With Android updates becoming a scarce commodity outside the circle of Google Nexus devices, the need for rooting Android smartphones is on the rise. Unfortunately, there’s a cost of doing business that might have you retracing your steps. Google has officially blocked rooted phones and tablets from accessing its movie rental service. Other paid online streaming services such as Blockbuster have also followed suit.
Protecting video content on Android is becoming Google’s primary concern. Concerns over video content security have plagued the OS; just take a look at the 10 month delay between the iOS and Android releases of the Netflix app. Now that Android 3.1 has added a new ‘Movies’ tab which provides HD movie rentals ranging in price from $1.99 to $4.99, Google is cracking down on rooted devices.
Rooted Motorola Xoom users are reporting an error 49 “failed to fetch license” when attempting to download movies. Meanwhile, Blockbuster has taken similar steps with its Android app. A Widevine Error will appear alerting a rooted Android user, “TamperDetected: Device detected as rooted”, and preventing any sort of video playback. Google Movies and Blockbuster might be the only video streaming services blocking rooted devices now, but which apps are next?
In related Android news, DigiTimes is reporting the HTC 10.1-inch Puccini tablet will begin “volume production” this June. The tablet will be powered by a Qualcomm MSM8660 1.5 GHz processor and run Android Honeycomb 3.1.
