Would you clear something up for me? Is there a Blackberry version of the Slingplayer and is EDGE fast enough to support it?
Sling doesn’t currently provide placeshifting software for the Blackberry platform… which is too bad as Windows Mobile drives me crazy. While getting briefed on Sling’s CES announcements a few weeks ago, I did inquire about Blackberry support. They are aware of consumer interest in such a product, though I wasn’t able to determine if something is or is not being developed at this time. Either way, I wouldn’t expect support in the near future. To recap, Sling does offer Slingplayer Mobile for Windows Mobile PocketPC and Smartphone editions ($30), while Symbian and Palm clients are currently in beta testing.
As far as EDGE goes, that approaches the lowest recommended speed for streaming video. It will work, but perhaps not as well as you’d like. Having said that, the Slingplayer has two useful features for low bandwidth situations: You can stream solely the audio portion of a broadcast or turn the video into a slideshow with a new image about every half second paired with the normal audio track.