I bet you probably do, right? Anyone who has seen the improvements that Blu-Ray offers over DVD, might also be wondering whether, in an analogous sense, the transition from current content offered by 3G networks, to something altogether better quality, could occur anytime soon?
Not through the 3G networks, I would argue – right now, devices and their specifications are singularly outpacing network developments. Whilst we have HSPA commonly being rolled out, it’s not giving us enough confirmed bandwidth to be able to stuff ‘higher definition’ content for mobile devices through it.
(Note: at this point, a distinction between HD for TVs, and HD for Mobiles is important – I refer to HD for Mobiles as being ‘higher definition’ than is currently available typically through 3G networks – basically good enough quality so that you could watch the content on a TV through your Mobile…)
So if 3G networks are out, where are we talking then? Well if it’s direct-to-device, WiFi is a good alternative – it’s got nice fat bandwidth, but for services that use streaming (i.e. the WiFi radio has to stay on all the time), it’s eats batteries quicker than 4 big dudes in pie-eating competition! Another option is to sideload via memory card and/or USB – which is a bit of a pain as regards the loading process, but guarantees good results if the encoding has been done well.
Either way round, these last two options probably represent the best current choices for getting better quality content (be it audio or video) on to a device. For video, the specs of that content could be:
- Resolution: VGA (640 x 480)
- Bitrate: 1.5Mbps+
- Frames Per Second: Full rate (25 fps)
- Video Codec: H.264 or better
- Audio Codec: AAC or better
(Video) content encoded like this looks excellent on a Mobile device, and actually not too shabby on a TV either. So my question again, who would like more of these type of ‘HD’ offerings on their device? A few paid-for options exist, but perhaps we are (as ever) wait for a step-change in device capabilities, and content offerings, before it goes mass-market – maybe in a few years’ time…?
Ben