T-Mobile TVision: Everything you need to know about the new TV service

Credit: T-Mobile

T-Mobile is officially launching its new cord-cutting TV service nationwide today. T-Mobile TVision offers affordable channel packages for T-Mobile post-paid customers, along with its own Android TV HDMI dongle. We’ve used the service and hardware for a few days. Here’s what we think of T-Mobile TVision.

Read more: The best live TV streaming services

What is TVision?

In late 2017, T-Mobile announced it would acquire the small cable TV company Layer3. At the time, the carrier said it was going to use the technology developed by Layer3 as the basis for a disruptive cable TV service that would challenge competitors like Comcast and Charter.

In 2019, it rebranded Layer3 as TVision, and it offered cable TV in a few US metro areas for $100 a month. However, the telecom has now decided to offer something similar to the many internet-based TV services for its nationwide launch of TVision. On the surface, this will give T-Mobile customers a solid way to cut the cord, albeit with a few caveats. 

T-Mobile TVision pricing

• TVision Vibe: ($10 a month for two concurrent streams)
• TVision Live: ($40 a month for three concurrent streams)
• TVision Live Plus: ($50 a month for three concurrent streams)
• TVision Live Zone: ($60 per month for three concurrent streams)

All of these package prices are available for subscribers to T-Mobile postpaid accounts today, November 1, 2020. They will be made available for legacy Sprint subscribers later in November. In 2021, prepaid T-Mobile customers and non-T-Mobile customers will be able to access TVision, but prices may differ.

T-Mobile customers who sign up for TVision Live Plus or Live Zone before December 31, 2020 can secure a year of Apple TV Plus for free. They can also purchase an Apple TV 4K set-top box for the discounted price of $99.

TVision packages: Affordable, but with a few missing channels

Credit: T-Mobile

 

Let’s go over the different packages you can get with TVision.

TVision Vibe

• AMC
• Animal Planet
• BBC America
• BET
• BET Her
• CMT
• Comedy Central
• Discovery
• DIY Network
• Food Network
• Hallmark Channel
• Hallmark Drama
• Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
• HGTV
• IFC
• Investigation
• Discovery

• Motortrend
• MTV
• MTV Classic
• MTV2
• OWN
• Paramount Network
• Sundance TV
• TLC
• Travel Channel
• TV Land
• VH1
• WE TV
• BBC World News
• Nick Jr
• Nickelodeon
• Nicktoons
• Teennick

TVision Live

• NBC
• ABC
• Fox
• Telemundo
• ESPN
• ESPN2
• FS1
• FS2
• NBCSN
• ABC News Live
• CNBC
• CNN
• Fox Business
• Fox News
• HLN
• MSNBC

• NBC News Now
• Bravo
• Cozi
• E!
• FX
• FXX
• Nat Geo Oxygen
• SyFy
• TBS
• TNT
• TruTV
• USA
• Cartoon Network
• Disney Channel
• Disney Junior
• Disney XD
• Freeform

TVision Live Plus

Everything in TVision Live plus the following channels:

• ACC Network
• Big Ten Network
• ESPN College Extra
• ESPNews
• ESPNU
• Golf Channel
• NFL Network
• Olympic Channel
• SEC Network
• Nat Geo Wild
• TCM
• Regional NBC Sports channels (where available)

TVision Live Zone

Everything in TVision Live and TVision Live Plus along with the following channels:

• Longhorn Network
• MavTV
• NFL Redzone
• Outside TV
• CNBC World
• Fox Deportes
• ESPN Deportes
• Universo

There are a few things that make the TVision channel selection and its price tiers different. T-Mobile included a ton of popular entertainment channels in its own very cheap price package. 33 entertainment channels, plus one news channel (BBC World News) can be accessed in the TVision Vibe package for just $10 a month. That might be appealing to T-Mobile customers who want to check the service out but don’t want to spend a lot of money.

