14 DAY TRIAL // Mobile phone users in Asia, Japan and South Korea are apparently different from the ones in other parts of the world. This is because, while people in the US for example, will only use their mobile to listen to music, download content, maybe even play games or take snapshots, while customers from Asia need a whole lot more functionality from their mobile phone. Watching TV on a mobile while on the go is quite a common thing and now it is bound to get even more popular.
Samsung has rolled out a new DMB phone, dubbed SCH-B710 that comes equipped with Digital TV tuner technology as well as the Picture in Picture (PIP) system that most people from Asian countries can already enjoy on their HD TVs.
Of course, differences between viewing a channel on a TV and on a mobile phone are huge when it comes to PIP technology, since a mobile phone's screen is not as convenient for viewing more channels at the same time.
The handset features a rotating screen that is meant to display video in a proper ratio and receives video broadcast over its Digital Multimedia Broadcast network. Samsung's SCH-B710 was showcased during the Korea IT Show 2007 and for the time being, there is no additional information on its features, availability and future price. But you can bet that it will only be available in Asia.
The UK also has a broadcast network that uses DMB technology but adds a utility layer only supported by Virgin Mobile's Lobster handset. As a result, most of Virgin Mobile's subscribers have little interest in the service and the mobile operator has sold less than 10,000 such TV-enabled handsets.