Sling Media today launched the next in their lineup of SlingPlayer Mobile clients, this time for Symbian UIQ. It joins the existing SlingPlayer Mobile clients for Palm OS, Windows Mobile Smartphone, Windows Mobile Professional, and Symbian S60. And it will be followed by clients for Blackberry and iPhone/iPod Touch which are currently in development.

The UIQ handsets that will support SlingPlayer Mobile at launch include:
* Sony Ericsson P1i
* Sony Ericsson P990i
* Sony Ericsson W960i
* Sony Ericsson W950i
* Sony Ericsson M600i
* Sony Ericsson G700
* Sony Ericsson G900
* Motorola Z8
* Motorola Z10

The press release has all of the details.

Disclaimer: I work for Sling Media and was the Beta Manager for the Symbian UIQ program.

Now through July 15th, Sling Media is running a promotional bundle. Buy the Slingbox PRO ($229.99 MSRP) and get the HD Connect dongle ($49.99 MSRP) for component video input and a SlingPlayer Mobile license ($29.99 MSRP), all for $229.95. So basically you get the HD Connect and SPM license free with the purchase of the Slingbox PRO. While I’ve seen the Slingbox PRO & HD Connect bundled for less, including the SPM license this looks like a pretty decent bundle deal. Amazon sells the Slingbox PRO for $182.99 and the HD Connect for $39.99, that’s $222.98 - without SPM, which would bring it to $252.97.

SlingPlayer Mobile is currently available for Palm OS, Windows Mobile Smartphone, Windows Mobile Professional/PPC, and Symbian S60. Symbian UIQ is in beta now and will be out soon, and Blackberry support is in development, expected later this year. The license works for any of the SlingPlayer mobile platforms.

Disclaimer: I work for Sling Media.

Monsoon Multimedia continues to add to their client suite for their HAVA placeshifting boxes. They currently officially support Microsoft Windows on PCs, while clients for Windows Mobile (Pro & Smartphone) and Nokia’s Internet Tablet Maemo Linux-based OS are in beta. A client for the Symbian S60 platform has been announced with an availability in 3Q08, according to a press release posted at jkOnTheRun. By way of comparison, Sling Media has released SlingPlayer for Windows and Mac OS, and SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm OS, Windows Mobile (Pro & Smartphone), and Symbian S60, while SPM for Symbian UIQ is in beta now, Blackberry is in development for release later this year, and the iPhone SDK is being evaluated.

Picked up from Zatz Not Funny.

Disclaimer: I am currently employed by Sling Media, for whom HAVA is the leading competitor.

Announced in April, SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian UIQ is now ready for beta testers. Symbian UIQ is distinct from Symbian S60 (aka Series60), an update for which was released recently. While Symbian S60 is used on phones from Nokia, Symbian UIQ is used by vendors such as Sony Ericsson and Motorola.

If you’re a Slingbox owner with a Symbian UIQ smartphone, you can apply for the beta here.

Disclaimer: I’m not only currently employed by Sling Media, I’m the Program Manager for the Symbian UIQ beta.

Sling Media today released SlingPlayer Mobile updates for Windows Mobile Smartphone, Windows Mobile Professional/PPC, and Symbian S60. There new versions are 1.6, 1.6, and 1.01, respectively. While not updated, the Palm OS client is still available as well. US versions of the clients are available here, and UK/International versions are available here. The new versions are a free upgrade for existing register users, or a USD$29.99 purchase for new users. You can try the client for 30 days before purchasing to make sure you’re satisfied before purchasing. Of course, you’ll need a Slingbox for the client to connect to as well.

The new releases add support for additional phones such as the Treo 500v, Nokia N95 8GB, Samsung i760, and Nokia N82, as well as improved video streaming on select phones such as the Sprint/HTC Mogul. Additional changes include support for additional set-top boxes, additional channel logos, and various ‘under the hood’ tweaks.

Symbian UIQ and Blackberry clients are still planned for later this year.

Disclaimer: I am currently employed by Sling Media, and I took over as the beta manager for these three beta programs on April 7th. If you’re interested in beta testing register and be sure to keep your profile updated, especially the ‘Test Platforms’ section.

ARCHOS has long been a leader in the PMP market with devices like their model 605 and 705 PMPs. And they’ve added some innovative features to their products, such as the ability to copy shows from DISH Network ViP622/722 DVRs. Lesser known is their TV+ DVR. The TV+ is a Ethernet/WiFi media player and DVR in one box, and the software seems to be based on their PMP software.

Now Archos is adding place-shifting to the TV+. Called ‘TVportation’ it will be a $49.99 software plug-in for the TV+, or free if the TV+ is registered on the ARCHOS web site. ARCHOS claims it will allow streaming of content from the TV+ to the ARCHOS 605 WiFi and ARCHOS 705 WiFi PMPs, as well as PCs, laptops and smartphones. You can also use an ARCHOS 605 WiFi or ARCHOS 705 WiFi as the streaming source, but you need to leave it docked in its base station. (So if you have two you can have one at home as the source and one as the client.) Details on the smartphone support is thin, saying only “compatible with Symbian later this spring”. Though the demo video on the website shows it running on a Windows Mobile Palm Treo.

A little exploring shows they have downloads for Windows Mobile 5 & 6 both Professional and Smartphone as well as Symbian Series60. But most curious is that all of the links are right to Monsoon Multimedia’s HAVA clients - on Monsoon’s servers! At first glance it looks like they’re leeching the clients, but perhaps Monsoon and ARCHOS did some kind of deal. Still, it looks sketchy.

There’s a lengthy demo video up on YouTube:

From the video it is clear that one client at a time is supported, so you can’t have multiple devices streaming from one TV+.

Spotted in EngadgetHD.

Disclaimer: I’m currently employed by Sling Media, which produces the Slingbox series of place-shifting products. And I suppose TVportation is ostensibly a competitor to Sling.