If you want one or more of the TVision Vibe channels and still want to sign up for the $40 a month TVision Live package, you will need to add the Vibe tier as well. This means your bill will be at least $50 a month.

The TVision Live package has a mix of entertainment, news, sports, and local TV channels. One big exception is the lack of CBS local channel support. That means T-Mobile customers will have to sign up for CBS All Access if they want their local CBS affiliate. Additionally, in some cities, your local ABC or Fox affiliate may not be available on TVision Live, but you will still get the national live feed from those networks.

Credit: T-Mobile

After TVision Live, the packages get more specialized. The TVision Live Plus tier adds in a bunch of sports channels and a few entertainment channels. The TVision Live Zone tier adds a mix of Spanish language, news, and sports channels to the mix. 

In addition to the above, you can also purchase a few pay-cable movie channels as extra packages. Epix is available for $5.99 a month, Starz can be added for $8.99 a month, and Showtime can be bought for $10.99 a month. Sorry! There’s no HBO included. You will have to pay for HBO Max to get that content.

TVision app: Good UI, but nothing spectacular

Credit: T-Mobile

If you are a T-Mobile customer, you can download the TVision app to access the service. It’s available for Android, iOS, Apple TV, as well as Android TV and Amazon Fire TV sticks, set-top boxes, and smart TVs. There’s sadly no web browser support for PCs. Roku owners are out of luck as well.

The service also has a cloud DVR feature, which lets you record up to 100 hours of television. You can’t keep it forever though. Content will disappear from the cloud DVR nine months after it’s recorded. It comes with all the package tiers, except for the Vibe package, where it will cost an additional $5 a month.

Credit: T-Mobile

We got to check out the iOS version of the app with an iPad Pro tablet that was provided to us by T-Mobile. The app’s home page offers up a general look at the trending TV shows and movies of the day. When you scroll down, you are shown specific content categories like comedy movies and more. You can also see which channels are provided on your package tier.

There is a separate guide page for all your live TV channels. You can quickly record any live TV show or movie on your cloud DVR, or you can schedule a future show or movie to be recorded. There are also separate pages for on-demand TV and movie streaming. 

Parents will be happy to know they can create a PIN that will lock out any adult-rated programs if their children use the app. You can have up to 10 different profiles on one account, making it easy for all family members to use the service. Overall, the TVision app UI and its features are solid, but not exactly groundbreaking.

TVision Hub: A solid Android TV device

Credit: T-Mobile

Along with the streaming service, the carrier is also selling the $50 T-Mobile TVision Hub. It’s an HDMI dongle with Android TV and access to TVision pre-installed. It comes with its own remote control, with quick access keys to the TVision home page, the channel guide, and your cloud DVR recordings. It’s certainly a solid Android TV device if you don’t have a smart TV. It supports watching TV and shows up to 4K resolution. Inside, there’s 2GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, along with an ARM-based processor with a 1.8GHz clock speed. The device can also be powered via a USB port if your TV has one handy.

The dongle allows TVision customers to get services not included in its channel packages (like CBS and HBO). You can download and access standard subscription streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and completely free services like Pluto TV. It also has Google Assistant for using voice commands for finding a channel, streaming service, or a specific movie or TV show. In practice, the remote is pretty simple to use, although we do think the number keys at the bottom are not necessary.

Read more: The best Android TV devices

The TVision Hub UI shows what you have just watched, and you can customize the streaming apps you want on its home page. You can also find shortcuts to the guide and the DVR on the home page. The UI is pretty responsive when using the remote, so you won’t be seeing a lot of lag or loading times.

The recent launch of Google Chromecast with Google TV has made us pickier about Android TV devices. Google’s latest dongle has the new Google TV content hub skin for Android TV out of the box. It lets you customize your home page, but you can also download the same TVision app for Android TV on Google’s device as well. It also costs the same as T-Mobile’s device. While the TVision Hub is, again, a solid device, we think you might be better off getting the new Chromecast with Google TV instead and just installing the TVision app.

