Stream TV shows as they premiere abroad, listen to regional music or play brainteasers — here’s a list of apps that you can download to remain entertained and connected anywhere, anytime
We are a gadget-friendly generation. Board games and books have been replaced by mobile phones and kindles. It probably wouldn't be incorrect to say that for most of us, our mobile phones are our main source of information, education, gaming and entertainment. There is also an urgent need to be clued into what is happening around the world at all times, which makes us addicted to our gadgets all the more.
We tell you about a few apps that help you stay entertained no matter where you are. Watch news, listen to your favourite music and play brain teasers — all with the click of a few buttons.
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KBC Official
The creators of KBC have introduced a phone app for you to play the game online and win a chance to appear on the show or win upto Rs 7 crore of virtual money. The app comes with a set of 250 free questions or for R60, you can buy an additional set of 250 questions. For R60 you get 12 chances to qualify for the TV show. The app follows the same format as the TV show, wherein you play “Fastest Finger First” or jump straight into the game. You need to answer 15 questions and get four life lines. Each question has four options and you press the “lock your answer” button after selecting your option. Once you have won a good amount of virtual money, you can share your score on Facebook and Twitter. There is also a live Social Feed built into the app to check out what everybody is saying about the show.
The only annoying fact about the game is that each question is followed by a commercial of 29 seconds, which continues to pop up even after paying R60 for the additional question set.
Ditto TV
A Zee Entertainment Enterprises venture, Ditto TV is a live TV and video-on-demand platform that helps you receive live TV channels, movies and videos on all your connected devices. It works seamlessly with iOS, Blackberry, Android and Windows devices, keeping you updated with your favourite TV shows. It offers 100 live TV channels. You can also access movies, videos and live coverage of religious ceremonies taking place at temples during festivals. Although you can download the app for free, you need to pay a subscription fee for the content. One can choose from packages starting from R60 per month for specific channels to R190 per month for all. The charges for on-demand content are above the package you subscribe for. The app also features a full TV program guide. As for streaming, Ditto TV uses adaptive streaming, where it will optimise video quality depending on the quality of your Internet connection. You can even choose Ditto Lite, if you are using GPRS and EDGE enabled mobile devices. Ditto TV works seamlessly with your devices, so you can start watching a video on one device and continue watching it later on another.
Coke Studio @ MTV
If you are inclined towards folk and regional music then Coke Studio @ MTV is the app for you. This app by Sony Music, is free to downloadand allows you to listen to 30 seconds of any song for free and then there is a subscription charge depending on the seasons or episodes you want to watch. The subscription charges range from R60 for a single episode to R920 for all the episodes of all the seasons. The purchased seasons and episodes go in the “My Coke Studio” section and the app also features a section for artist profiles and social feeds —social sharing of the featured content.
The users of BB10 OS can not only subscribe to songs, they can also download the music and listen to it without an Internet connection.
Podcasts
This app lets you find, subscribe and play your favourite podcasts, anywhere, anytime. You can explore podcasts from the “Featured” tab or you can simply check out “Top Charts” and watch what is trending around the world. The ‘liked’ podcasts are added to your personal station and you automatically get new episodes when they are released. If you have stopped watching a particular podcast midway and want to resume watching from the same point, then the iCloud keeps it in sync over all your devices. You can even turn on the Sleep Timer to automatically stop playing the podcasts at a certain time. Though Podcasts app works on only iOs devices, there are several similar apps such as Podkicker or Bringcasts, which work on other platforms.
Bigflix
Bigflix app, by Reliance BIG Entertainment, offers trailers, full-length movies, music videos and short films. With a monthly subscription of R300 you can watch unlimited blockbusters from a collection of over 2000 movies in various languages. You can search for a specific movie by keying in its name, actor, language, release date or genre. Once you find your films, you can add them to your movie queue and watch them when you have time. While watching a movie on one device, you can ‘pause’ and it will go to your ‘continue watching section’. You can continue watching it on another connected device be it iOS, Blackberry, Android or Windows based. You don’t need an Internet connection to watch the downloaded movies, but remember that the film is available on a license basis for three days, after which the license will have to be renewed. There are no limits on the number of movies you can watch in a month or the number of times you can watch a film.
As for streaming, you would need a 3G or high speed WiFi connection to view the movies in HD. And if you don’t have either of these, you can always watch the downloaded content.
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