Samsung Phone Adds TV Reception
These days it seems like handset manufacturers are trying to add any random capability they can think of to their phones. The latest to get some attention is Samsung’s decision to add a TV tuner in the phone itself to pick up over the air television. For now, the phone will only be available in Korea. The article suggests that functionality like this could be a threat to carriers who want to offer “video on demand” style downloads (for a fee). Of course, with all this talk about watching TV on your mobile phone, I still remember the little portable handheld TVs that were popular for a year or so way back when. After showing it off to friends and maybe using it on one camping trip, most people ended up letting that TV collect dust in the closet. Watching television is not generally something you want to do “on the run”. Plus, with the growing popularity of digital video recorders, it certainly cuts down on the need to use a phone to watch a TV show now that you can easily record to watch later.