Get Chromecast with Google TV at Best Buy

If you are a T-Mobile customer and want to cut the cord on your cable TV or satellite TV system, the TVision packages are a very affordable way to get live and on-demand cable TV channels. We do wish CBS channels were included in one of the packages, and the lack of Roku and web access is a small issue. However, for most customers, this should not be a problem. Again, the TVision Hub is really not needed; just get a Google Chromecast with Google TV and you will be all set.

T-Mobile TVision FAQs

Q: When will TVision be available?
A: Right now, the service is only available for T-Mobile postpaid customers. Later in November, Sprint legacy customers can add TVision to their accounts. In 2021, it will be made available for T-Mobile prepaid customers, and the general public.

Q: Do I have to also get the TVision Hub as well?
A: No. The TVision Hub is an optional purchase. You can download the TVision app for Android TV, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV platforms for your television if you already have hardware that can run it.

Q: Will all my local TV channels be available?
A: No. TVision plans lack CBS and the CW networks. Also, some Fox and ABC affiliates in certain cities may not be available, but the nationwide feeds for those networks can still be accessed.

Q: Can I access TVision on my PC?
A: No, the service does not yet allow for web access on any PC platform.

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The 8 best local music players on Android, now that Google Play Music is dead

As Google's app says "bye bye," it's time to move on to something else

The demise of Google Play Music might have you thinking it's time to go back to the old way of locally storing your favorite music. Fortunately, this is the kind of thing Android was made for, and there are so many apps available that do more than organize your library into a playlist.

A worthy local music playback app for Android has an easily navigable menu structure and automatically populates new music once it's added to a specific file directory.

Read More

The 8 best local music players on Android, now that Google Play Music is dead was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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120W charging tested: How hot does your phone get?

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

The last few years have seen a revolution in fast charging technologies: from the early breakthroughs in 20W and 30W chargers to the now common 40W to 60W technologies. But 2020 has taken us even further, with 120W charging now on the market. The promise is to take our phone batteries from empty to full in just a few minutes. However, there are still lingering questions about the effects on battery longevity.

To take a closer look at how 120W charging performs and just how quick it actually is, we’ve run the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra and its 120W plug through their paces.

More about chargers: How fast charging really works

Charging efficiency

To begin, let’s first check that we actually get 120W out of the mains and into the phone. After all, 120W is more than a typical PC draws, so we’d hope this power isn’t going to waste. Interestingly, Xiaomi’s 120W charger actually provides “just” 80W to the Mi 10 Ultra. Perhaps 120W is possible in Xiaomi’s lab, but I haven’t been able to record anything close to that level in the real world. Fortunately, the charger doesn’t waste those missing 40 watts.

Xiaomi's charger provides closer to 80W to the phone, rather than 120W.

Wattage drawn from the wall starts at 92.3W, falling quickly to 86.4W for the bulk of charging. Just 6.3W (7.3%) of wasted power across the cable and charger is actually better than all of the lower power chargers I’ve tested. At least as a percentage of total power drawn. This is likely down to the more efficient GaN technology used in Xiaomi’s charger.

Charger	Wasted Power	Power drawn from wall	Power received at handset
Xiaomi 100W	6.3W (7.3%)	86.4W	80.1W
Huawei 40W	5.5W (19.2%)	28.6W	23.1W
Poco 27W	5.6W (17.7%)	31.6W	26W
Samsung 25W	3.6W (15.1%)	23.8W	20.2W
Google 18W	2.8W (16.4%)	17.1W	14.3W

For instance, Huawei’s 40W charger wastes a smaller 5.5W but that’s actually 19% of its total power draw. Likewise, the Poco F2 Pro’s 27W charger wastes 5.6W — a significant 17% of the power drawn from the wall before it reaches the phone. Samsung’s and even Google’s chargers are similarly wasteful.

