FilmOn TV is an unofficial Windows Phone 8 app for FilmOn, a service that lets you watch free live television from the U.S., European, Latin American and Asian markets. We’ve been following the Beta progress of this app and the public release of version 1 hit the shelves a few days ago.
You can catch broadcasts such as sporting events, news casts, lifestyle shows, movies, children’s shows and more. In tinkering with FilmOn TV for a short period of time, it comes across as a decent way to catch a little TV time from your Windows Phone 8 device. There are a few performance issues present but it appears to be more an issue with the service than the app itself.
The main page for FilmOn TV has three navigation tabs at the top of the page that will send you to a featured listing of channels, view the various channel categories on FilmOn and access your FilmOn account menu (registration required through FilmOn).
FilmOn TV's Main Pages
Down below the three-dot menu on the main page you will find options to access the app’s settings and register with FilmOn. Settings allow you adjust your profile and view the About Screen.
Jumping into a FilmOn channel you will find a new set of navigation tiles across the top of the screen that will offer a description of the channel, send you to the streaming view, and display the scheduling guide for that channel. The three-dot menu at the bottom of the channel screen has options to:
- Tag the channel as a favorite
- Share the channel
- Pin the channel to your Windows Phone Start Screen
- Remove the ads ($1.29) through in-app purchase
- Access the app’s settings
Channel options do include several local affiliates for FOX, ABC, NBC, etc. but you also get a wide variety of channel choices that cover sports, movies, lifestyles and more. For example you have food and wine channels, Ultimate Fighting Championship channels, cartoon channels and even a Bikini Babe channel collection. Some channels are more of an acquired taste while others are hidden gems.
FilmOn TV's Channel Pages
While the variety of channels is present, the performance of FilmOn TV can be a little sketchy. I found several channels that failed to stream or the streaming was rather choppy. This appears to be an issue with the service rather than the app. I found similar issues when viewing the videos on FilmOn’s website.
FilmOn TV is a free, ad-support app that is available for Windows Phone 8. You can remove the ad-support through an in-app purchase of $1.29. FilmOn TV can be picked up here in the Windows Phone Store.
