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Android Market Upgraded, Buy eBooks and Rent Movies 157

hypnosec writes "Search engine giant Google has quietly dished out an update for its Android Market mobile application store. The update, which bumps the Android Market version to 3.0.27, brings a new user interface and new content for Android powered Smartphones and Tablet devices. Users will now be able to purchase and download eBooks and rent movies."
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Android Market Upgraded, Buy eBooks and Rent Movies

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  • Android powered Smartphones and Tablet devices

    What about Android-powered media players? Is there an Android-powered counterpart to iPod touch for sale here? There is the Archos 43, but it doesn't come with Android Market.

    • The Android Marketplace has certain technical requirements that device makers need to meet to use the Marketplace which is here (PDF warning). IDK if any PMP meets those requirements, although I know as of 2.1 Google doesn't have telephony as a requirement, so they certainly could. Not sure why why the Archos doesn't have the Marketplace, but I bet not meeting the requirements is it. There are, however, alternate marketplaces you can install, many free, so I don't see it as an issue personally.

      • by tepples ( 727027 )

        There are, however, alternate marketplaces you can install, many free

        So how do I convince my bank to add its check deposit application to one of these alternate marketplaces?

        • Ah. Ummm, a strongly worded letter? Barring that, is it possible to sideload the app? I don't think any such PMP blocks that, the problem would be finding the .apk file. Also, its generally possible to get the marketplace working on such devices (this [androidapk.net] website lists instructions for Archos products, specifically). It really is a shame that Google doesn't work harder to make it work on all such devices, but I guess thats more the manufacturers problem.

    • by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

      So add the market yourself.

      • by tepples ( 727027 )
        Is using ArcTools to add Android Market to an Archos 43 Internet Tablet even legal? And will the Market still work after this update?
    • What about Android-powered media players? Is there an Android-powered counterpart to iPod touch for sale here? There is the Archos 43, but it doesn't come with Android Market.

      I've had this Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 for a few weeks now. Seems to match your description - not a phone but does wifi and app store fine thanks. Has good codec support. Ogg packs down audio really well too. There's a 5" version also. More info at http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=238 [anythingbutipod.com]

      Unfortunately the app store update to get books and films is US-only at the moment.

      • I opened the forum that you linked, opened the threat titled "Where are these things??", and read pages 1, 17, and 18. The links to buy the product were all broken, and the links to search results returned nothing relevant (mostly cases, no actual players) I read some pages from the thread that you linked. So I searched for samsung galaxy s wifi on Google Product Search, and the only result for the Galaxy S Wifi 4.0 was this [mobilecityonline.com]: "Expected Arrival Date: No ETA at this time"
    • Is there an Android-powered counterpart to iPod touch for sale here?

      What about the galaxy player? A new one is supposed to be coming in US Spring.

      • by tepples ( 727027 )

        A new one is supposed to be coming in US Spring.

        It's already over a month into US Summer and I haven't seen it in stores or on bestbuy.com.

        • A new one is supposed to be coming in US Spring.

          It's already over a month into US Summer and I haven't seen it in stores or on bestbuy.com.

          Im hoping to see them released soon, i don't particularly want Android as my smartphone OS but i do like it and would like to have an android device (maybe get a tablet when it comes time to replace my ipad) so if they have Galaxy S2 hardware in a PMP that would be pretty awesome.

  • maybe "without announcement" as it seems impossible to "quietly" upgrade something when it results in a changed UI...

    but at least we have a person to blame: he [itproportal.com] wrote it.

  • I've had the new market for I think about a two weeks now... it was released I think on July 12th. It wasn't exactly "quiet" (I heard about it the day-of), nor was there any great fanfare.
  • ...to just download movies and books off USENET or torrents.

    :)

    I'm about to play with Android myself soon..been reading up on 'hacking' a nook into a more fully functional tablet...for cheap.

    I saw a friends nook running cyanogen mod7, and all the stuff he'd downloaded for it, looked pretty sweet.

    • I bought a nook and put cyanogen mod on it. It has really performed well below my expectations. So much so that I haven't even bothered charging it in the last 2 weeks. Given the choice again, I probably would have spent a little more for something like the new Dell Android tablet that was reviewed on el reg today.
      • by rmcd ( 53236 ) *

        Out of curiousity, what do you dislike about the nook + cm7? I ask because I have the same. I put swype on it, and it works quite well for my purposes (browsing, pdf reading). The absence of GPS and camera is unfortunate, but I knew they'd be missing. Only problem I've noticed is that for some reason gmail doesn't sync well.

