Vodafone Mobile TV

Vodafone has teamed up with Sky to bring live TV direct to your 3G mobile.

Although the line up includes familiar-sounding channels, such as Sky One, MTV and Cartoon Network, program schedules differ to those on standard Sky Digital.

There are exceptions, such as a live stream of Sky News, but most channels consist of content designed specifically for this mobile service.

However, inevitable arguments over the additional rights required to beam hit shows, such as 24, over a mobile network means you will be missing certain programs.

We were sceptical when we saw Sky Movies being advertised as one of the channels and, sure enough, it doesn't actually feature any full-length movies. Instead, you get previews, movie news and top 10 listings. Vodafone and Sky would have done well to label it Sky Movies News, not Sky Movies.

We tested the service on a Sony Ericsson V600i and found the quality to be surprisingly good. Of course, the limited bandwidth of the 3G network means broadcasts are heavily compressed. This affects both sound and video, but in most cases the two were well synchronised and certainly watchable.

The quality of the live Sky News feed however, was noticeably worse than on Sky One or MTV.

Sky Sports News demonstrated how difficult it is to watch football and cricket on such a small screen with high video compression - it feels more like a spot the ball competition.

If you are thinking of using this service on the go, such as on a train, video quality will suffer. Slip out of 3G coverage and you will instantly lose the feed.

Using this service also takes its toll on battery life – we managed just under two hours of viewing before our Sony Ericsson V600i died.

Despite its drawbacks, Vodafone and Sky have done a good job of implementing the first permanent mobile TV service. By initially providing it totally free of charge, a decent honeymoon period has been guaranteed.

Whether people are prepared to pay £5 for each channel pack (of which there are three) after January 31 2006 remains to be seen.

Full channel listings can be found at Vodafone's site and the service is available to all 3G Vodafone customers, both contract and pay as you go.