Review: AT&T U-verse Mobile app for iPhone
AT&T recently launched a new U-verse app for the iPhone that lets U-verse TV subscribers browse their channels, manage and view recordings, and basically do anything you can do on your DVR through your iPhone. Unfortunately, you can’t watch live U-verse TV through the app, but you can (if you have either the U300, U400 or U450 TV packages) download videos from the mobile library and watch those on your phone.
I had a chance to test out the app, and while I’m not a U-verse subscriber and so couldn’t test out all the functionality of managing my own DVR, I did get to test out the ability to watch recorded shows.
And it’s pretty cool.
You can access the basic functions over 2G, 3G and Wi-Fi, but video downloads are Wi-Fi only.
Assuming you’ve got all the appropriate subscription packages and Wi-Fi connection, the video download service works really well. Videos look clean and sharp.
But the Wi-Fi requirement is a bit of a bummer, and is the latest example of AT&T holding back an iPhone feature that could be revolutionary over 3G. FaceTime is another example.
There are also some complaints on the iTunes page from U-verse users that recordings they try to delete off their DVRs through the app keep coming back.
Still, the video download service is cool enough that if, you’re on a qualifying U-verse package, this free app is definitely worth checking out. These are the sorts of applications that video providers like AT&T are going to have to perfect to keep their customers from cutting the cord and getting all their videos online, so I would expect this app to be continually refined and improved.