      • I'm also curious about how CM7 on a nook color was so underwhelming to you...

        Granted it isn't a Xoom, but it is $249. I installed it to the eMMC, OC'd to 1.3ghz, performance governor, installed launcher pro and I gotta admit it performs nearly as well as my Evo 4G did. I play games on it and they perform great. The browser performance sucks, but, that's the browser. Dolphin is a bit better, Opera is insanely smooth. I haven't done any modding or even tweaking since the weekend I got it. It really h
  • by stretch0611 ( 603238 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2011 @04:34PM (#36901546) Journal

    I noticed after a ASUS upgrade package for my transformer left me with a "Google Video" app. It can't be uninstalled, it won't play local media files, but it will let me spend money renting...

    The prior upgrade left me with a useless ebook reader that I was not allowed to uninstall (google books). As time goes on, the more frustrated I will get. When it peaks, I will root my devices and uninstall all the garbage.

    Hey google!!! I own the device not you... What part of "do no evil" allows you to put your crap I do not want on it??? If it is a choice and I find it useful, I'll install it and praise you. If I do not have a choice of (un)installing, I will never use it and curse you regardless of its usefulness.

    • Hopefully Google will listen to your rant and not include that bloatware anymore that we did not ask for - I mean, who asked for a kernel anyways?

      The next version will be kernel optional I wager.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It is your carrier, not Google. Google generally does not install any of its own apps forcefully, except the gMail app and Android Browser which are a standard part of the OS.

      I updated my Galaxy S and didn't get any forced app installs.

  • So where or how does one go about getting this new version? It didn't show up as an update when I started the market application just now. Is this something that has to go through the carrier?

  • I'm likely one of the few people here without a smartphone - is it worth it yet?

    It's an extra $20 something a month for the data plan, and right now I have a waterproof shockproof phone to mitigate the risk of shelling out a few hundred if my phone breaks.

    Am I really missing out?
    • Re:Worth it yet? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by PCM2 ( 4486 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2011 @04:56PM (#36901756) Homepage

      I'm likely one of the few people here without a smartphone - is it worth it yet?

      Depends what you want. I find it convenient to read and respond to new email on my phone, browse the Web from anywhere, pay my bills while sitting at the park, check Google Maps when I'm lost, calculate things (I have a full HP 48 emulator on mine), take the occasional photo of something wacky I see while out and about (and post it directly to Facebook), listen to music, and play the occasional game.

      Then again, as much as people rave about how important "apps" are, I have apps on my phone that sounded cool at the time but I'm certain I'll never actually use. Maybe you'd use your phone even less. What you get for the $20 extra per month is that anytime you're possessed of the desire to do any of these things, you can just take out your phone and do it, then put it away again. If the added cost of one dinner per month isn't worth it to you, then don't buy a smartphone. Nobody's forcing you.

    • by PCM2 ( 4486 )

      Oh, and my phone is a Motorola Defy, [motorola.com] which is reasonably rugged. Motorola is rolling out the Titanium [motorola.com] now, which supposedly meets military specs.

      • by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

        Is the bootloader locked? Does it also have that the shitfest that is blur installed?

        • by PCM2 ( 4486 )

          I don't know about the Titanium, but for the Defy the answers are yes and yes (though I don't mind Blur at all, kinda like it in fact).

          • by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

            I am going to be replacing my D1 soon and unless something changes I will be forced to switch carriers since verizon seems to not have any phones with unlocked boot-loaders.

            • by PCM2 ( 4486 )

              Well, I don't know how to explain it, but believe that even though the Defy's bootloader is locked, there is a one-click root exploit and you can indeed get CyanogenMod on it. I'm not 100 percent certain about this, though, because it's not something I feel compelled to do to mine, but if you like the hardware then you should Google it.

              • by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

                It means you are stuck with their kernel and are really only changing userland. Which is pretty lame.

                Nor will I support Motorolas decision to do this with my money.

            • If you're in the US, your choices of phone/carrier combinations pretty much makes it impossible to find anything reasonable by almost all definitions. AT&T's network is faster, when it works. Sprint's is nearly useless. Verizon at least has coverage.

