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Google Play Movies passes 5 billion installs amidst coronavirus pandemic
Lockdown boredom has likely boosted downloads
Google Play Movies adds its first Dolby Vision HDR titles
Two 4K movies in the premier HDR format are now live
Google Play Movies has generally been late to the party when it comes to adopting newer video and audio standards. Its massive content catalog lacked support for UHD and HDR-enabled content for the longest time, and HDR10+ support was eventually announced a few months back. As it attempts to catch up with its rivals quickly, Google is now adding Dolby’s proprietary dynamic Vision standard for HDR content, but only for a pair of movies.
Google Play Movies may be gearing up to provide hundreds of movies to viewers for free — assuming they can put up with a few advertisements. The news comes courtesy of an app teardown done by the folks at XDA Developers, and with so many of us both stuck at home and trying to save money during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it's very good news, assuming it pans out.
Google Play Movies is still one of the best ways to purchase movies and TV shows online, thanks to its integration with YouTube purchases and support for Movies Anywhere. However, the service has been slow to adopt new technology. HDR compatibility didn't start rolling out until 2017, and support for the HDR10+ standard (which was created in 2017) is still missing — but not for much longer.
Netflix has been one of the largest movie and TV streaming services available since pivoting from its DVD-rental model in 2007. Despite mass popularity throughout the greater half of this decade, Netflix has managed to completely avoid integrating with the Google Play Movies app — at least, that was until now. We have confirmed that Play Movies can finally search for content exclusive to Netflix, as well as the brand new Disney+ streaming service.
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In a time when our media consumption — from video to music to books and more — is stratified across myriad platforms and when we just can't be bothered to download another application that'll end up taking precious space on our phones, Google faces the challenge of consumer malaise as it battles for its piece of those markets. One way it has tried to get people excited for apps again is with its all-you-can-eat Play Pass scheme. Another tool that the company has deployed in other countries and is launching in the United States from today is a loyalty program covering everything under the Play Store tent called Play Points.
Netflix may have paid 0M to retain 'Friends' for 2019, but come January 2020 it goes over to HBO Max. If you still want to have a show to play in the background when you're tired of 'The Office', you can buy the Complete Series Collection of Friends for $60 over at Play Movies, a cool $80 off.
This weekend is apparently "Ultimate Movie Weekend," meaning that digital rentals from studios like Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros are being discounted to as low as $0.99. A ton of films have been slashed to $0.99, $1.99, or $2.99, but you'll have to hurry — these prices are only valid until June 3.
While most of Google's core apps have gone through some pretty monumental changes in their adoption of Google's Material Theme, many of the other apps have been slower to take on a new look. In some cases, like the latest Play Movies & TV app, the changes are also much gentler, spanning over the course of a few versions.
Google Home can start playback of video content from plenty of streaming services like Netflix and HBO. This has been a thing since shortly after Home launched, but Google's own Play Movies platform was not included for some reason. After getting some hints last week that the feature would arrive, it's now official.
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Google's Home/Assistant have been able to pull media from your Netflix subscription for a while now, but playback for first-party Play Movies content has been unavailable. Based on recent reports, that may be set to change. For some, media in Play Movies can now be triggered for playback on a Chromecast by asking a Google Home.
Google recently launched a new feature that suggests various streaming services when you're looking at TV shows and movies to watch. The latest update doesn't appear to do any more than ensure that feature is available, assuming it hadn't already rolled out to you. However, it looks like there's still a little more to come. It looks like we'll also get the option to configure those streaming services and cable subscriptions to get better suggestions.
The latest version of Google Play Movies & TV is making the rounds, and this one has quite a bit to discuss. There are several surface-level changes, including a new bottom nav bar, improved support for Rotten Tomatoes, and even some rearrangements to the screens in the app. Digging a bit deeper, we can also see there's a new Guide screen in development, some degree of support for external content providers, and even a rating system for content.
Every week, I examine somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred app updates while looking for changes. The most interesting things turn into APK Teardowns or Download posts. Many of the remaining updates are unremarkable, amounting to a few bug fixes, routine updates to libraries, or even just pixel-level adjustments to layouts and images. However, there are usually a few updates that land somewhere in between. I don't want to spam readers with dozens of short posts, but I hate to ignore things that people might want to know about, so I'm going to wrap up the leftovers for a little weekend reading and call it Update Notes.
After Google's event finished yesterday, a stream of app updates began rolling out. Among them, Play Movies and TV saw a relatively simple update, but it has a couple of changes that are worth pointing out. The thumbnails for movie trailers are gone, but you can still watch them by tapping on the cover art. Also, TV shows now include the language of captions and audio tracks. A teardown also shows there may be something happening with Disney Movies Anywhere.
A number of new releases on Google Play Movies have seen their prices for UHD copies lowered substantially, and you've probably got Apple's new 4K version of Apple TV to thank. When Apple announced it would charge the same price for UHD as HD movies (with in-place upgrades - something Play is not offering, sadly), it was probably inevitable that other streaming movie platforms would see their prices drop, as well. Amazon's already doing it, so Play Movies is just playing catch-up here.
'The Pilot,' the first episode of Doctor Who season 10, aired yesterday worldwide. The new season comes about a year and a half after the final episode of season 9, so it's been quite the wait for fans of the show. To celebrate, the episode is currently free on Google Play, along with the first episode of Class, the latest Doctor Who spinoff.
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Until recently, the SHIELD Android TV was the only Google-y device that could output 4K video. Now, there's the Chromecast Ultra and the Mi Box, which gives Google some reason to actually make 4K video available. Play Movies didn't include this option when the devices launched, but now it appears to be rolling out.