South Korean carrier SK Telecom is billing its new Galaxy S Hoppin from Samsung as a “smartphone that can also serve as a set-top box,” but in reality, it’s basically an Android phone just like any other in Sammy’s stable with a 4-inch Super AMOLED display — the big difference is that it comes bundled with a dock that cables up to your home television and lets you watch streaming video off of the company’s new Hoppin entertainment service either on the road or in the comfort of your La-Z-Boy. Movies will run anywhere from 1,000 to 3,500 won — 89 cents to $3.12 — which isn’t bad, all things considered. The remainder of the phone’s specs are standard fare at this point: 1GHz Hummingbird processor, Android 2.2, a 5 megapixel cam, WiFi, and Bluetooth 3.0 round out the package. Look for it to launch this week.
As you might have heard a little while back, Windows Phone 7 is the latest smartphone OS to have joined the SlingPlayer gang, meaning WP7 fanatics like Ballmer can be couch potatoes wherever they are. Well, assuming they have data connectivity — be it 3G or WiFi — and some battery juice on their phones. For better or for worse, the latest SlingPlayer Mobile app is very much like its other flavors — same easy preparation, a familiar interface, and a similarly tear-inducing $30 price tag. There is, however, one nice addition: a new “Zoom” button on the menu page, which actually chops away a good portion of the black border around the picture. Another noteworthy difference is the more stylish interface in comparison to the Android and iOS versions, but of course, some might think otherwise.
Also on the menu page is a “Quality” button for toggling between standard video quality and high video quality. Annoyingly, said switch is always set to standard at every launch. We can’t help but to think that this is for covering up the app’s shortfall — we noticed while high quality streaming does indeed have good picture quality, the frequency of buffering increased over time. Similarly, response time to our button and gesture inputs also got longer and longer — at one point it took about 20 seconds for us to change a channel on our Freeview box, and that’s with our HTC 7 Mozart sitting on the same network as our Slingbox Pro HD! Needless to say, it took even longer over 3G. We then double-checked using our iPhone and Nexus One but failed to reproduce the same bugs. Thankfully, a simple restart of the app eased our frustration, but we expect Sling Media to actually deliver a fix soon. Anyhow, there’s a video walkthrough after the break while you wait for the update.
We’d been disappointed to find that iOS 4.2 only brought AirPlay video support to built-in Apple apps on the iPhone and iPad, but it looks like that’s changing soon — Apple just posted up the first iOS 4.3 beta, which allows devs to send video from apps or websites to an Apple TV. There’s also a new beta of the Apple TV software for testing it out — it doesn’t have any version notes, so we don’t know if it offers any additional features as well.
There are quite a few new features included in 4.3: personal hotspot is indeed included on the iPhone, although it needs to be enabled on the carrier side to work, and the iPad’s side switch can now be set back to being an orientation lock, which should make a lot of people very happy. The iPad also gains some multitouch multitasking gestures, which are pretty interesting, actually: you can use four or five fingers to pinch to the home screen, swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar, and swipe left or right between apps. We’re also seeing a new FaceTime icon on the iPod touch, which is nice, and 9to5 Mac noticed that the iPad now supports fullscreen iAd banners, which is less nice. Check after the break for a quick video of the iPad gestures.
Update: The Photos app has also gained new AirPlay functionality for photos and videos, and there’s a slightly tweaked camera shutter sound, as well as bigger app icons in the App Store’s Update menu.
Apple’s AirPlay might be getting all the attention lately but it’s hardly the first solution for wirelessly streaming media to the television. Far from it. In 2003, the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) formed with its first set of interoperable products hitting the market in 2004. Since then, the alliance has certified thousands of products supported by more than 245 member companies, 29 of whom are listed as “promoter members” including such heavyweights as Sony, Nokia, Samsung, Toshiba, Verizon, AT&T Lab, LG, Qualcomm, Cisco, Microsoft, Panasonic, Intel, HP, and Motorola. Pretty much everyone but Apple. Recently, HTC joined the DLNA ranks with the introduction of two smartphones — the Desire Z and Desire HD — and a tiny media streamer known as the HTC Media Link, HTC’s first attempt to gain a foothold in the living room. Over the last week we’ve been testing the Desire Z (a Eurofied T-Mobile G2) with the Media Link, lazily streaming video, music, and images around the house using a myriad of sources and controllers from Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, and Western Digital. How did it perform? Click through to find out.
Wonder why Motorola’s set-top-box business got bundled in with the phones? If we had to guess, it’s probably because Motorola Mobility is making a device that will wirelessly join both. Speaking at the Reuters Global Media Summit, company president Daniel Moloney said that Motorola’s working on a standalone device that will wirelessly sling video to tablets and phones in the home, and will later be integrated directly into new set-top-boxes the company rolls out. “It’s one consumer proposition that will come sooner rather than later,” he told the crowd, suggesting that the device would be available through “service providers” rather than sold off the shelf, and that said providers might charge an additional service fee for its use. Here’s hoping not. Perhaps Qualcomm finally found a buyer for that FLO TV spectrum, though?
