14 DAY TRIAL // Today, during the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, Mountain View-based Internet giant Google announced the availability of two new services for devices powered by its Android operating system, namely Google Movies for Android and Google Music Beta. The new movie rental service for Android devices is being offered to users straight from the Android Market, which should simplify things a lot, and was put in place for both smartphones and tablet PCs, the company announced.
Users interested in the new service should know that rentals will start at $1.99, with a 30-day rental period. However, as soon as users started playing a movie, they would need to complete watching it in 24 hours. Thousands of videos would be available through the service.
There will be applications available for both handsets and tablet PCs, with features that include streaming of videos from the cloud. Moreover, the service would also offer users the possibility to store the movie locally for playback when offline.
Currently, the service is available only for Motorola XOOM users who received the Android 3.1 software update, but it should arrive on handsets running under Android 2.2 or higher in a matter of weeks, it seems.
Videos available for Android devices will be featured on the Android Market's homepage, but there would also be portal for the Movies section, it seems. Once rented, a movie can be watched on the web, on tablets, and on handsets.
And there is also the Google Music Beta service, which was rumored to arrive on Android devices ever since last year, with some more solid info on it being unveiled earlier today.
The same as Movies, the new Music service is being released across a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablet PCs and desktops (through a web interface).
On Android devices, users would benefit from a Music app available from the Android Market for them (the same Music app that was spotted at large several months ago). The software was made available for download for all Android 2.2 or newer devices.
The service would enable the storing of music into the cloud, as well as streaming on the device while on the go. Additionally, it would come with an offline feature into the mix, for listening to music even when connectivity is not available.
Users would also be able to create playlists, access recently played music, manage their songs, and do other actions more, as can be seen in the video embedded below.
The music streaming should offer speeds of around 320Kbps, Google reportedly said. At the moment, the service is accessible only for US users, but should enjoy wider availability soon.
“Spend more time listening to your music and less time managing it. Once your music is online, it's always available. Playlists are automatically kept in sync, and you don't have to worry about cables, file transfers, or running out of storage space,” Google notes on the service's website.
