THERE are millions of television sets in homes across the Philippines, but not a lot of those homes have antennas (now in boxes) or cable. Problems also arise when there is only one TV per home and the household members want to watch different things.
With so much online content out there, networks have to be innovative in coming up not just with content but also with ways in which the public can watch their shows.
GMA Now is a mobile digital TV broadcast receiver that, along with the GMA Now mobile application, enables select Android smartphones to receive clear and live digital TV broadcast on the go, for free.
Of course, it is intended for commuters to use. I remember back in the day when we would leave our offices earlier to watch the season finale of our favorite shows. Mine was the Korean drama Jewel in the Palace on GMA. On that day, traffic was extra heavy around 5 to 6 pm because everyone was itching to go home.
But in this pandemic reality we are living in, GMA Now makes a perfect at-home companion if you want to watch local TV and someone is hogging the only TV in the household, like in our case.
The network kindly sent a GMA Now unit for me to review. I use it to watch GMA Heart of Asia and HallyPop. The latter airs K-pop videos and music and variety shows. Despite GMA Now being a gadget designed for people who commute and those who are out of the house for most of the day, the network is optimistic that people will go for the receiver. This optimism is based on internal data a lot of people are using their mobile phones to consume video.
Priced at P649 per unit with no monthly fees, GMA Now is currently available in portions of Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Bulacan, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Metro Cebu, Davao, Baguio and Cagayan de Oro.
The receiver enables Android smartphones to receive clear and live digital TV broadcast of GMA, GTV, Heart of Asia, Hallypop and, soon, DepEd TV, as well as other free-to-air channels available in the area.
No Internet connection is needed for TV watching. Only the interactive features and one-time registration require a connection.
What requires an Internet connection are certain features, including Groupee Chat, a proprietary messaging service that allows users to create groups and chat with family and friends while watching.
My favorite feature is the GMA Videos-on-Demand (VoD), which allows you to watch all the GMA content you want, when you want it.
There are also interactive promos, which I truthfully have not tried. This feature allows you to join quizzes and polls, and you can win prizes.
GMA Now, which is a thumb-sized dongle, can be connected to the micro-USB or Type-C port of Android smartphones that meet the following minimum system requirements: Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), dual-core 1GHz CPU, and support for USB On-The-Go (OTG) mode.
Before downloading the GMA Now mobile application, ensure that your Android smartphone meets these minimum system requirements and there is enough storage space on your smartphone (around 30 to 45 MB). You also need to connect to a stable Internet connection, either through Wi-Fi or mobile data. I used a Wi-Fi connection as it is more stable. It’s recommended that you use GMA Now outdoors. The reception is really better when you’re outside but I had no problems using it when I was in our room, which is on the second floor.
Actor Alden Richards is the face of GMA Now. He said his favorite feature is that he can watch old videos via the VoD feature.
I wish I could test the dongle in different locations, then I could see if it really works well as something that you could use to watch TV on-the-go.
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