The Samsung Moment was used yesterday to demonstrate a new mobile TV chip that allows the phone to pick up local broadcast stations, “including prime-time network programs, local news and sports and emergency alerts.”
An excerpt from the press release:
Moment was selected because of its 3.2-inch AMOLED display screen, which delivers crisp colors, bright pictures outdoors, and wide viewing angles. Samsung was the co-developer of the ATSC standard that is making mobile digital TV broadcasting possible on mobile phones, laptops, USB drives and other mobile devices. Samsung’s single-chip implementation of the standard—the world’s first—enables reception at lower power, size and cost than previous multi-chip solutions which separate the tuning and decoding functions between two or more chips.
“The selection of Samsung Moment as the first trial handset for mobile digital TV in the U.S. is an enormous honor for Samsung Mobile,” said Omar Khan, chief strategy officer for Samsung Mobile. “It is incredibly rewarding to see one of Samsung Mobile’s flagship devices be integrated with the Samsung ATSC Mobile DTV chip that’s giving the power and potential of free, live mobile digital TV to our U.S. customers.”
”Samsung Moment is already a customer favorite with its integrated and innovative Android™ platform so we are very excited to be able to offer it with the Samsung’s Mobile Digital TV chip to customers in the Washington and Baltimore areas,” said Fared Adib, Sprint vice president of product development. “It is truly an amazing experience to watch local and network television on Moment with the benefit of its dynamic screen. This trial is a great opportunity for Sprint customers.”
Some our of androidforums users have been talking and tweeting and Samsung has clarified: No release date has been set and no, current Moment devices do not have the chip.
[ Samsung | Samsung on Twitter | androidforums ]