The bottom line, charging with Xiaomi’s 120W plug isn’t any worse for your electricity bill than any other charger on the market. In fact, it’s actually more efficient than many in-box chargers. I’m pleasantly surprised by how efficient the GaN charger is in comparison to older and slower chargers on the market.

Just how fast is 120W (80W) charging?

Note: Given that Xiaomi charger doesn’t actually offer 120W, I’ll be referring to the charging power as 80W in diagrams and analysis from now on, so as to better reflect the actual power recorded across our tests. To obtain comparison points for different charging speeds, I charged up the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra at various different wattages from Xiaomi’s charger and other USB PD chargers, tracking the time to full.

For starters, even 80W rather than the full 120W records an impressively fast charge time. Empty to full takes just 21 minutes, or just three minutes to hit 25% charge. That’s quite an achievement given that the phone sports two 2,250mAh batteries for a combined 4,500mAh capacity.

Somewhat surprisingly, charging at 50W is virtually just as fast. Taking just 29 minutes to full and just over five minutes to hit 25% charge. Mere minutes of difference implies that the 120W tagline is more a marketing angle than it is a revolutionary change for our charging habits. It will be very difficult to tell Xiaomi’s technology apart from 60W and other very fast chargers on the market without taking such close measurements.

Charging time improves much more moving from 18W to 50W than it does from 50W to 80W.

Charging the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra with a more traditional 18W charger takes notably longer. 68 minutes to full is still OK by modern standards but is clearly a lot slower than the other two tests. What’s most interesting is the diminishing return in charging time for an increase in power. The 32W gap between 18W and 50W results in a 39-minute improvement to charge time, which is quite noticeable. However, a further 30W more juice up to 80W only improves the full charging by a rather meaningless 8 minutes.

Read more: It’s 2020 and USB-C is still a mess

Temperature and battery health

Super-fast charging times are great, but it’s not much good if it negatively impacts long-term battery life. Temperature is a major killer of battery lifespan, so we kept tabs on the software battery temperature readout during our tests too.

The nature of this battery sensor data may not be completely accurate. However, as we’re using the same smartphone across tests this still serves as a good reference point for relative comparisons. We also started the phones a little warmer than room temperature to simulate charging shortly after use.

Charging at 80W, the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra peaks at a rather hot 43.8°C. Alarmingly, this would be even higher if the phone managed to pull the full 120W. That’s certainly a warning sign for battery longevity, as temperatures should ideally remain below 40°C. Given that the phone only takes 21 minutes to charge, the battery is not exposed to high temperatures for very long. However, there’s enough time spent well above 40°C to cause concern. Note that temperatures begin to fall again once the battery hits 70% and presumably exits the constant current phase of charging.

Charging at 50W records a peak temperature of 39.1°C, a healthy 4.7°C cooler than 80W charging, keeping it below our red line. This peak in temperature also only appears near the very end of the constant current cycle, while the 80W mode ramps up much faster. The bulk of charging takes place below 37°C, which is not too bad. Given that 50W charges just 8 minutes slower to full than 80W, this seems like a worthwhile trade-off.

A 5°C jump in temperature and 30W more power to charge just 8 minutes faster is a poor trade-off.

Moving down to 18W doesn’t even see the sensor break 30°C. Heat takes much longer to build up when charging at this lower power level. This means that the battery cools back down quicker too. At 14.7°C cooler than 80W, the difference in temperatures is night and day. But there’s also a noticeable trade-off to charging time. A sweet spot for temperature and charging time is probably around the 30-40W mark.

It’s also worth remembering that the 120W option pushes more current into the battery, stressing its C-rate. This is the other important half of the battery longevity equation. Between this and the higher temps, I definitely have concerns about how Xiaomi’s 120W implementation will affect battery capacity in the long term. Charging at lower power levels is the safest way to ensure the battery lasts many years.

Is 120W charging worth it?

