



Samsung Puts Satellite TV in Cell Phones 142
prostoalex writes "Japanese subscribers will be able to get 70 television channels with a new cell phone, currently developed and tested by Samsung. Using an ARM microprocessor, Samsung makes it possible to receive satellite TV transmissions in 2.6 GHz range. No dish is required, however, for clarity of the signal the company is currently installing a network of repeaters. This could substantially increase the number of satellite TV subscribers, which in the United States is still a distant second to cable television."
Satellite TV.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Sure you can get service when your in the middle of nowhere...but inside a building, you can't get service because of a roof over you.
-Grump
Re:# of channels (Score:4, Insightful)
thats no technical problem, I've got around 1000 channels using digital satellite tv, but about 70 percent are encrypted, 20 percent are in a foreign language and the rest is crap.
Endless accessories........ (Score:3, Insightful)
Network of repeaters (Score:5, Insightful)
The article was not clear if it was possible to build such a network without these ground repeaters.
Most ground based transmission is already based on satelite feed so what is new?
I thought the point of going out was not watching (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:UK TV License Nazis (Score:2, Insightful)
Doesn't the UK have better TV than the US though? And not just TV - later today Radio3 will be broadcasting a recording of a world premiere performance of an Elliot Carter piece commissioned by the BBC. Any American TV stations commissioned any contemporary classical music since CBS commissioned Stravinsky to write The Flood?
PRON (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:As if pedestrians didn't have enough problems.. (Score:2, Insightful)
In other words, returning to a more normal, although more technolgical, state of human existence.
Yes, I'm even choosing to take your joke seriously. My 75 year old aunt sold her grand victiorian mansion a few years ago and bought an RV. She now says she'll never live in a house again and wonders why anyone does.
Mobility is humanity. It's only weird to you because you grew up in the narrow little slice of history where people were tied to piles of cinderblock by, rather short, electrical umbilical cords.
KFG
Re:As if pedestrians didn't have enough problems.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Remember we're talking Japan, not America. Very low car to pedestrian ratio, and very low incidence of huge-ass SUVs.
Your point stands, but I doubt this will be as bad as you seem to be inclined to believe. In the US I suspect it would be a nightmare...of steel and blood!
Re:I thought the point of going out was not watchi (Score:5, Insightful)
Trains
You have to remember that we're talking about Japan, where your entire commute consists of just sitting there, reading a book, or, if you're out of reading materials, slowly going mad.
Re:what not in a cell phone?! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Satellite design? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Samsung Puts Satellite TV in Cell Phones (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, no, MY apology is needed. It's just that 95% of all cell phone conversations most people overhear in public tend to be the type that illustrates that the speaker has nothing better to do than speak at it or use it as a security blanket.
My cell phone is now inactive, but when I used it I would move away from prying ears, not shout "I have a cell phone" to everyone within earshot, thus confirming my insecurities. Or worse, "Look at me! I'm important, I have a cellphone". Yeah, I had one of those original 10 pound Mitsubishi's and service back when cell phones were new and cool.
Re:As if pedestrians didn't have enough problems.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Battery Life? (Score:3, Insightful)
As a side note: I'm assuimg this phone has the typical 2" (max) screen. That's an awfully small screen to watch TV on. I wonder if there's really a demand for this (after all, one of the reasons Steve Jobs says there's no video iPods is because nobody wants to watch TV on a screen that small-a statement I would tend to concur with).