Amazon Instant Video Now Available On Android 77
briancox2 writes Amazon has avoided releasing the Amazon Instant Video app that is on Fire and Kindle to the general Android market, even though the app has been available for some time on iOS. Now, after a workaround had allowed some users to install the app on Android by fiddling with permissions, Amazon has released the app to many devices calling it "Amazon Instant Video for Google TV". It's not clear yet which devices can run this app. Currently it is not available for older Samsung Galaxy lines, however the Nexus, a major competitor of Amazon's devices, can run the new app.
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The app (plugin really) installed on my Nexus 10 via the Amazon Appstore. You have to select the video from within the regular Amazon app. I have yet to find a video that is "currently available for this device".
Rather cumbersome (Score:5, Interesting)
Now if only they would add ChromeCast support... I know, we customers are never happy.
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Amazon isn't making you change the "unknown store" setting--that would be Google. Android OS is set to only accept Play Store unless you deactivate that setting.
Actually they are since they could've added the app to Google Play like they do for all their others. Kindle is there, as is the main Amazon App.
Re:Rather cumbersome (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Rather cumbersome (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm guessing that if Amazon had added it to Google Play Store, rentals would have had to use Google payments where Google gets 30% instead of Amazon. That or it'd work only with Prime, not rentals.
That is an excellent point. I hadn't thought of that. Like Microsoft's fight with Apple over their IOS Office app.
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But it is on the Google Play store.
It's right here. [google.com]
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You failed to note the "Google TV" text all over that app's page.
That version is only usable on Google TV, not Android.
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I'm guessing that if Amazon had added it to Google Play Store, rentals would have had to use Google payments where Google gets 30% instead of Amazon. That or it'd work only with Prime, not rentals.
The requirement to use their payment system probably doesn't apply to Amazon. Their Play policy [google.com]
has an exemption which says "where payment is for digital content or goods that may be consumed outside of the app itself (e.g., buying songs that can be played on other music players)". As long as Amazon lets rentals play through other apps then they're probably perfectly okay.
A more likely reason it hasn't appeared until now have been Amazon's own ambitions to run an app store and tablets/phones that are tied
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Oh yeah. Because we let mega-corps restrict the shit out of it.
Would you prefer that mega-corps not make their videos available for streaming at all?
There's absolutely no fucking reason either downloaded or streaming video should be tied to any one hardware platform or operating system.
Other than that older hardware platforms might not have enough CPU power, enough GPU power, GPGPU functionality, or the correct video decoder ASIC. Or that the company that funded the video's production wants some assurance that a subscriber won't just tee a rental into a capture program and distribute it without charge to the public.
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Or that the company that funded the video's production wants some assurance that a subscriber won't just tee a rental into a capture program and distribute it without charge to the public.
That's OK. Some clever person will have already figured it out for me. I don't know if they strip HDCP-protection from video and capture the stream, read it out of memory while decoding, decrypt DVR video files or what, but I've no video that I've ever looked for was actually protected by restrictive streaming requirements.
If the executives of a production company feel assurance that their stream can't be ripped in one way or another, then they're living in a fool's paradise.
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Would you prefer that mega-corps not make their videos available for streaming at all?
If it's going to be like this, where devices are more than capable of playback and it is an arbitrary decision to promote their own hardware then yes... fuck it, why should I care if that company offers streams.
Other than that older hardware platforms might not have enough CPU power, enough GPU power, GPGPU functionality, or the correct video decoder ASIC. Or that the company that funded the video's production wants some assurance that a subscriber won't just tee a rental into a capture program and distribute it without charge to the public.
Yeah, all of my devices[1], which can play Netflix just fine, are too damn weak to play the mighty Amazon Prime videos.( according to you and Amazon).. right. It's not like they stream in a supported format that almost... wait, as far as I know ALL android devices have support for H.264/263/ and a fe
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Would you prefer that mega-corps not make their videos available for streaming at all?
No, I'd rather that copyright on music and video be contingent on distribution in a form that does not lock customers into a particular platform.
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What makes video special, that all the usual market forces, customer preferences, history of past failures and successes, technologists' advice, and common sense, are suddenly so irrelevant or suspicious?
Probably the fact that it costs so much more to produce an entire feature film or TV series than an entire album. As for the accusation of Amazon being unwilling to sell you something, it's perfectly willing to sell you DVD or BD video, just as you mentioned CD audio.
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Weird - works on my Note 2. Playback stutters some so far but not too bad.
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Says my Note 10 2014 isn't supported yet. Like @dbrueck stated, it does work on my Note 2 as well.
BUT, I did get it working on my Note 10 Tablet.
I copied both the Amazon Store apk and the video player apk files from my Note 2 over and side loaded them on to my Note 10 tablet. I loaded up the store and went to the videos and it worked. I didn't buy or rent but the movie trailers play which didn't before. Movie trailer playback was smooth on both devices.
Make sure you're using the NON-TABLET version of th
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Works on my Note 3.
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Here's the Play Store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.avod&hl=en [google.com]. That page says it's not compatible with my Galaxy Tab 4 8". :(
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Says my Nexus 7 is not compatible.
Rats.
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Not compatible with my Nexus 10, Tab S 10.5, or S5. Hopefully that list will get updated soon.
Glad Amazon finally pulled their collective head out. Like I was going to buy their tablet just for that one function.
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Did the long route and used the basic Amazon app to install the Amazon App Store and, from there, install Instant Video. Works great on my S5 but, when I try to run Instant Video on my tablets, it tell me to install the basic Amazon app. Which is already installed. Someone screwed up some mundane detail. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon.
