LG have been showing off their neat looking LG Vu phone at CTIA 2008. What’s interesting about the Vu is its focus on mobile TV. 2007 was meant to be the year of mobile TV, with phone manufacturers such as Nokia rushing to release a mobile TV phone seemingly every week. However, it patently didn’t happen. Either the service was too restrictive in terms of the programmes on offer, too expensive, too difficult to view on a tiny phone screen, or simply not actually wanted – much like 3G video calling.

Fast forward a year, though, and we have the LG Vu proudly displaying mobile TV on none other than AT&T – a US carrier. Yes, the US, land of the dinosaur phones, whose mobile carriers have such dominance over the market they act collectively to crush any innovation in the market.

Will mobile TV have more success in the US than it has in Europe? Well, one way to find out is to look at the phone itself!

LG Vu mobile TV phone

Mobile TV phones in the past used to be clunky affairs, with the design of the phone firmly focused on its features (principally its display) at the expense of the phone actually looking any good. Fortunately, the LG Vu changes all that, by coming in a rather sleek black touchscreen candybar form.

Obviously, the design takes some of its inspiration from the iPhone, but given how good the iPhone’s interface is, that’s no bad thing, particularly when compared to previous LG phones.

The phone’s touchscreen also features haptic feedback, making it simple to navigate through its screens, which include the usual menus you’d expect, plus an easily-navigable Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) for choosing which TV programmes to watch.

Speaking of which, the mobile TV service in question is AT&T’s Media-FLO powered Mobile TV service, which according to Gizmodo is actually pretty slick. Viewing the programmes is easy thanks to the ease of use of the EPG and the haptic touchscreen, while the TV service is rock solid. If mobile TV doesn’t take off, it won’t be because of any technical issues (leaving just the range of TV programmes on offer, price and the actual demand for mobile TV to be the remaining culprits).

The Vu also comes with the usual smartphone features – standard MP3 player, web browser that doesn’t work properly, cramped keyboard and a quirky user interface that shows everyone just how good the iPhone’s user interface still is. Obviously, though, it’s the mobile TV service that is it’s key selling point, and given that it’s executed really well, it’ll be interesting to see how the US takes to mobile TV as a service. Can it succeed over the pond, or is it just another feature that nobody actually wants?

[Source: Gizmodo]