              If you're in a big city, hope you don't use AT&T because the their network is saturated. They need T-Mobile's towers. I feel sorry for the T-Mobile customers, they got screwed.

              Which leaves Sprint, sucky coverage except cities. HTC makes decent phones tha

              • by Isaac-Lew ( 623 )
                You do know that Sprint roams on the Verizon network, right? There is a limit of minutes for free roaming, but I can't recall it right now.
              • by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

                Sprint roams on verizon.

                I would rather go back to a non-smartphone than use my money to support a vendor who locks out the user.

      • Thanks - sounds like the Titanium was meant for me!
    • It depends. If you own other mobile devices for functions the smartphone can also perform (playing media, handheld games, etc), it's probably worth consolidating into one device, especially when one of them breaks. If you don't ever feel the need to watch video, listen to music, read ebooks or play games on the move, then not. In either case, it's probably worthwhile keeping your old rugged phone as a backup, or if your doing any activity where its ruggedness is likely to be useful. It probably also has a l

    • by geekoid ( 135745 )

      I came to the cell phone party very late. I didn't want one until I could take decent pictures, view pictures easily, could hook it to any computer to load what ever data I wanted.
      Now I use it for so much more. Hell, just the other day I used an app to deposit a check. Awesome. I ahve taght several kids about constellations with impromptu demonstrations, The navigation is pretty good for my needs, it plays my music, and so on.

      IIF you won't use it for anything more then what you use your current phone, then

    • by hey ( 83763 )

      You don't need a dataplan. Buy an unlocked smartphone and drop on your exiting SIM card. Connect with Wifi.

    • > I'm likely one of the few people here without a smartphone - is it worth it yet?

      It was 10 years ago. How many devices do you want to lug around?

      > It's an extra $20 something a month for the data plan, and right now I have a waterproof shockproof phone to mitigate the risk of shelling out a few hundred if my phone breaks.

      Sucks to be you then. I am paying less now I have a smartphone. Note I never ring people or text anymore so that part of the plan is low.

      > Am I really missing out?

      Only if such thi

    • by daid303 ( 843777 )

      You don't need a dataplan with a smartphone. I'm using one without a dataplan (paying 7.50 per month for call/sms, got a slightly outdated android phone for 270)

      So, what do I use it for:
      * To call/sms
      * Email when I'm near WiFi (I don't need email everywhere, and I mostly do read-only)
      * Agenda, this is one of the most used features on my phone, having your schedule at hand is useful for a chaotic person like myself
      * Remote control for my media center, it's easier to select a file on a touchscreen then using a

  • I buy books from Amazon because Amazon Kindle will work on many devices. iBooks is inferior not only technically, but also because it only works on iOS devices. An Android ebook will presumably be readable on Android.

    iTunes, OTOH has players for iOS, Mac and PC, so that is a viable option. Not great, but Video tends to be heavily protected, so options there are limited. I presume Android market movies are for android. For renting movies, only being able to watch it on one device is not a big deal.

    • Once you "purchase" the rental of a movie (is there a better word than purchase in this situation?), you can watch the movie through YouTube as well - as long as you log into YouTube with the same Gmail account you used to pay for the rental.
  • Google is getting into too many areas for me liking. Maybe they aren't a monopoly but they certainly are leveraging their Android users into movie-renters, etc.
    Perhaps G+ will take over social networking. Its too much power for one company.
    I don't like it.

    • Maybe they aren't a monopoly but they certainly are leveraging their Android users into movie-renters, etc.

      Do you have to rent movies? Even if you want to do you have to rent them from Google's service?
      Pretty sure the answer to both of those is 'no'.

    • Oh, hey, Jim Goldman, didn't you Facebook people get busted a couple of month ago for astroturfing against Google? Give it up, man, everybody's on to you. [businessinsider.com]
  • Thanks to the GEMA (German RIAA) we won't get this in Germany.

    It's bad enough that we have to rent proxies to use Hulu, Netflix, Pandorra etc. but now we have to use proxies on our PHONES to reach the content we want to pay for? I'm really trying hard to pay, but I'm not sure how long I can resist the much simpler way: just pirate it. :(

    Is there even a way to fake being an USA citizen on Android? How much work would that be? X(

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