Having used it for a few days, I think the time is right to share a Product Review on this - what's making it a good experience and what can help it graduate to a delightful one. Listing out all the pros first: 1. The Launch offer is great! For a routine HD-preferring TV viewer, the monthly DTH rental easily crosses Rs 700. And with the 7999-for-12-months offer, Airtel has put price as a definitive reason to switch either from other DTH providers, or upgrade from own DTH 2. The Audio interface, enabling a Google Search based on voice input, is a significant plus. Enabling voice input with the support of Google's strength of speech-to-text conversion, and their omniscient Search platform is definitely a big winner! It's a smoother experience vs having separate Chromecast and Set Top Box to connect to your TV - you don't have to fumble around trying to change the 'Source' for your TV when you switch between the two options. Similar to Airtel DTH, one big point of scoring over others like Tata Sky is that Airtel remotes seamlessly replace the original TV remote, allowing you to function with one remote alone. Last, but not the least, the unit has a classy look to it. Take a look at the image above - it surely projects the unit to be high-end technology. Coming to the brickbats next 1. The layout is similar to a typical Smart TV UI, but unfortunately falls short of the classiness you expect with a premium product. You do this to find out a what shows are running on other channels, or b what shows will come up on the current channel next. Now, for a regular scrolling process, Airtel has added small cards to the UI with pictures of the upcoming shows. This unnecessarily blocks screen space remember, I am still watching that program! And, if you go through the guide section, practically 70% of the screen space is blocked! Sharing the images below of UI on my home TV. I feel that this is reflective of UI being created assuming that the customer shall behave in a 'by-design' way, but very frequently, users would customize their interaction with the product based on their preferences, habits etc. This scrolling tactic, of watching one program while scrolling through the list of other programs is a kind of not-by-design usage, which has not been adapted to. Unimpressive 'Touchpad' remote - An Internet TV needs a different kind of a remote, given audio-input functionalities, frequent internet-casting options etc. While I laud Airtel to have recognized this need, I feel that the actual product development left a few 'wins' on the table with the touchpad on the remote. What is touted as a 'touchpad' remote, is very far from what you would expect from a premium product like this. You would probably expect touch interface similar to an entry-level smartphone, or at the very least like the touchpad on a laptop. What you end up getting is a track-ball based mouse pad which is very non-intuitive. This reminded me of those trackballs that IBM and now Lenovo laptops carry - remember : nobody uses them! Multi-TV options - I believe Airtel missed an opportunity in not having a multi-TV option. Going back to the target audience - these are people with multiple TVs at home. Why won't you give them an option to upgrade their entire network at one go? Even if there is a multi-TV option in the system, neither is it visible on website, nor does the customer care team know about it. Airtel Gamepad App - This app is supposed to convert your smartphone into a remote for controlling TV or a gamepad for playing games. My grudge - Why does the app need Bluetooth to connect to the Set top box. I am no tech expert, but I feel that WiFi-based connectivity should definitely have been an option. The expectation from a customer to connect both Bluetooth and Wifi is a tad high, especially when seamless switching between Chromecast and DTH is your key pitch. And, I still fail to understand the rationale for so many Airtel apps! Why can't there be a central My Airtel app with everything linked within? Why do I need Airtel Movies, Airtel Gamepad etc. I have the same pet peeve against ICICI too! In summary, I think this is a brilliant effort from Airtel, bringing in a new product to the Indian audience, which obviously speaks about their engineering prowess and about innovation having a place in their long-term plans. A bit more refinement however, would lead to User Delight. This being a soft launch, probably the idea is to gather more user insights and tweak the product before a big launch. I, for one, am hoping for this to be central to their future strategy in the face of growing use of video-on-demand services like Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. The post originally appeared on my blog. This is reproduced with minor edits. Disclaimer: Views expressed are mine and mine alone.