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

120W has its uses and its drawbacks. Xiaomi’s 120W implementation, at least, leaves some cause for concern over much higher charging temperatures. Especially as it’s only a few minutes faster than charging at a cooler 50W.

Personally, I would only make use of 120W charging for the occasional quick top-up. Literally for a minute or two. Temperatures don’t rise too high during a two-minute charge and you end up with a 20% battery. That’s pretty useful. However, with stressful C-rates and high temperatures building up over a full charge cycle, I’d stick to something slower for anything longer than a couple of minutes.

120W charging is best for a very quick top-up rather than a full charge.

I’d like to see Xiaomi implement temperature throttling to keep the battery cooler. This would retain the benefits of a fast burst charge while ensuring better battery health in the long term. The real merits of fast charging are for a quick top-up to help you through the end of the day. It’s not worth burning a battery to shave just a few minutes off the time to full charge.

I’m less cynical about 120W charging than when the idea was first announced, but there’s clearly still work to be done to mitigate the battery longevity issues. Although other companies, such as Oppo, claim to monitor battery temperatures, and I’d be very interested to compare implementations.

Finally, there’s a reason that Xiaomi included this feature in its ultra-premium Mi 10 Ultra. New battery manufacturing techniques and a dual-cell setup, improved charging circuitry, and an efficient GaN charger that’s able to handle 120W don’t come cheap. For now at least, Xiaomi’s 120W charging is more of an experimental feature than something ready for prime time.

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OnePlus 8T, Garmin Venu, and Sony WH-1000XM4 international giveaway!

It’s time for the Sunday giveaway! This month three lucky Android Authority readers have the chance to win some top tech!

A big congratulations to the winners of last month’s Google Pixel 5, Fitbit Sense, and Powerbeats Pro international giveaway, Evert K. from the Netherlands, Patrick G. from France, and Jyzmark A. from Australia.

This week we’re giving away a brand new OnePlus 8T, a Garmin Venu, and a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones, courtesy of the Android Authority Newsletter!

Get caught up on the week’s top stories, reviews, and features by signing up for the Android Authority Weekly Newsletter. Every Sunday, you’ll receive an email alert with a roundup of the best content from the previous week.

First prize: A OnePlus 8T and an AA hoodie

The first winner out of the hat this month will receive a brand new OnePlus 8T. The latest in the OnePlus line only hit the shelves towards the end of last month, so you know you’ll be rocking this phone before most of your friends.

The OnePlus 8T is an entry-level flagship smartphone with a top-tier chipset. Its speed, made possible by the clean software experience and flagship processor, is among the best of any smartphone. It may lack crazy good cameras, an IP rating, and a unique design, but it makes up for those factors with pure speed and fluidity.

Battery life is increasingly important for users, and the OnePlus 8T doesn’t disappoint. The battery has been bumped up to a 4,500mAh cell, which can offer up to two days of power depending on usage. It also ships with a Warp Charge 65 USB-C charger that was able to charge the phone from zero to 100% in 39 minutes in our testing. Not bad at all.

As well as the OnePlus 8T, we’re giving the first winner an Android Authority hoodie! Check out our related OnePlus 8T coverage below:

• OnePlus 8T buyer’s guide: Everything you need to know
• Speed Test G: OnePlus 8T vs OnePlus 8
• The best OnePlus 8T cases you can buy

Enter the giveaway!

Second prize: A Garmin Venu and an AA hoodie

Second place in the November giveaway will win themselves the highly rated Garmin Venu. It’s a beautiful blend of smartwatch and fitness tracker, so we’re also throwing in an Android Authority hoodie for those chilly morning jogs.

The Garmin Venu is easily one of the best multisport watches you can buy right now. If you’ve been waiting for a Garmin device with an OLED display, you’ll be very happy with the Venu. It takes the new Vivoactive 4 line and turns it up to 11. Sleep, fitness, and health can all be tracked with impressive accuracy, and it offers a host of other perks such as music storage, 5-day battery life, and Garmin Pay. But you won’t have to pay the $350 retail price if you win the Garmin Venu.

