Let's be honest here: Android's current multimedia situation is a mess. For one thing, the included music/video players are seriously lackluster; for another, there's no officially sanctioned way to buy songs or movies from an Android device. Though such features are probably in the pipelines, I believe these are issues Google needs to address now - after all, the iPhone has had these features since its incarnation.
With all the mind-blowing news coming in from CES 2011, it's easy to forget that interesting and innovative things are coming from other sources at the same time. Here is one of those sources.
A new service somewhat reminiscent of Shazam and Sound Hound has surfaced on our radar, but with one major distinction: this app does videos. Using proprietary algorithms and software (read: magic), newcomer Videosurf will not only help you identify what T.V. show or movie you're watching, but what episode you're looking at, summaries, actors, actor information, and all kinds of information you didn't know you were missing out on right there on your cell phone.
Android isn't exactly the most media-centric smartphone OS, but that may change soon, with the introduction of Honeycomb and more third-party media stores (like Samsung's Media Hub).
The latest development comes from Comcast, who is, apparently, planning to bring both live and On Demand content to Android tablets (and iPads) across the nation. The company hasn't announced much yet, but from the looks of it, we can expect to see an app (or a tablet-optimized website) that will allow users to watch live news, TV shows, and movies right on their favorite Android tablet.
Great, but before getting too excited, I'd like to know how much Comcast plans to charge for this - that trivial piece of information somehow escaped the press release (which can be found below).
Tunerfish, which dubs itself "a social discovery engine for TV, movies, and online video," released version 1.0 of its Android app to the Market today.
The idea behind Tunerfish is similar to the one behind 4square, only if you replaced locations with TV shows, movies, and online videos. In order to use Tunerfish, you can create an account or log in using Facebook or Twitter. Once logged in, you can:
You can read more about Tunerfish here.
Netflix for Android has been long in the making, and... well, it still isn't quite there yet. However, according to Netflix's Greg Peters, an app is coming early in 2011 - for "select devices," that is. Apparently, holes in the Android OS similar to those that often lead to piracy can also be used to bypass the common DRM system. Therefore, Netflix may have to work with individual manufacturers to add content protection to their devices. Great - even tighter restrictions are on the way.
Source: The Netflix Blog via Android Central
Sony's Crackle app has landed in the Android Market, and brings streaming of original shorts, TV shows, and movies to Android. The app is free, but requires a premium subscription to view TV shows and movies. At $5/month, the premium content isn't necessarily expensive, but after quickly running through the app, I'd have to say it's probably not worth it unless you're pretty desperate.
A word on the app itself: it's small, installs quickly, and runs smoothly. I still think it's lame that there's no better solution to purchasing the premium content than paying as though it were a separate app, but that's not really Sony's fault I suppose.
I'm not sure how much money Sprint spent on this but I'm sure whatever the amount was, they overpaid. In an effort to promote the recently launched Samsung Epic 4G handset and the new Media Hub, the company shot a series of short movies, all with the word "Epic" in the titles.
The website layout, production quality, and presentation are all top notch. What is not top notch, however, is the most important part - the content. Plain and simple, it sucks. It is mostly the opposite of I would call funny or entertaining, ends way too abruptly (yeah, they really are short films), and makes no sense in the scope of effectively promoting both the phone and the new media service.
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