YoTV Vs Airtel TV app Review: Battle of mobile TV streaming in Uganda

Mobile live TV streaming is upon us, YoTV and Airtel TV channels were both recently launched by the big telecom networks. They are mobile phone apps that are centered on Live TV and radio programming — all usable on Android phones and iPhones. The two platforms (YoTV channels and Airtel TV) have been pushed by MTN and Airtel respectively each luring subscribers with key differentiators apart from the costs of the service. Speaking of cost, Airtel TV is free of charge while those who want to access YoTV channels using MTN network will have to part with as low as UGX 1,000 per day but you can use any other internet network of your choice.

To start, let me reiterate that your phone or tablet is the only way to experience both Airtel TV and YoTV. There is no original programming, which is a standout and a clear deal-breaker for some people I’ve talked to who are used to watching content from the likes of Netflix or Quibi — especially right now when everyone is at home for so much of the day. You can’t access these services on the web, and there’s not even a tablet-optimized version of both apps. No Chromecast. No AirPlay. It’s for your phone, nothing else.

At launch, both Airtel TV and YoTV delivered apps that are, in a word, fine. They work reliably, even if the user experience for some comes off as a little basic compared to Netflix and other streaming giants. When you rotate your device, none of these apps will automatically flip between landscape and portrait presentation modes while showing the full screen, and both orientations were never factored into the creative process. But truth be told we should leave portrait mode viewing for social media apps and not entertainment apps, although we have seen the likes of Quibi having both modes. It should be noted that the dual-stream approach uses more data (around 20 percent) than your typical YouTube or Netflix video stream. So I guess it was a wise idea for both apps to have only one mode.

Below is detailed table on how both YoTV and Airtel TV compare apps compare;

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In my testing, both apps worked well even with cellular connection but don’t expect Airtel TV to work on any other network apart from Airtel. Some users have complained of buffering but that all depends on the quality of your network.

Neither YoTV nor Airtel TV offers the options for bandwidth management. This would be good to help people manage their data by allowing users set streaming quality to auto or data saver mode.

Since these are TV services don’t expect any Original TV programming as the telcos treat these apps as value-added services through IPTV (TV over the internet) integration and not a major product managed by them in-house.

Both apps stumble hard on a lot of other basics, and they were launched with significant omissions. For example, currently, there’s no option to set up profiles for the other people in your family on a single account, especially for Airtel TV. The app is limited to a single concurrent TV stream, so account or password sharing is out altogether.

Put the content aside, and part of your enjoyment from Airtel TV or YoTV will always depend on how nice your phone is — and how large of a display it has. Testing the TV streaming apps on an iPhone 11 Pro Max, a Huawei Mate 30 Pro and Galaxy S20 Ultra has been wonderful, but I’m someone who can comfortably wield those mammoth phones. If you’re not, you might find yourself a little disappointed that the TV apps are forever limited to the screen dimensions of your iPhone X or another device for normal-sized hands. This is a constraint that no other major streaming service forces us to contend with. You can always open Netflix or even Instagram on your computer to up the sense of immersion.

Have you used Airtel TV or MTN’s YoTV app? What do you like or hate about each? Leave us a comment below.