Sky Q's killer features
Sky has unveiled its brave new world of television – with the Sky Q box headlining a suite of new products which may just be the perfect answer to your home entertainment demands.
Of course, all of this will come at a cost – which has yet to been revealed – but we've been mightily impressed with what we've seen so far.
So what are these standout features? Read on…
1. Sideloading your recordings
Every big piece of tech needs a killer app, and for Sky Q it's the ability to transfer your recordings to a mobile device to take out and about. Although downloadable catch-up TV has been available on devices, not least through the iPlayer, being able to push each and every recording to your tablet to watch on your commute will be a huge deal for many.
2. 12 tuners
Of course, making the traditional side of the service work better is also a key factor. For linear viewing, the staggering 12 tuners in the Sky Q box will allow for four simultaneous recordings, plus watching a fifth channel. Taking that even further, it will also enable the potential streaming of content to two of the Sky Q Mini boxes, and a further two mobile devices.
3. Wi-Fi hotspot boxes and powerline broadband
With Sky Q's entire system leaning heavily on connectivity, a box that's out of range could be kind of a big problem. But the Sky Q mini boxes – which serve as the multiroom boxes – also act as Wi-Fi hotspots and, fantastically, the Sky Q Hub will use your home's power lines to push broadband around the house.
4. New look
When we heard that the Sky Q UI would be going a whole lot more Netflix we rolled our eyes, but actually the user interface looks remarkably intuitive. There is potentially the issue of having too much functionality to bring to the front, but it's clearly been thought through by people who watch a lot of television and we're keen to see how it feels in real-life usage.
6. Smart functionality
Although it's limited, Sky Q's sidebar – enabling you to check out a currently very limited number of apps – is a nice function given that it simply pushes your viewing window aside into a smaller amount of screen. Handy for checking the sports scores or latest headlines without losing track of what you're watching.
