After an early leak, Netflix teased us when its Android app all of a sudden started working, letting subscribers briefly stream its content to their smartphones. Since that brief window at the end of March, things have been largely quiet, as Netflix prepared a list of compatible Androids and readied for the app’s official release, supposedly to happen after the app premiered on the LG Revolution. Well, the Revolution was rumored to arrive today, but we haven’t seen it do so yet. Netflix must be in no mood wait even longer, as it’s gone ahead with publishing its app anyway, now available in the Android Market.
The good news is that there are some really popular phones included in Netflix’s initial compatibility list, joining the Revolution when it arrives. All of the following models currently support Netflix streaming:
● HTC Incredible with Android 2.2
● HTC Nexus One with Android 2.2, 2.3
● HTC Evo 4G with Android 2.2
● HTC G2 with Android 2.2
● Samsung Nexus S with Android 2.3
In its release announcement, Netflix says it’s working hard on adding to that list, and that it should eventually support the majority of Android smartphones. That’s quite surprising, as we had been expecting to see only support for the latest models. There’s also no mention of DRM contributing to the limited list of supported handsets; Netflix claims that the restrictions it’s imposing are due to a lack of standardized streaming support, requiring it to thoroughly test each model. If that’s true, this is fantastic news, at least for phones that pass the testing procedure.
If you’ve got one of the supported Androids and a Netflix subscription, head over to the Android Market and prepare to get your movie-streaming on.