Check out our related coverage below:

• Garmin Venu review: Garmin goes OLED
• What’s the best Garmin watch?
• Fitbit vs Garmin: Which ecosystem is right for you?

Enter the giveaway!

Third prize: Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones and an AA t-shirt

Credit: Adam Molina / Android Authority

Third place in our competition is hardly a booby prize because the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones are among the finest on the market. The black model of the headphones will also match your new black Android Authority t-shirt perfectly.

The combination of high-quality Bluetooth codecs, great sound, improved noise cancelling, good battery life, and smart features like auto-pause and Bluetooth multipoint makes these headphones the best all-around option for most people. Our sister site, SoundGuys, gave the headphones an almost-unprecedented nine out of ten rating, and its readership was impressed too.

Released in August, the Sony WH-1000XM4 would still cost you almost $280 to buy new, even with this Amazon deal. Check out our related coverage below:

• Sony WH-1000XM4 review: The best gets even better
• Sony WH-1000XM4 vs Sony WH-1000XM3: Master or apprentice?
• Sony WH-1000XM4 vs Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700: Battle for the throne

Enter the giveaway here

OnePlus 8T, Garmin Venu, and Sony WH-1000XM4 international giveaway!

Winners gallery

Congratulations to Mieczyslaw S. from Poland — the winner of our OnePlus 8 Pro giveaway from early August!

Terms & conditions

• This is an international giveaway (except when we can not ship to your country).
• We can ship prizes to all regions in North America, Europe, and Australia. If you live in another region, depending on where you live, we may contact you to offer an alternative prize of equal or similar value to the smartphone offered in the giveaway.
• We are not responsible for lost shipments.
• We are not responsible if your giveaway prize malfunctions.
• You must be age of majority in your country of residence.
• We are not responsible for any duties or import fees that you may incur.
• Only one set of entries per person; please do not enter multiple email addresses. We will verify all winners and if we detect multiple email addresses by the same person you will not be eligible to win.
• We reserve all rights to make any changes to this giveaway.
• This giveaway is operated by Android Authority.
• The prize will ship when it is available to purchase.

More: Android Authority international giveaway FAQs

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Facebook App's Dark Mode Rollout on iOS Finally Gathers Pace

After months of delay and stop-start testing, Dark Mode for Facebook finally appears to be rolling out for iOS users globally, over 400 days since Apple first introduced the feature in iOS 13.


Evidence that Facebook has been working on a ‌Dark Mode‌ for its official app first surfaced in April, and by June a small percentage of users had access to the setting, which hinted that the company was gradually rolling out the feature for testing purposes.

However, propagation has been glacially slow ever since, and it's only in the last couple of days that more and more users have contacted MacRumors to report that they're seeing the option under Settings & Privacy within the app's Menu tab.

Confirmation that ‌Dark Mode‌ is rolling out in earnest on iOS and Android came courtesy of app hacker Jane Manchun Wong, who made a video in collaboration with Facebook and shared it on Twitter.

Facebook is publicly testing ‌Dark Mode‌! 🌙

You asked it, I chatted with Facebook’s @alexvoica about it and here’s a video made in collaboration with Facebook! pic.twitter.com/TGjdTXDxoP

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) October 30, 2020

‌Dark Mode‌ has been available on the social network's website for a while now, and some of Facebook's other apps, including Messenger and Instagram have long featured ‌‌Dark Mode‌‌, so it's unclear why the company's flagship app took longer to gain the feature.

Google's Gmail app was the last major app to get ‌Dark Mode‌, following a similar patchy rollout beset by inconsistent functionality.

(Thanks, E K!)

Tag: Facebook

This article, "Facebook App's Dark Mode Rollout on iOS Finally Gathers Pace" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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