India’s premium video service, BoxTV arrives on Windows Phone

BoxTV (www.boxtv.com) is an online video service in India, which serves the latest Bollywood, Hollywood and regional movies, TV shows and premium video content in one place. Essentially, the service from Times Internet fills a critical void due to the absence of services like Hulu and Netflix in the region.

While the official apps for other platforms have been available for a while, the Windows Phone app makes its debut now. From our friends at Times Internet, we also hear that a Windows 8 app would be ‘coming soon in few weeks.'

While you can watch more than 5,000 hours of free movies and TV shows, you can also upgrade your collection by subscribing to the BoxTV Monthly Subscription Plan and get access to more than 17,000 hours of entertainment videos.

When you are signed in, the app provides personalized recommendations based on your viewing history as well as allows you to resume watching your movie from any device. You can also filter your search according to genre and language. BoxTV claims that the app is optimized for mobile networks and video content is available in different quality settings. While the service is available worldwide, geo-restrictions may apply for some of the content in the catalogue.

The app is nicely designed, and features an intuitive user experience. However, it hurts that it does not have the ability to download, cache offline, or pre-load videos on WiFi to watch while you are on the move, and don’t want to use your data connection when on restricted mobile plans. That’s a critical feature for me when it comes to any app that serves videos.

You can download the app for free for Windows Phone 8 devices from the Windows Phone Store. It’s a great app and with a cheap monthly subscription, the service is great value if you are a fan of movies and TV shows. Give it a spin, and let us know how you like it.

QR: BoxTV

Abhishek Baxi