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Sprint Movies: Neat Idea. Does it Work?

So, I was at the airport (you know, returning from the BREW developer conference) and it was looking like I might be at the airport for 3 hours.  (I wasn't, a couple of us got on the next earlier flight hopefully easing the burden on the next flight, too.)

In any case, I pulled out my Samsung UpStage and started checking out music.  I then realized that 3 hours would be enough time to check out a movie and see how well that actually works.  I was expecting fine playback performance on a smaller screen than the iPod and without the ability to finish on the plane. I didn't quite get any of that.

However, I got a frustrating application experience.  Browsing through the title is an exercise in patience.  The alphabet is divided into thirds.  And once at the bottom, the only way to get back up, apparently, is to either scroll all the way back up or exit.

Once I found something, I "rented" it for the "free" price of $5.99.  Yikes!  At least it lasts for 7 days, but I'm curious what would happen if I didn't watch it all the way through (I haven't, but I have no bill to check). It then goes in to the "My Movies" section where you can go back to it.

When playing, you can choose chapters, much like in a scene selection of a DVD.  Unfortunately, it's the play part that didn't work.  I mean that literally.  I couldn't get the movie to play.  The application kept freezing. The player itself doesn't allow switching to a landscape, full screen mode.  That's unfortunate.

I had also hoped that the player problems were because of being in the airport at San Diego during a developer's conference for cell phones. Trying to play it right now produces similar results, though.

Oh well.  It was a nice idea.  Had the rentals been more like 99 cents and had the player actually worked, it might have been something to consider Sprint for.  But at prices above the rental rates of HD videos on the XBox 360 that are downloads, it's just not worth it.  If they were downloads that you could watch on a plane, that might provide barely enough value.  They aren't, though. 

Unfortunately, my recommendation is to stay away unless you want to spend time getting a refund, can get them for free like I can, or have enough money to not worry about half a dozen wasted bucks here and there.

Posted by Shane on June 25, 2007 8:29 PM |

TrackBacks

» The LG Musiq (aka LX570) from Sprint from Shane Conder's Whateveritis of Nothing
So, Sprint is at it again with their Ambassador program, sending out some more handsets.  This one, strangely, basically replaces the Samsung UpStage.  Although the service was supposed to go a bit longer on that, it's being terminated. I'm... [Read More]

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