August 25, 2011, 7:38 AM — In the tablet battle between the iPad and, well, all Android comers, one of the best weapons that Apple has is support from third party services. Given how nice tablets are for watching video on, I'm thinking of streaming media services in particular. I'm sure that somewhere there's a service that streams content to Android and not to iOS, but I'm not aware of it. For the most part anything that streams to tablets streams to the iPad.
Netflix is the 800 lb streaming gorilla, of course, and it works fabulously on the iPad. On the Android side of things, Netflix is only officially supported on the Lenovo IdeaPad, and the IdeaPad is a recent release. Netflix seems to be concentrating on getting their service onto Android phones and ignoring the tablets.
[Update: According to Droid Life and its commenters, the ASUS Transformer just received an update that gives the device Netflix support. So we're seeing progress on the Netflix front!]
[Hulu Plus app arrives for six Android phones and Netflix HD streaming coming to non-existent Android tablets. And Latin America.]
While Amazon is trying to build up its streaming video service, thus far it hasn't appeared on any mobile devices, to the best of my knowledge. That should change when the rumored Amazon tablet ships sometime in the next month or two.
And then there's Hulu Plus. Hulu Plus is on the iPad, but wasn't on any of the Android tablets until yesterday. So which was the first tablet that got Hulu Plus? Was it the Motorola Xoom or the Galaxy Tab 10.1? Those are the two obvious choices, after all.
Turns out it was neither. It was the Vizio 8. If you're now scratching your head and muttering "Wait, what? Vizio makes a tablet?" then you're in good company. Or at least, in my company. I remember some vague talk about a Vizio tablet some time ago but wasn't aware it had launched, and I get paid to track these things. But sure enough, here it is at Amazon, ready to go home with you for $289.87 (currently). Apparently it quietly went on sale last week.
And while you can't watch Netflix on it, you can watch Hulu Plus on it. Here's the full press release which says, among other things, "The addition of Hulu Plus bolsters the entertainment value of the sub-$300 VIZIO Tablet, making it one of the most affordable, media centric, Android-powered Tablets on the market."
So does that means we streaming-starved Android tablet owners will be seeing Hulu Plus soon? Not really. Or at least, Hulu Plus's existence on the Vizio doesn't mean much for us, since the Vizio is running Gingerbread, not Honeycomb. So while this might be good news for Android phone owners, and maybe even for owners of the HTC Flyer or the original 7" Galaxy Tab, it's more or less meaningless to Honeycomb users. Just another reason Ice Cream Sandwich (the next Android version which should unify the OS between phones and tablets) can't get here soon enough.
So while I'm happy for you Vizio 8 users, my frustration with Netflix, Hulu, HBO and any and every other streaming media provider continues. Why can't we get these services on our Android tablets?! Google needs to back a dump truck full of cash up to the Netflix loading dock and say "Get your service on Android tablets while we unload this for you." It's time to get this done!
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