Fitness service genuinely impresses
Sky has launched a new service, Sky Live, for its Sky Glass TV service – which offers a host of digital services.
Sky Live is enabled by a separate extra camera, which sits on top of the Sky Glass TV. The camera enables features such as video calling, Watch Together, TV workouts, and hands-free gaming.
It only works with Sky Glass – so if you’re a Sky Q customer, you can’t get access to this stuff.
It certainly feels like a set of features that are incredibly Peak Pandemic, but The Ambient was invited to get a hands-on preview of the services, and they are undeniably well executed.
Watch Along works with any live TV programming and selected Sky exclusive on-demand content, and enables you to watch shows with friends, who are shown in side panels. It’s a simple process, and so long as all your friends are also Sky Glass customers who have signed up for Sky Live, you can all watch TV together, lag-free.
The fitness features were genuinely impressive, possibly the only aspect that makes paying for the service worth it.
Sky has hooked up with Mvment, a fitness service, that uses the camera to track your body, and offers real-time rep tracking and form coaching, via 130 workouts. We saw it in action, and it’s impressive, and adds an extra dimension to something like Apple Fitness+ – although obviously limited to use on your Sky Glass TV.
The hands-free gaming was also decent, and we were quickly slashing our hands through virtual kiwis on Fruit Ninja, with the hand tracking reactive and seamless.
EntertainmentOS used on Sky Glass makes it easy for developers to repackage Android apps for use on the service. It’s also a neat reminder that Sky will also be rolling this out to its US services, so it has every chance of attracting big-name developers.
And it’s off to an impressive start. It’s worked with Zoom for a TV calling app, which we could see working nicely for home office setups – and this is the thing we could actually see us using Sky Live for.
And that’s the beauty of Sky Live, but also the challenge. Different people will find different aspects of Sky Live appealing. Some people want to watch football/Love Island with friends, some won’t. Some will like the fitness – many won’t. But it’s a flat price for the whole lot, and it can look pretty expensive.
The camera costs £290 outright, but there are also plenty of ways to split the cost, including £6 per month over 48 months, or £12 per month for two years.
Paying £6 per month for fitness and all the other services seems decent value, given most at-home workout services are around £9.99. But would we pay it to play Fruit Ninja and make Zoom calls? It will be interesting to see how it’s adopted.
