Google Videos Now Available for Froyo, Gingerbread
Google's movie rental service has officially arrived on Android 2.2 (Froyo) and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
Curious Android users who downloaded and installed the cool new Android Market app early also discovered a separate installation of a Google Videos app for watching movie rentals on their device. Although this leaked release worked just fine on the Motorola DROID with Android 2.2 "Froyo," the service was officially supported only on select Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" tablets.
However on Thursday we noticed that Google updated the Videos app via the Android Market, and according to the release notes, movie rentals are now available on all compatible Android 2.2 and Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" devices. As with the tablet version, the Google Videos app allows users to rent and stream movies on the go, or to download the clips for offline viewing when a connection isn't available.
As seen in the screenshot above, the app comprises of two sections: My Rentals and Personal Videos, both of which should be self-explanatory. Naturally the My Rentals section will show a list of rented movies ready for viewing, but it also displays a list of Top Rentals – right now it's showing "Limitless," "Sucker Punch," "Your Highness," "Hall Pass" and loads more. The Personal Videos section merely pulls up videos (personal and app-related dumps) stored locally on the Android device's SD card. This seems a little pointless given that videos can already be accessed via Android's pre-installed Gallery app.
Nevertheless, to rent movies, Android users can currently log onto the Android Market via a web browser and choose a title from the recently-added "Movies" section. There's also a Market icon located within the Movies app itself, but right now it leads to the newer, updated Android Market app which has yet to be officially released – this version includes both the new Movies and Books sections.
As with many online movie rental services, video is available for 30 days once consumers make the rental purchase. After that, rentals are good for 24 hours after the video is initially launched. The price of new movie rentals is typically $3.99 USD, and older releases seem to be a dollar less. To download the new Google Videos app, head here.
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$3.99 for a movie rental seems too expensive to me. Maybe I'm just cheap.
$3.99 for a movie rental seems too expensive to me. Maybe I'm just cheap.
I agree. Red Box manages it for a dollar and that involves an actual physical disc. Why is this so expensive?
My guess would be that while it costs more to manufacture a physical copy, that's basically a one time payment. People continue to rent from the red box, using that same copy over and over, where as online rentals continues to consume data forever. Red Box pays more initially, but then starts earning money very quickly, online rental has to continue to pay to keep it's service running smoothly, while taking a small profit with each rental.
My guess would be that while it costs more to manufacture a physical copy, that's basically a one time payment. People continue to rent from the red box, using that same copy over and over, where as online rentals continues to consume data forever. Red Box pays more initially, but then starts earning money very quickly, online rental has to continue to pay to keep it's service running smoothly, while taking a small profit with each rental.
Maybe but try explaining that to the rest of the world. $2-3 wouldn't be so bad. If I'm watching it on a 3 inch screen, I'd rather not pay a full price.
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How shocking, this isn't available in Canada (with a little bit of irony)
At some point in time the industry has to realize that if they make their products available at at price that is reasonable they will succeed, but if they follow the same (or higher) prices than a physical store they are doomed to fail. At $4 a movie its still more worthwhile to just download it from pirate bay. Or for those that don't mind paying, which is most people, just pay the $8 and have all the movies you want via netflix. Whomever thought this was a good business model should be fired.
At some point in time the industry has to realize that if they make their products available at at price that is reasonable they will succeed, but if they follow the same (or higher) prices than a physical store they are doomed to fail. At $4 a movie its still more worthwhile to just download it from pirate bay. Or for those that don't mind paying, which is most people, just pay the $8 and have all the movies you want via netflix. Whomever thought this was a good business model should be fired.
Downloading from Pirate Bay gets a bit more expensive if the MPAA pulls your name from their hat and sues you for $150k. Now that's an expensive rental.
BTW, streaming rentals are usually more costly, due to convenience factors, especially depending on how soon they get the release. This is especially true if it's an HD rental. Check Vudu or Youtube's pricing sometime, this price is comparable to that.
hey tomshardware.....cant you write a simple little script that detects advertising and automatically bans users....and also blocks ip's that were used, even if they were proxies...geez
The key to me is "or to download the clips for offline viewing when a connection isn't available."
I know most people have a limited cell data plan and can’t afford to stream very many movies. But if I can download via wifi at home then watch it on the road, that’s a more realistic option.