jack, a mute button, volume rocker and micro-USB 2.0 port. Some may not like the amount of buttons present on FLO TV, but if you’re in the middle of a good show, do you really want your finger or a HUD blocking the action?

The buttons feel solid under your fingers, not plasticky or cheap. One issue I found while using FLO TV was that the volume rocker needed a little extra attention, otherwise it wouldn’t recognize my presses. Other than that, I have no complaints about the construction of the television.

Battery life was about on par with what the company claims – roughly 5 hours of continuous playback, but it doesn’t seem like FLO TV will make it to the 300 hours (12.5 days) of standby time stated on the website. Currently, the FLO TV Personal Television has slept for six days on a full charge and only possesses 20% of its remaining battery life.

Finally, and most importantly, there’s the screen. FLO TV’s capacitive touchscreen has a resolution of 320×240 pixels and is quite responsive. During my tests, I rarely had an unrecognized button press or gesture. The resolution could be better, however, as most smartphones have double the resolution and do much more than simply watch television. The biggest, most frustratingly glaring flaw found with FLO TV’s screen is its tendency to smudge. It practically slurps the oils from your fingertips through a crazy straw. Luckily, there is a microfiber cloth included in the box to wipe it down after long viewing sessions.

FLO TV

WATCHING FLO TV

FLO TV is not normal television. There aren’t over 100 channels to choose from, like with cable or satellite TV. FLO TV offers mobile television channels – i.e. stations specifically developed for mobile devices whose content is time-shifted from their larger counterparts and/or supplemented by sister channels. For example, NBC proper airs Heroes at 9pm EST on Monday nights. FLO TV’s NBC channel, NBC 2GO, may not air Heroes at 9pm EST. It may air Shear Genius from Bravo, its affiliate network. This could pose a problem for people who are out and don’t want to miss the latest episodes of their favorite shows. They’ll either have to set up reminders on FLO TV, or record the episodes on their home DVRs.

FLO TV offers 13 standard channels to watch at any given time. Certain specialty channels may appear depending on the time of day and/or which carrier is providing the FLO TV service. E.g.: Adult Swim is currently offered from 10pm – 6am. While the lack of channels might seem like a deal breaker for those considering purchasing FLO TV, remember that this is not meant to replace your current television setup – this is meant to be an extension of it.

Changing channels is easily achieved one of two ways, swiping up and down on the screen, or by using the FLO TV guide. The guide allows you to scroll up or down to see what’s currently playing and then left or right to view upcoming shows. Navigation is fairly responsive, but obtaining episode data can take time depending on your signal strength.

Service is provided over a similar, but separate frequency from cellular phone signals. The signal travels from the tower to the device in one direction, hence the “FLO” in FLO TV – “Forward Link Only”. You can check coverage in your area on FLO TV’s website here. The signal was very good at my home and in different areas of New Jersey.

Picture quality varied during usage. At its peak, it was like watching a not-quite-HD Web video. At its worst, it was like watching YouTube on an iPhone over EDGE in San Francisco. Furthermore, the few hiccups I encountered when FLO TV half-lost its connection really made the low-res screen stand out. Overall, my experience with the FLO TV service was just fine, but those out west where cell phone reception goes to die may have problems.

FLO TV’S PROBLEMS

My issues with FLO TV are few, but considering the variety of devices that exist today, I don’t feel they’re at all unwarranted.

First, there is no hard drive or DVR functionality. You can set up reminders to alert you when a particular show is about to air, but you cannot record it. I’d love to see a version of the FLO TV Personal Television that includes (at least) a 10-gig hard drive to record several shows for the morning train ride or long plane rides. The low picture quality should help avoid filling up the hard drive too quickly.

Secondly, there is no WiFi connectivity – at all. If you set up FLO TV in your kitchen so you can watch your stories while making dinner, you should also be able to hook it up to your wireless network. What if you have a MiFi and you’re waiting to board a flight? Chances are, your standard FLO TV connection isn’t going to cut it at the gate.

Some playback issues occurred when using the device away from the power cord. After about a minute, the screen would go black, but the audio still played. According to the documentation, this is “Auto timeout” and is only supposed to occur if no video is playing for 60 seconds. My video was playing. It was very frustrating to have to tap the screen to wake it up every minutes when it should have stayed awake.