Android's versioning problems are far from over. In tests this weekend, I found that none of the major streaming apps aside from YouTube work on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 I received during Google's
And that's after upgrading the underlying OS to the latest edition of Honeycomb, version 3.1. Knowing this, I wonder how any of us can be surprised that Apple's
To be fair, Apple users have their own issues with version 1.3 of the iPad edition of Netflix
Netflix also suffers from an ongoing spat between Liberty Starz
Nor do we have access to Hulu or Hulu Plus, which, although a bear to configure, also runs on my wife's iPad. Time Warner's
But you don't need to have a tab to have trouble with streaming apps if you're an Android user. The most recent version of Netflix not only fails to function on the Galaxy, but judging from user comments it also fails to work on the HTC Incredible and experiences some issues on the HTC EVO.
Color me mystified. ABI Research has already found a general hesitancy among consumers to commit to tablets -- only 27% of those surveyed in March told the firm they were "extremely" or "very" interested in buying a tab. Of those, 57% said they'd use the device to watch TV or download movies, whereas 56% called social networking a priority and 55% cited games. Only email (82%) and Web browsing (71%) ranked higher than streaming. How can Google expect to compete when its tabs can't satisfy one of consumers' most basic expectations? Should this gap influence Google investors?
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