David Farnor | On 03, Dec 2016

Virgin Media has unveiled a new mobile device that it calls a “TellyTablet”.

The tablet is a “personal smart TV”, which is designed and built to watch television in HD quality around the home. Runing on Android OS (Marshmallow), it’s designed specifically with telly fans in mind. Indeed, it has a sizeable epic 14” HD screen, as well as four built-in speakers, a 7-8 hour battery life and 32GB of memory (plus a Micro SD slot for added storage), two USB ports, optimised WiFi connectivity for use with routers such as Virgin Media’s Hub 3.0 and an in-built stand for easy use anywhere in the home.

“The TellyTablet has been designed for viewing Virgin TV’s range of apps – from the new kids app to the Virgin Media Store app. The Virgin TV Anywhere app is pre-loaded so that customers can easily watch the TV they love wherever it is over WiFi – including selected recordings, on demand shows or live TV,” explains Virgin.

On top of that, users will have full access to the Google Play store, so they can download apps such as Sky Sports, iPlayer, YouTube, Sky Cinema, Netflix, and Hayu with their relevant Virgin Media bundle or individual accounts.

The company claims it will have the “same up close viewing experience as a 50” television”, which is a bold claim. It does, however, mark interesting new territory for pay-TV providers, with Sky, EE and more all increasingly focusing on mobile streaming and cross-device platforms, but none of them explicitly providing a mobile device dedicated just to watching things on the move.

Chief Digital Entertainment Officer David Bouchier comments: “For too long viewing TV on wireless devices has been secondary to other uses. With the Virgin TV TellyTablet no matter where you are in the home you can watch your favourite TV wirelessly in the quality it deserves – be that Kingdom in the kitchen or Bake Off in the bedroom.”

Virgin Media customers can get their hands on the TellyTablet in December by either choosing a Freestyle mobile bundle to spread the cost over 24 months, or pay £299 upfront.

The new device follows the unveiling of Virgin Media’s new set top box, the V6, which will be available from January 2017. For more on that, click here.

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