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UPDATE: It works now on my Galaxy Tab 4 8". Here's what I did:
-Uninstall the Amazon app I got from the Google Play app store.
-Install the Amazon app store by downloading the apk from Amazon.com using a web browser.
-Using the Amazon app store, install the Amazon app listed there and the Amazon Instant Video app.
Now, from the Amazon app, I can peruse the Prime Video selections, and watch free items.
A word of caution: after doing this, it enabled 1-click purchasing (it was previously disabled for my Amazon a
Re: finally (Score:2)
Due to Fire Phone Flop? (Score:4, Interesting)
Due to Fire Phone Flop? (Score:1)
Re: Due to Fire Phone Flop? (Score:1)
I thought their ad was pretty compelling, surprised it flopped.
Now that on think of it, I probably saw the ad on Hulu, so maybe nobody saw it but me.
But they maid the announcement it was coming in mid june, so I think they just rushed the planned release while still testing many devices.
Hate Amazon for this (Score:4, Informative)
I generally like Amazon. I am a Prime subscriber and I am supposed to be able to watch their Prime videos as well. However we're an Android family and do not have any iOS or Amazon devices. I have tried them, but I did not like them.
Netflix supports Android devices well. And I like them for it. Amazon is pulling these shenanigans in order to prop up support for their mostly uninteresting platform. Android has the largest market share and my family has 4 Android tablets and 4 Android phones. None of these devices can play Amazon instant video. Damn you Amazon!
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It doesn't work on my Nexus 10 (amazon for tablets app doesn't support it, regular amazon app isn't supported). It works fine on my Oneplus One.
I suspect that if I hack things to bypass the store device compatibility list it would work, but I haven't tried that yet.
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I generally like Amazon. I am a Prime subscriber and I am supposed to be able to watch their Prime videos as well. However we're an Android family and do not have any iOS or Amazon devices. I have tried them, but I did not like them.
Netflix supports Android devices well. And I like them for it. Amazon is pulling these shenanigans in order to prop up support for their mostly uninteresting platform. Android has the largest market share and my family has 4 Android tablets and 4 Android phones. None of these devices can play Amazon instant video. Damn you Amazon!
My wife has an Prime account, and we basically don't use it for Video's because its too damn confusing what you can watch for free, what's up for rent, or purchases. I really wish they made it so that Prime members could just WATCH a video regardless, with rent being for non-prime, and purchases being an optional thing in addition. Then we might actually use the Prime Video; but as it stands now it's useless.
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--I agree with you there. Having Prime is really good, but adding a streaming video to your Q on amazon and then getting "Please go to amazon.com to pay more $$ for this movie" when you try to watch it, is bogus. Netflix is much more straightforward - and has a better video library, for the most part.
--The only movie I've actually paid the extra $2 for was "The Raven" with Vincent Price, because it was rare and I hadn't watched it for decades. Everything else I just look for on Netflix and add it there if t
Devices that dont work (Score:2, Informative)
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Well I somehow managed to install it on my old Transformer Prime TF101, and it works "fine" with hdmi video out to a 1080p monitor... by "fine" I've had a bit of buffering but I'm guessing that's just because it's new and they're getting hammered.
The shenanigans were dreadful, I had to install multiple amazon stores for the tablet, then the amazon app store, then the prime instant video player from the amazon app store, then it worked... amazon says android phones only, but the tablet works. *shrug*...
At la
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It's not something we could stop. I think the apk checks the devices and decides to install or not.
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It doesn't work on my Nexus 10 either. It works just fine on my Oneplus One. I can't imagine they'd have bothering to whitelist the OPO, so I'm not sure what the logic is.
For certain values of 'available', apparently. (Score:5, Insightful)
I've got five Android 4.x devices that run Netflix and Hulu and everything just fine, and Amazon STILL won't let me install their fucking app on ANY OF THEM. So much for 'releasing' it.
Paying for Prime and possibly buying videos apparently isn't enough. If I want to watch Amazon Instant Video on something other than a computer, I have to buy their overpriced gimped non-standard Android tablet?! (Or even worse, an iOS device!)
Last time I was this pissed at them, it was when they suddenly removed THE ENTIRETY of "How It's Made" from the stuff Prime members could watch for free, not long after I'd deleted all my HDTV caps of it off my network drive to save space.
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I've got five Android 4.x devices that run Netflix and Hulu and everything just fine, and Amazon STILL won't let me install their fucking app on ANY OF THEM. So much for 'releasing' it.
time to do some hacking. you can diddle your uh, shit, this post would be a lot cooler if I could remember what the file was called... [googling] ah yes, /system/build.prop. There are various build.prop editors, and you can actually change your phone model there.
There might even be an Xposed module which will let you lie to apps about what kind of device they're running on, but I haven't looked into that at all. Just musing.
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It's a weird install.
I installed the Amazon app store, then the Amazon app from there.
The app now has a section for videos. When you pick one, it installs the plug in for you
Works on my cheap phone (Score:1)
Motorola support (or lack of) (Score:2)
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Really REALLY cumbersome. (Score:3)
On my Note Pro:
1) I had to have the (orange) Amazon "apps" Appstore app.
2) From within that app, I had to download and install the Amazon App. The one that has the blue shopping cart. Couldn't use the Amazon App available in Google Play, it seemingly installed the video app, but in the end, none of the videos were available on my device.
3) From within the Amazon App, I had to download and install the Amazon Instant Video Player App.
Got it? The Instant Video Player App inside the Amazon App inside the Appstore app. Dead simple.
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Link to App (Score:1)
Since neither the submitter nor the editors couldn't be bothered to provide a link to the app in the play store (let's face it, that would be too useful), here it is:
https://play.google.com/store/... [google.com]