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There are several online aggregators out there, but SPB’s is the latest, and the first one with live TV that I’m aware of. SPB Online features live TV, radio, news, weather, shopping, games, ringtone downloads, and themes. Each selection is housed in a colorful grid of large, user-friendly buttons that are so a la mode these days.

The TV feature offers an array of 20 preset channels, the majority of which are in English, but some are in Russian, German, and French. There are TV guides and the ability to change screen orientations. While the ability to select new channels not already listed is unfortunate, there is an interesting choice available. The system works well, and the change between channels is smooth and rapid using onscreen or hardware buttons. I liked the picture in picture capability too.

Streamed radio selections are worldwide but more versatile that TV selections because you can search for and add your own choices from a comprehensive built-in catalog. Categories include Top 10, Music, News/Talk, Region, Language. You can even go out on the Internet and choose your stations by adding the URL. Navigation is finger-friendly.

Online news comes for five preset news aggregators: Gawker, Gizmodo, NewsBusters.org, Spb Club, and TechCrunch. But you can easily set your own news feeders by adding channels of your choice. Other options include the use of only free desktop or Wi-Fi connections to save money, auto update upon cradling, placing data on storage card, article limit and deletion standards. It supports both RSS and Atom feeds. Of course you can read the news offline, once downloaded.

Online weather offers a large, full-screen display of the city of your choice with a five day forecast. You can program a list of up to 10 cities, specify C/F, and shedule the updates. These data are available for viewing offline once downloaded.

The Shop button opens a virtual mini-mall that includes programs for WM devices, games, ringtone downlaods. The shopping mall impresses me as a work in progress that invites more content. My recommendation would be to include something like OurGV Mall, which has over 1400 stores and makes contributions to non-profits. Then there would be some substance and meaningful shopping content.

Online games is a fun departure, for you can play casual but addicting games to amuse yourself or you can play online against others. There are many popular free games or you can purchase more from an available catalog.

Ringtones is a duplication of the ringtones available from the Shop button, so it seems redundant. There is a wide selection of tones available for dowload. All cost $.99. I never understood why people would pay for ringtones when they can easily make their own for free. Oh well.

Conclusions

The presentation of SPB Online is slick with its colorful, finger-friendly interface that is easy to use and gives access to some worthwhile free content. On the other hand, there seems to be an excessive focus on a lot of stuff that costs money, in which case I wonder about the wisdom of charging $30 for the program. I think too that while the TV functionality is exemplary, the content is extremely limited and users should be able to add selections from the Internet. There may be some restrictions that I’m not aware of, but if it’s possible on the radio, why not TV?

Perhaps the SPB Online is in its infancy, but, as it matures, I would certainly expect to see the possibility of adding more content buttons like other similar programs have.

Tim Hillebrand (105 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook