Thanks to improvements in Internet TV services, the humble television set is no longer the focal point of everyone's house. In fact as these technologies are now becoming ported to mobile devices, people don't even need to be inside to catch the latest programs.
Joost is an Internet TV service, which allows you to watch TV, movies, music videos and more over the Net. This iPhone version of the application brings all of this content to your mobile phone, through a pretty simple user interface.
When you fire up Joost you're automatically taken to the 'Joost Picks' section, where you can view the latest hand-picked selection of top clips, each with a thumbnail picture and short description. Playing a clip is as simple as clicking on the title or description and waiting for the player to load. This player, which loads horizontally for optimal viewing, is minimalist in its design but proves a little annoying to use. The volume is slider is frustratingly unresponsive and the video timeline bar is very erratic. The picture quality in general can't be faulted though, and the definition is so high that you often have to remind yourself you're watching it on a phone.
Besides viewing the latest Joost Picks, you can click on the 'Popular' icon to check out the hottest clips, browse clips by category, or search for movies and TV shows manually. At the moment, Joost claims that there are more than 46,000 videos available for free on the site.
As great as the idea of Joost is, unfortunately the service has yet to really deliver in terms of its content. Much of what you can get through Joost is available on YouTube, and it's quite limited in terms of its scope. You won't find much in the way of recent movies or popular comedy shows, for example. Although if you're into old films, music videos and documentaries about Sports Illustrated model shoots, Joost delivers them all in abundance.
Despite it's limitations, Joost does offer you the chance to watch television for free on your phone, which we could've only dreamed of just a few years ago.
