IBC, the N96 and DVB-h

One of the advantages of going to IBC is that you get to play with toys like the N96. I did this at the Nokia Ovi stand. They were demonstrating the possibilities of OVI as well as DVB-H. DVB-H is one method of getting live television broadcasts to the phone using a different part of spectrum than usual GSM. The number of channels is limited to BBC HD, CNN and a few more channels. The video plays well and the accelerometers know whether the phone is held vertical or horizontal. In Switzerland we saw a push for DVB-H phones during the Euro 2008, hoping that this event would encourage people to use the technology. We’ll see how long it takes for other countries to use DVB-H for their celluar phones.