HBO GO | Product Reviews. The only way HBO GO could be any better is if it let us bypass our cable and satellite providers entirely The best thing about HBO used to be its Original Series. Now it’s the fact that you can take those series on the road with you. If you’re one of the approximately 80 percent of the channel’s 28 million subscribers who get the service through providers other than Time Warner Cable or Cablevision, HBO GO gives you movies, specials, and every episode of every original series the network has ever created — like True Blood, Game of Thrones, and Deadwood.
For TV junkies, this is like finding Avon Barksdale’s stash house. Though the app works on 3G, streaming can be jumpy. It’s not great for multiple viewers, but that’s a hardware issue. The biggest improvement would be for HBO to untether the app from cable and satellite subscriptions altogether and make premium networks an a la carte, direct-to-consumer proposition.
NPR News | Product Reviews. NPR News Rating: 9/10 Nearly flawless; buy it now inShare0 The ad-free format that makes NPR so pleasant to listen to on the radio gives the public news service’s mobile app one of the cleanest interfaces in the business. Top stories are listed in chronological order. WIRED Uses GPS to stream radio from local NPR affiliates. TIRED No way to enlarge article text. Rdio | Product Reviews. The same people who dragged the telephone into the future with Skype take on music with this on-demand service. Like Skype, Rdio works on a subscription model, in this case $10 per month for unlimited access to 10 million songs or $5 per month for web-only streaming. You can listen over Wi-Fi or 3G, create playlists, and sync to your device for offline listening. See cover art that piques your interest? Give it a tap and you’re listening in seconds.
WIRED Great music-discovery resource. TIRED Too pricey for casual music fans. iHeartRadio | Real & Custom Radio Stations | Listen Free Online. Netflix. Radio - Listen to Free Internet Radio, Find New Music. Android. Platforms | Music. Videos. Everywhere.