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Netflix Available For Android
supersloshy writes "Netflix has just announced the release of a Netflix Android application for streaming movies to Android-powered mobile devices. As streaming movies requires certain features and specifications, only a select number of devices are supported for now."
Unless you root it...
http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/13/how-to-install-netflix-on-most-android-devices/
It will not brick it. Joe Sixpack will ignore it if it is not out of the box supported. Joe has learned helplessness, he is not interested in learning. Look around you are on Slashdot, not Joe_6pack.com.
I was excited by this... my Nexus One is on the list! So I clicked the Market link... and... "This item cannot be installed in your device's country." ... damnit! Netflix is available in Canada, why can't they make the app available? I use the Boxee Netflix app just fine here... sigh...
Android does use the kernel, but unless you install the rest of a normal userland that is pretty much were it ends. You might be able to run this app in the emulator though.
This has nothing to do with android fragmentation. The app runs fine if you lie to it about what phone you have. This is very clearly a business decision.
Enjoy your crippled devices, this android user is watching netflix on an unsupported device.
Once again the fragmentation of Android rears its ugly head.
How does Netflix intentionally not releasing their app for certain devices have anything to do with fragmentation? To spell it out, devices not on the approved list can run this app, Netflix just intentionally disallowed it. It's their choice and has nothing to do with Android. To wit, I have an OG Droid that is not on the supported devices list. Guess what? I installed the Netflix app and it works perfectly. The problem here lies solely at the feet of Netflix. Instead of blaming the victim, why don't you put your indignation to good use and shoot Netflix an email telling them how unhappy you are? Oh, that's right, because you are actually a troll. Now crawl back under your bridge.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
edit a text file and reboot.
Android, bringing you all the features you loved from the good old days of DOS.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
... and accept that you're running it on an untested combination of software and hardware
So, every application on every platform is tested on every combination of hardware that is available for that platform? Thought not. And that hasn't been a problem. Until the trolls dreamed it up as a way to attack Android.
with no guarantee as to performance
It runs flawlessly on my OG Droid which is by far the slowest and most memory poor of any remotely modern Android phone with enough market share to matter.
and no support.
Support? For a streaming video player? Troll on, brother!
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
Rooting the phone (often) voids the warranty.
Interesting. I have (had) a T-Mobile G1. The first thing I did was root the thing by downgrading the firmware, rooting, upgrading the firmware and the recovery partition and kept it up with the latest Cyanogenmod until the day it went kaput. I happened to be traveling in Pittsburgh when it happened. Went to the kiosk in the mall told them my phone broke, they switched it out for a new one. Lather, rinse, repeat on the Cyanogenmod.
I currently have a Droid from Verizon. It was rooted before I left the parking lot at the Best Buy where I bought it. Again, put Cyanogenmod on it. I had it for a while, then the screen stopped working when I would slide the keyboard out. Took it back to Verizon as is and guess what? Walked out with another one.
And if that isn't good enough for you, anybody clued in enough to root their phone is capable of flashing it back to factory.
You also, effectively, forfeit any customer support you would have received. 'Okay sure, type in *228' "Hang on, my leet custom ROM is different, so I'm going to type in %228" 'Umm, I'm sorry sir, we don't support leet custom ROM'.
Pure strawman troll bs.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
Nexus One is supported, so it definitely can't a hardware issue. My guess it's a problem with the carriers. Sprint devices comprise 4/5 of that list, and the Nexus One isn't locked to a carrier, so there wouldn't be a need for carrier approval (read: won't charge for bandwidth what Netflix isn't willing to pay.)
The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
From here:
Research is showing that the key piece needed (and why some OG Droids with GB builds are able to run it unmodified) is the Stagefright media framework. Stagefright is SUPPOSED to be included in 2.2, but it looks like most OEMs decided not to ship with it for whatever reason.
It looks like most GB builds out there have Stagefright installed (as they should), which would explain why they seem to work with nothing more than a quick tweak to build.prop.
What's interesting is that the only official mention of Stagefright I can find is in the high-level 2.2 changelog for developers, and even there only in passing. No API docs & no reference so far as I can see. Googling only gives me a bunch of posts on the forums asking where to get more info, with no answers. Closed APIs? on my 'droid? WTF.
Wonder why Netflix came up with this wonderful idea of using a media framework that is available on such a minuscule number of devices. Is it because it's the only one that has some hardware or at least OS-level DRM support, perhaps?