And now, there’s a name. The iDevice streaming adapter that we spotted a couple of months ago finally has a proper affiliation, with the PCD Bigstream being quasi-revealed today as the run-up to CES continues. Fundamentally, it’s pretty simple — just plug a nub into the 30-pin Dock Connector of your iPod, iPhone or iPad, and then connect the tent-like transceiver to your television. Once connected, users will purportedly be able to beam “Netflix, Direct TV NFL Sunday Ticket To-Go, and iTunes content, among other apps,” directly to their set sans cabling. It’s difficult to tell if PCD has actually landed licensing agreements with these media portals (or if it’s just really, really good at circumventing DRM), but all should be revealed at the 2011 edition of CES next month. The system relies on a 5.8GHz wireless RF link to distribute signals, and as you can tell, it’s entirely more flexible than AirPlay — a protocol that can only stream video from Apple’s own iPod and YouTube applications. Curiously enough, the first version will only support 480p transmissions, though a 1080p model should hit shelves later in 2011. Here’s hoping we’ll get a good look at how exactly it performs in Vegas.
Because not every smartphone has a full 1080p resolution (yet), KDDI‘s R&D Labs have come up with a new method for massaging the most out of HD movie streams while on the move. You’ll still be able to pummel your poor mobile device and connection with the full-res stream, should you wish it, but KDDI’s innovation is in developing a system whereby you can zoom in on particular parts of the feed, have the stream cropped to your requirements on far-off servers somewhere, and then receive only the stuff you want to see onto your device. And because of your phone’s aforementioned pixel deficiency, the employment of this technique will most often result in negligible picture fidelity loss, if any. The biggest benefit, however, might be to carriers like KDDI who end up having to carry less data back and forth, even if it does come at a slight server-side cost. Video after the break.
3.5mm auxiliary inputs and stereo Bluetooth used to be good enough — but that was before Apple announced AirPlay a few months ago. Now, everything else sounds like someone is stabbing you in the ears; the world looks black and white, and food no longer has any taste. AirPlay, save us! Taiwanese firm PhotoFast is playing the superhero role here today with the AP1000, a little black module with WiFi that accepts incoming AirPlay streams and routes them through to your car’s stereo. From the demo video, it’s obvious that you’re probably going to want to get a professional car audio installer involved to make this happen — and before you ask, no, it won’t do video — but if you’ve got an Apple logo sticker on your rear window, we bet this is exactly how you want to roll. Follow the break to see the AP1000 get surgically implanted in a Mercedes.
Got yourself a big new Windows Phone 7 device and need something to fill its screen with? Sling Media has your back with its SlingPlayer Mobile app, which has hit the Marketplace just in time to earn its Launch App Partner achievement. Pricing for the software is set at $30 in the US, C$32 in Canada, £23 in the UK, and €21.10 in Europe plus local tax, though you’ll obviously need to have a Slingbox to communicate with as well. It ain’t cheap, but good things rarely are.
Update: We’ve also just come across a signup page for news updates on an iPad version of SlingPlayer Mobile. It’ll be priced identically to the company’s smartphone offerings, at $30, and looks to be coming soon. Thanks, Blake!
Today deputy program manager for Army unmanned aerial systems for the U.S. Army Tim Owings said that the Army is committed, or rather, remains committed, to the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), which is a main mean for disseminating video images to the battlefield. This project is definitely underway, but wont see field operation until 2014. However, rapid advances in encryption software and other technology developments in recent years could mean smaller-scale self-contained 4G networks could be the answer for troops seeing streaming video images on their phone in about two years from now. Think of the implications!
Planes flying overhead, troops approaching from the ground, both of them able to see from the perspective of each-others vantage point. It’d be just like a video game. Imagine that. Owings told reporters of this 2-year possibility at the Annual Association of the U.S. Army conference, 2010. Companies working to secure 4G network systems that would be able to allow video streaming to smart phone in this area are as follows: Textron Inc, Raytheon Co, L-3 Communications Holdings Inc and Sierra Nevada Corp.
Owings went on to say that encryption advances would allow transmission of data within a limited area would be “pretty darn secure.” He also noted that it’d be pretty darn inexpensive to do, as this whole project is being developed on already comercially-available phones.
He said that smaller networks like this could compliment larger systems across the entire battlefield, and that it could potentially be a part of the future of the Army’s unmanned aerial systems planned for September 2011.
Owings said this project, the possibility of sending video images to cell phones securely, has been aided by advances that allow unmanned aerial plan “Textron” to stay in the air longer. Wonderful, wild, terrifying.
Wonder why Motorola’s set-top-box business 
