You have to really love TV to spring for a portable TV like the FLO TV Personal Television I've been testing. While you can already "snack" on live and pre-recorded mobile TV offerings on some cell phones, this brand new FLO handheld is a dedicated television you might schlep in addition to a phone.
FLO's pitch is that you can use this stand-alone digital TV to keep you and the troops entertained on the go. You might watch on the bus or train to the office. You might pass FLO TV to the kids in the back seat during a lengthy trip. Heck, you might even watch it in the bathroom or prop it up on your desk at work.
Only, for now, its pickings are too slim, the quality of the TV signal is so-so and its price too high.
The device arrives from FLO TV Inc., a Qualcomm subsidiary whose initial mobile TV fare is available on certain smartphones and soon in automobiles as well. Programming comes from the likes of CBS Mobile, CNBC, CNN Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile, Fox News, MSNBC, MTV, NBC 2Go and Nickelodeon. FLO can carry up to 20 channels, but only half that number are on the Personal Television at the moment.
Some shows are simulcast the same time they're broadcast on regular TV. Others are time shifted, so you can watch the Late Show with David Letterman or The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien the day after the previous evening's broadcasts.
Prime time doesn't mean the same in mobile TV land. FLO says its usage peaks around 1 p.m., with the average daily viewer spending more than 25 minutes watching the service  . The company says its largest ever audience came during Michael Jackson's memorial in July. FLO can add channels during live events such as college basketball tournaments. I enjoyed watching a Pretenders concert.
The TeleAnalytics market research firm projects that broadcast mobile TV will reach $2.8 billion and 50 million users in North America by 2013.
FLO doesn't pick up "local" channels like those small battery-operated conventional TVs you might take camping or to a football game. Such portable TVs still exist, but you'll need a version capable of pulling in digital over-the-air broadcasts, now that analog TV is history.
The FLO experience is more easily shared on the Personal Television than it is on a cell phone, notwithstanding its relatively tiny screen. The device has a foldaway adjustable viewing stand that lets you set it on a desk. It has fairly decent built-in stereo speakers that you can crank up pretty loud, though of course you can also listen by connecting headphones. The battery is impressive, too -- FLO claims you'll be able to watch about five hours between charges, or 300 hours on standby. I never fretted about draining the battery in my tests. (continued...)
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