Stephen Penny
Jul 24, 2017 · 2 min read

Just signed up to HBO Nordic in Finland …. and, yes, it’s still a pile of dog**it — Like yourself, I only signed up as there’s a number of HBO shows I download and watch regularly — I’d actually rather pay for them than pirate them!

Absolutely awful apps which are full of bugs and UI/UX inconsistencies, and the website still uses Flash meaning my girlfriends’ 6 year old Windows laptop utterly freaks out and refuses to play anything once Flash kicks in and hogs the entire RAM and CPU.

Using the Samsung Smart TV app is like hell on earth. Navigation doesn’t work on some pages (as don’t some buttons). On a lot of pages, the only way I found to play a show (as I couldn’t move to the series buttons), was to select the ‘Preview’ button (which I couldn’t move off of anyway) and it would actually start playing s01e01 of the show. The Apple TV UX is a little bit better, but still in line with some of your own comments around info, use of space, groupings etc etc.

Also, still no 4k support. It’s 2017, 4k/UHD are now becoming the norm. GoT is shot in 4k, so why not distribute it like that, too (to those that have access) — or are they keeping the 4k content off-screen so that we’ll all go buy the BluRay at a later date to actually see the show(s) in all its visual glory?!

I’ve only had a couple of days with the service/apps, but hate it already … but, the shows will keep me there and paying €10 a month … although, if I see no improvements to the apps over the next 6 months or so, I may well go back to downloading the shows.

    Stephen Penny

    Written by

    Analyst, writer/blogger, podcaster. Brit in Helsinki, Finland.