Watch Live TV – Zenga TV.com, an App with Potential but Needs to go Back to the Drawing Board :(
by Paul Wilks
Jun 7, 2011 10:31 PM –
Install
Watch Live TV – ZengaTV.com allows you to stream a number of live, free-to-view Indian television channels. The quality of channels differ, but you will get a better result by using WiFi. With such a signal the programs are watchable and the audio is quite clear. Channels include: AAJ Tak, Headlines Today, Colors TV, MTV (India), Bindass, Bloomberg, CNBC Awaaz, CNN IBN, IBN7, Delhi AAJ Tak, Tez, Homeshop 18 and IBN Lokmat.
Price: Free
Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone (although I would question this, some channel content may not be suitable/appropriate for children)
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Most channels play well over WiFi.
- The audio is clear.
- Nice range of channels including movie channels, news channels, music channels and shopping channels.
Cons
- Until you get into the application, there is no indication that this is Indian television. I only found out by user comments on the Android Market and guesswork.
- The resolution for the menus is incredibly ‘off’, rendering the menu with a completely zoomed in look. You are unable to adjust this.
- The screens are not ‘full screen’ as advertised, although my screen is a big 4.3inch so it may fit smaller screens better. It looks more like a 3.2 inch screen size.
- Channels are presented in either 2G or 3G options, without any explanation as to what this indicates. Through trial and error it would appear this means channel quality (2G being inferior to 3G), but there is no option for ‘wifi’, even though that is what I was using.
- Numerous force-closures and ‘Cannot play video’ notifications.
Features:
Zenga TV presents a range of Indian television channels which plays through your default media player. There is a variety of channels from shopping channels to movie and news channels available. The streams, once loaded are quite clear and the sound in good too. Some channels are in English and some in Hindi. This is perhaps a great app to keep in touch with Indian television, although these are free-to-air channels and no option to get paid-for premium channels.
Unfortunately, there are lots of issues with the app which lets it down. The navigation menus, for me at least, seems to have resolution issues. Using these menus, it seems like you are stuck on zoom and each link is huge. There is no means to adjust this either, so I had no choice but to scroll through the page in this way. The menu itself lists the channels in either 2G or 3G, there doesn’t appear to be a WiFi option. However, I watched these channels over WiFi and the only difference was down to image quality. This would suggest that 2G and 3G refer to the image quality rather than the network you choose to watch television over. The problem is, there is no explanation for this- it really is a case of trial and error to work out what it means. There is no guidance or tutorial features to help and this creates a rather frustrating experience. The screens are advertised within the Android Market as being full screen, but this isn’t the case. Instead it seems to have a 3.2 inch screen within your larger phone screen. Unfortunately taking screen shots of this seems to be impossible as all pictures I took to demonstrate this all come up blank. Additionally I encountered a number of force-closures and ‘Cannot play video’ notifications. Overall I think the app has huge potential, but in its current state it needs further development.
Watch on Mobile
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Watch Live TV – Zenga TV – Menu Options
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Watch Live TV – Zenga TV – Faulty resolution
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Watch Live TV – Zenga TV – 2G or 3G Options
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Watch Live TV – Zenga TV – Contact Method Options
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Watch Live TV – Zenga TV – Choose which player you want to use.
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Watch Live TV – Zenga TV – Contact Button
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Watch Live TV – Zenga TV – Sharing Options
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Watch Live TV – Zenga TV – Settings
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Watch Live TV – Zenga TV – In-view Options
Usefulness:
For people wanting to view free Indian television on their Android handsets, this app is great. It has many problems but most channels play well and the audio is usually fine. Unless you have an interest in Indian television and/or know Hindi, it might not be of much use to you.
Ease of Use:
If it wasn’t for the strange menu resolutions, the app looks quite easy to use once you get into it. Unfortunately there is no guidance in the app, so you have to stumble along to understand how it works.
Frequently Used:
For people who find this useful, you could use it daily. The TV is streamed live, so you have continual content all the time. If you have a good data usage plan and can watch TV on-the-go, you could use this throughout the day.
Interface:
The interface is probably the worst feature here, the giant resolution means the screens look bitty and untidy, and you have to scroll through the screen to find the channel you want to view. Once you watching the channel the options are quite clear. The interface is very basic here, but it is at least functional.
Tags:
Android App,
Android Apps,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
Mobile TV,
TV,
watch live tv,
Watch Live TV - Zenga TV,
Watch Mobile TV,
zenga,
Zenga TV,
ZengaTV
Categorised in: Media & Video
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