Netflix now available on the Android Marketplace

Brian Ambrozy 13 May, 2011 at 8:54am ET Article published in Tech

Comments

1. 
   13 May 2011 ~ 9:02am MAGIC ORLY? I've been watching Netflix on my iphone for months.
2. 
   13 May 2011 ~ 9:04am primesuspect That's okay. There was a time I was using text messages on my flip phone for months before iPhone could do it. Technology is like that.
3. 
   13 May 2011 ~ 9:09am MAGIC

   primesuspect wrote:

   That's okay. There was a time I was using text messages on my flip phone for months before iPhone could do it. Technology is like that.

   
   
4. 
   13 May 2011 ~ 9:30am AlexDeGruven You really want to start this debate, Magic? lol.
   
   How about we start with cut & paste?
   
   Edit for content: Apparently, since the device limitation is entirely in software, it would appear that it's pretty easy to hack your build.prop to make it look like one of the supported devices. Looking at making my Fascinate appear as a Nexus S as we speak...
   
   Edit 2: No worky on that point. Could be the 2.2 vs 2.3 thing. Will try a 2.2 Incredible build.prop next.
5. 
   13 May 2011 ~ 9:32am Troy Jensen Ah, if only "flawlessly" was the word I could use for my Incredible.
   I ran the leaked one from a couple of months ago (non-streaming) and it worked fine. The official app now keeps force closing without ever even loading.
   Still, pretty excited at even the possibility of getting Netflix streaming on my Android device!
6. 
   13 May 2011 ~ 9:40am Thrax

   AlexDeGruven wrote:

   You really want to start this debate, Magic? lol.
   
   How about we start with cut & paste?
   
   Edit for content: Apparently, since the device limitation is entirely in software, it would appear that it's pretty easy to hack your build.prop to make it look like one of the supported devices. Looking at making my Fascinate appear as a Nexus S as we speak...
   
   Edit 2: No worky on that point. Could be the 2.2 vs 2.3 thing. Will try a 2.2 Incredible build.prop next.

   
   Not entirely a software thing. Editing the build.prop on certain devices to read HTC Vision still causes Netflix to error out with a DRM error.
7. 
   13 May 2011 ~ 9:50am AlexDeGruven

   Thrax wrote:

   Not entirely a software thing. Editing the build.prop on certain devices to read HTC Vision still causes Netflix to error out with a DRM error.

   
   Yeah. It seems to be hit or miss at this point. I'm heartened by the fact that the Galaxy S line has the exact same processor as the Nexus S, which should mean it's a pretty easy hack to get it working.
   
   The problem might be a Gingerbread issue, though. And at least in Fascinate-land, video codecs aren't working correctly under CM7. People have gotten it to stream on the Fascinate, but only audio at this point.
   
   Apparently, there's a genericized apk running around, as well. Digging around for that one, too.
   
   Edit - Newp. Not that, either. At least not with FroYo. And considering the other non-working stuff still in GB builds, I won't be trying that for a little while yet.
   
   Edit 2 - Looks like the key is the Stagefright media framework. Some devices have it already, and some will have it in the near future. Someone's probably going to hack this in to just about every device they can think of as quickly as they can.
8. 
   13 May 2011 ~ 11:31am CB

   Troy Jensen wrote:

   Ah, if only "flawlessly" was the word I could use for my Incredible.
   I ran the leaked one from a couple of months ago (non-streaming) and it worked fine. The official app now keeps force closing without ever even loading.
   Still, pretty excited at even the possibility of getting Netflix streaming on my Android device!

   
   I tried it out on my incredible this morning, and it was great, even while sitting down in my 1-bars basement office.
9. 
   13 May 2011 ~ 12:55pm fatcat yup, watched some movies on my evo4G today over Jefferson City's crap 3G network, worked very well
10. 
    13 May 2011 ~ 1:56pm MAGIC

    AlexDeGruven wrote:

    You really want to start this debate, Magic? lol.

    
    
11. 
    14 May 2011 ~ 11:03am WagsFTW haha.
    
    But this is sweet. Especially while we can't watch Netflix on our Playstation...
12. 
    14 May 2011 ~ 11:40am NiGHTS Netflix on your PS3 should work, provided you didn't need to update the service anyway. Just ignore the error messages and continue attempting to connect. Users report 2/3 times and they're in.
13. 
    14 May 2011 ~ 12:02pm WagsFTW We've tried it all week, several times... didn't work.
14. 
    14 May 2011 ~ 2:27pm Chemriof

    Troy Jensen wrote:

    Ah, if only "flawlessly" was the word I could use for my Incredible.
    I ran the leaked one from a couple of months ago (non-streaming) and it worked fine. The official app now keeps force closing without ever even loading.
    Still, pretty excited at even the possibility of getting Netflix streaming on my Android device!

    
    Yeah, I am having the exact same problem, I'm gonna try to reinstall the app and If that doesn't work, I'll wait for enough people to complain about it that there is a solution available.
    
    
    Yeah, Reinstalling Worked.
15. 
    14 May 2011 ~ 10:33pm Komete It works incredible on my incredible Now I just need Hulu.
16. 
    15 May 2011 ~ 3:26am erichblas2005 Now all they need is support for droid x.
17. 
    15 May 2011 ~ 9:57am Komete You know erichblas, I wasn't too happy it didn't launch for all android devices. It made me wonder what app will I be locked out of? Looks like google is now getting its act together in terms of fragmentation. Would have been nice a generation ago.
18. 
    15 May 2011 ~ 9:59am Thrax

    erichblas2005 wrote:

    Now all they need is support for droid x.

    
    Many users are reporting it works just fine for the Droid X. Here's the APK: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10780260/com.netflix.mediaclient-1.apk
19. 
    15 May 2011 ~ 10:01am CB I was disappointed to find yesterday that the Netflix App does not allow you to turn off the screen and just listen to the show. Although, I guess that's not a feature many people would really want. (I had been looking forward to listening to some educational shows while mowing the lawn.)
20. 
    15 May 2011 ~ 10:07am Thrax Also, the XDA devs have released APKs for Netflix that have removed the device check: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1076150 -- must be a member to download.