Watch and record digital broadcast network and local channels anytime, anywhere on your tablet. No cable. No Internet. And no monthly fees! Welcome to TabletTV.

Hell yes!

We seem to be tech mad in this house with no fewer than 3 TVs that Craig seems to be constantly upgrading, selling, then upgrading again. The kids obviously don’t have TVs, nor access to one unsupervised, but Dex does have his own Google Nexus that we use for car journeys, and as the occasional treat at home. On this he has NOW TV, Netflix and Flixster apps so he can stream kids movies, or those we’ve downloaded for him. Annoyingly however, he mostly plumps for toy unboxing vids (in Russian, Chinese and more) on YouTube.

What is TabletTV?

Put simply, it’s a portable tuner around the size of an old school mobile battery, with an RRP of £69.99 (get it on Amazon for less than half that at £34.99) that allows you to watch and record hundreds of free-to-air TV channels on your tablet without a monthly subscription.

Sounds great. This would allow us to deplete the apps from his tablet, and simply unlock live TV. As you can also record Freeview TV programmes, we could create a library of his favourites and restrict him to the programmes we know and trust.

Moreover, as TabletTV uses its own built-in Wi-Fi to connect to your tablet via an app and doesn’t need internet access to work, it sounded great for in-car use. We could even take him offline altogether, ensuring he isn’t running up 3G bills or left free to browse on YouTube… or access sites his daddy might have left open the evening before.

On the face of it, it promises so much, but would TabletTV really deliver…?

Set-up

You simply get it out of the box and stick it on USB charge on your laptop. Whilst charging, you can get ahead by downloading the TabletTV app onto the device you want to pair it with. Not wanting a lawsuit on their hands, TabletTV will ask you to confirm you have a TV license, then you’ll be granted access to the start-up wizard.

When your tuner is fully charged, switch it on, extend the antenna and place it up high near a window for best results. A step by step guide will then take you through the intricacies, then the app will search for all free TV and radio stations in your region. In my case, some 93 channels.

Watching TV

First up, like any external aerial, there’s a fair bit of fiddling to get the best signal (on this note, its glossy shell makes it tricky to prop up whilst away from home - an integrated stand would have helped), but when conditions are ripe, the picture quality is as crisp as your TV.

Operationally, it’s pretty self-explanatory; the tuner has LEDs on the front to indicate it is switched on, its battery life and connectivity status, and the app’s interface is similar to that of Freeview with a TV guide grid displaying now & next. It’s also quick and easy to access different features of the app.

During set-up, as guided by the wizard, TabletTV will disconnect you from your own Wi-Fi connection so it can pair itself with your tablet. Don’t worry though, TabletTV have enabled the option to reconnect to your own Wi-Fi from within the TabletTV app - allowing you access to in-app features such as full tv guide and social media sharing.

Recording live TV & watching it back

Not so impressive.

It’s biggest limitation, and one you’d hope to see addressed in future gens, is that there is no series link capability. In fact, you have to manually set each programme to record as and when it’s playing. This mars its functionality somewhat as you might as well just watch the programme there and then. Failing that, you’d have to set yourself a timer then setup both tuner and tablet to record your programme when it begins - not ideal if you’re busy out and about.

Due to the fact that you’re broadcasting to the same device you’re recording to, you’re also unable to watch another channel whilst recording something (somewhat obvious, but still worth pointing out).

Irritatingly, you also need the tuner to be charged and on in order to playback recorded programmes. I had assumed these would be available offline on the app and found this mildly annoying.

Finally, it would take the product into Ivy League if you had the option to rewind and fast forward recordings and avoid adverts.

Final thoughts?

I love the concept. If the conditions are right and the signal strong, you’ll get all the big networks (including sister channels such as +1s). The video feed is crisp and HD quality, and once locked, remains so whilst on the move.

It plays neatly into the trend of Freeview which has been increasingly on the up as the cost of paid subscription services continue to soar. In fact, as we become truly mobile consumers, some viewers have gone so far as to swerve a TV license altogether, abandon live TV and head for the likes of Netflix & YouTube. For me, this acts as a neat middle ground, slotting into the lives of the mobile generation.

There’s still some way to go before this product becomes the must-have portable accessory for your mobile device. The recording function needs some major tweaking to be useful at all, and there are some minor design elements that have been criticised by the press. But for watching live tv, as a first draft, at under £40 on Amazon, it ain’t half bad.

Find out more at tablet-tv.com, or find more user reviews on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.