Netflix for select Android devices now available | Hacker News Reader

Netflix for select Android devices now available

blog.netflix.com

51 pointsmartingordon34 comments

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It was a little hidden, so here are the devices it supports:

1. HTC Incredible with Android 2.2

2. HTC Nexus One with Android 2.2, 2.3

3. HTC Evo 4G with Android 2.2

4. HTC G2 with Android 2.2

5. Samsung Nexus S with Android 2.3.

I want to point out that it is running on certain rooted devices as well. I am running CyanogenMod 7.0.3 (with Android 2.3.3) on the Original Droid and it runs fine.

Same here; installs fine on an Evo 4G with Android 2.3.

Ironically, I have a Nexus S, one of the supposedly supported devices, running Cyanogenmod 7.0.3, and it refuses to let me watch anything because it says I have an unsupported device...

Did you get an apk or something?

He probably installed it off the Market- I can see and install it on my CM7 Nook Color, but it doesn't run.

I installed it and ran it from the Market on CM7.03 on my HTC Incredible.

I found the apk on an Android blog I follow (Droid Life). Side-loaded it onto my phone.

From what I've heard, the device restriction has much more to do with DRM and TPMs, in regard to supporting the silverlight stack, than actual hardware for video playback. There's a very real possibility that many newer phones (and tablets) won't ever be supported.

If you can hack that, you can enable other phones and tablets, and probably get it running on linux as well.

I just tried this and I'm honestly amazed at the quality of the video over 3G. There was a bit of blockiness but nothing too bad and no stuttering at all.

If they can make it available for Android, can we have it for Linux in general? That's the one thing holding me back from renewing my subscription.

it's not available for all of Android just yet - it is limited to a set of < 10 devices for now... so I'm guessing open Linux support is a while away

According to the keynote at Google I/O, Google has been working with Netflix to get it working on Chromebooks. I would hope this means inside the Chrome browser everywhere.

I really hope it runs in all Chrome browsers.

However, at the very least, Linux users should now be able to run ChromeOS in a VM instead of Windows for Netflix.

they've already announced HTML5 support with chrome and native client.

How do they plan to do content protection in the <video> tag?

thats what I think they are using native client for security/DRM

http://code.google.com/p/nativeclient/

Is Netflix using WebM too?

Doubtful since Netflix already runs on several Linux devices, most notably the Roku, the Boxee Box and the WD Live TV. Just like with android devices it all comes down to built DRM which regular Linux distributions will not support.

If Android tablets are to succeed with consumers, it's apps like Netflix which will prove instrumental in the uptake. One of the few reasons I went for iPad 2 vs. an Android tablet is Netflix support. Even HP TouchPad promises Netflix streaming when it'll launch and Windows Phone + iPhone already support Netflix streaming.

direct link to market https://market.android.com/details?id=com.netflix.mediaclien...

Looks like this is only for US-based Netflix customers? It's not showing up in the Market for me (I'm on a N1 with Android 2.3).

Yeah, just like with iOS devices. Probably because it would be too confusing for potential downloaders who then couldn't access it anyways due to blocked IPs.

Never mind that it's still legal to cross borders with your phones/tablets. Couldn't watch netflix on my iPad when I was in the US recently, unless I go through all the trouble of changing my market place (which requires a US credit card yadda yadda).

Link is broken - and page cannot be found on the blog either.

> Page not found > Sorry, the page you were looking for in the blog The Official Netflix Blog does not exist.

(result of blogger outage?)

They write a native app for Android, but iPhone/iPad gets the crappy web app that tries to pretend it's native stuffed in a UIWebView. I swear that thing has the worst UX experience ever.

Yes it's painful. I find it's best to use safari to browse netflix and then when a video plays it launches the app.

Funny how netflix constantly sends surveys about picture quality (which is always fine) and their website ui is so clunky and broken.

Those surveys are probably part of the reason why their picture quality is always fine.

only the ipad app is like that now. The iphone version has been "native" for quite a while now.

it's not "native". look at the UIToolbar (or the fact that it's not a UIToolBar but an html div with transparent pngs). Look at the UITableView/UIScrollView (or the fact that it's not as but that it's a div with content scrollable and it's on magic javascript fake the same "feel" of a native app)...

It's a webapp. It just pretends to be native by being wrapped in a UIWebView and uses AVFoundation to play videos and stuffed gingerly on to the app store.

See this: http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/03/sxsw-mistakes-mad...

and this: http://www.slideshare.net/kentbrew/mistakes-i-made-building-...

If it makes you feel better, their native app for Android is pretty broken too. The most obvious problem is that it can't rotate; the app only runs in vertical mode. The first page it brings you to is the login page; you flip your phone open to get at the keyboard, and the app doesn't rotate. I've never seen that before, anywhere. The rest of the app is the same way; all vertical.

Different screens seem to have trouble refreshing, also. The search screen, for example, sometimes won't show search results when you search. Instead, it sends you back to the home screen after searching. You can flip back to the search screen, and your results are there, so it's working, but just in an amusingly buggy manner.

Aside from the obvious UI bugs, the actual core functionality (streaming Netflix) seems pretty solid. I haven't played with it much, and since my phone (G2) doesn't have HDMI out I'm not sure how much I will use it, but it seems to fulfill its core purpose pretty well. It's an amusing toy to have, anyhow.

The video for me runs in landscape.

Rotates perfectly on my nexus s with 2.3.4

How long until there's a browser extension/plugin/app/thing, I wonder?

Looking forward to this showing up on the Xoom.

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