As stated in my first and second blogiversary posts, the most popular post on my blog has been Video, Movie and TV Apps on the Droid, a collection of applications to watch assorted tv shows and movies on the Android based phones. It was a request from the comments of one of my other posts because VCast wasn’t available for the Droid at that time, but that has since changed. After a year and a half, it’s time to update the list.
All of the apps below can be loaded directly from the Android Marketplace by clicking install on the web page or by loading them via the Marketplace app on the phone. Most of the apps are free, so no cost is incurred downloading most of these applications but they may require a subscription cost after downloading. Some of the apps listed below also may not be able to be installed on all Android based phones.
- Cartoon Network – Watch episodes and clips from your favorite Cartoon Network shows and see a schedule to know when they air.
- Crackle – This free app requires no subscription to watch some top tier movies directly on your Android device.
- HBO Go – With a subscription to HBO, you can watch all of their shows, from Entourage to True Blood to Sex In The City to Game of Thrones, and movies that are currently running on the HBO channels directly on your phone.
- Hulu Plus – With a subscription to Hulu Plus, you can watch all the television programs available for streaming directly on your Android phone, including recent shows from ABC, Fox and NBC, like 30 Rock, Family Guy and The Office, and classic television programs, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and My So-Called Life. Additionally, you can view Miramax and Criterion Collection movies.
- Jetflicks – This app lets you watch streaming tv channels with a paid subscription to their service. I was able to try the demo version, which allowed me to watch an episode of Futurama or a police drama and the quality was quite good.
- LukLuk – Online streaming played that also plays locally saved files off the SD card.
- MLB.com At Bat 11 – Watch out of market baseball games, listen to live broadcasts of baseball games and more with this app.
- mSpot Movies – A movie rental service that streams direct to your phone. While the app is free, you pay per rental and have 30 Days to watch it and 24 hours to watch it from the first time you press play. I tested it out with a copy of Braveheart and the video and audio quality were excellent for streaming to mobile. They have an excellent selection of movies that go from black and white classics to recent DVD releases.
- Netflix – The online streaming portion of the disc rental service comes to Android. Stream thousands of movies and tv shows to your phone with a subscription.
- NFL Mobile – Watch live game video, listen to live game audio and get news about all your favorite football teams.
- SPB TV – A streaming video app that allows you to watch news, movies and video from around the world. Includes streams from local and national US tv news channels, music channels and older films on over 150 channels from over 20 countries. Of all the video apps I’ve reviewed, SPB TV is the best for watching the most diverse and up to date programming for free.
- Stream Media Player – The ability to play streaming videos from a preset list or connect to a server of your choice and view webcams. The video artefacts, audio occasionally stutters and pressing pause doesn’t actually pause the stream. Not really worth downloading.
- TED Mobile – As mentioned in the audio list because I find TED Talks so inspiring, streaming videos of the inpirational talks from the TED conferences streaming directly to the phone. The first video app I downloaded for my Droid.
- UStream Viewer – You can watch your favorite UStream feeds directly and clearly on your phone with this app, so you can watch all the puppy cams you want. You can also use it to broadcast, letting all your friends see what’s going on where you are.
- TV.com – Streaming access to clips to CBS and Showtime shows are how the app is promoted, but the real lure is the classic TV shows you can watch. MacGuyver, Beverly Hills 90210 (classic), Twin Peaks, Family Ties, and others to select from make this a worthy app to install.
- VCast Video – If your Droid is on Verizon, you can have access to VCast to watch episodes of television programs, movies, live sports and music videos.
- W.Tv – Although I cannot read Chinese, this is a great app for viewing video. you have the option of streaming or downloading any videos on the app. The DVD option in the menu gives you the option to download movies directly to your phone, like purchasing DVDs from a blanket on the streets of New York City.
- YouTube – It comes preinstalled on the phone with the other Google apps, but it is worth noting that you have access to a world of user contributed videos at your fingertips.
- ZooTopTen – An app that lets you stream the latest, most popular videos on ZooVision.com directly to your phone. Going to ZooVision.com forced the web browser to download the videos before watching, so this was a more convenient way to handle them. Zooropa also offers individual video apps for anime, like Lady Death, Speed Racer, Twilight: UNBOUND (for Stephanie Meyer fans) and others. While ZooTopTen is free, the individual anime are not.
The Android Marketplace makes it hard to find apps if you don’t know what you are looking for, but I find this list of apps give a selection to watch videos, and mostly for free. Since we carry our phones everywhere and often seek entertainment to pass the time, what better way than to watch tv and movies on your phone? If I have missed any apps, you think there are better apps than these or you would like a more in depth review of any of these apps, please let me know below.
