Sky Go Outrage!

[Restorer]

The astonishing thing about the whole sorry affair is the incredible length of time it is taking them to get this sorted.

The Now-TV service was originally due to launch "in the first half of 2012" and "across a wide range of connected devices, including PCs, Macs, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, games consoles and connected TVs".

I am assuming the same development team are involved and that, since the launch date for NOW-TV has now evidently slipped, improving Sky Go compatibility has become mixed up with this larger project. My guess is we are still a long way from a satisfactory outcome.

As for Jelly Bean, thankfully it just seems mainly to involve an upgrade to the UI and so even Sky's little band of developers should not be unduly challenged..

[indefatigable]

I'm actually surprised by the level of outrage that some people have towards Sky regarding Sky go on Android. I'm an Android nut as much as anyone here (ordered my Nexus 7 Woot) but I don't get angry about it, and this is because I understand why it is harder to bring an app to Android than iOS.

iOS is a unified operating system that works across all the 3 devices that can support it. The main parts that are required for Sky Go are the same for all 3. Only the UI changes between the phone/mp3 player and tablet version. Also there is a limited number of devices, and limited number of operating system versions to support. All Sky has to state is that users must be using the latest version of the OS on their device for Sky Go to work, and this is possible because all compatible Apple devices can be updated to the latest OS (a few exceptions)

Android on the other hand is considerably more fragmented. If Sky stated the same for Android devices then a lot of users would be left out. If Sky said 'you must have Gingerbread or above' for the service to work then any phone that cannot get the Gingerbread update would be out. Also, which version of Gingerbread? Some phones will only be updated to one level, and there are multiple versions. Same with ICS, there are currently 4 versions of ICS that the devices can have. Hopefully all devices would be updated, but it's just not possible in some cases. And look at Honeycomb, it's only available on Tablets. Not a single tablet has Sky Go yet due to this being yet another operating system.

Jelly Bean will mess things up more, I agree. However it's understandable. It's one of the things that you have to deal with being an Android user. It's not a unified system in the same way as iOS, but hopefully once the ICS/Jellybean updates go out to more devices we'll see an update.

Though I can confirm that staff trials are currently underway for ICS devices (Galaxy Nexus, HTC One series etc)

[Scubbie]

I believe that much of the issues aren't actually bugs, but more related to the ability of many devices to display their video output on a monitor or TV. This will be related to Sky's licensing for the content and the result is that the Sky Go app has to disable this feature.

The daft thing to me is that a PC can easily be connected to a 50" TV and the sound output can be directed to your surround sound provided that your computer is able to. I know that I can do this with my Laptop, but it's ability to show 1080i or 1080p video isn't that great. However I am sure a more suitable Laptop would work just fine.

[highdef]

No abreviations please. what on earth is XDA.

[Paul1360]

Indef,
Nice reply and if all other media companies were in the same boat then it would be the end of it. But as all the others have their players working on a lot more devices than sky say will work. Look at the number of phones that sky allow to use SKY NO GO and they are the only ones as it's very hard to get it working on lots of phone makes say sky. Yet SIX hours after is was release there was an apk out that worked on most phone make and ICS and here we are months down the line and still sky have done nothing.
Iechyd da

[Restorer]

I'm actually surprised by the level of outrage that some people have towards Sky regarding Sky go on Android. I'm an Android nut as much as anyone here (ordered my Nexus 7 Woot) but I don't get angry about it, and this is because I understand why it is harder to bring an app to Android than iOS.

iOS is a unified operating system that works across all the 3 devices that can support it. The main parts that are required for Sky Go are the same for all 3. Only the UI changes between the phone/mp3 player and tablet version. Also there is a limited number of devices, and limited number of operating system versions to support. All Sky has to state is that users must be using the latest version of the OS on their device for Sky Go to work, and this is possible because all compatible Apple devices can be updated to the latest OS (a few exceptions)

Android on the other hand is considerably more fragmented. If Sky stated the same for Android devices then a lot of users would be left out. If Sky said 'you must have Gingerbread or above' for the service to work then any phone that cannot get the Gingerbread update would be out. Also, which version of Gingerbread? Some phones will only be updated to one level, and there are multiple versions. Same with ICS, there are currently 4 versions of ICS that the devices can have. Hopefully all devices would be updated, but it's just not possible in some cases. And look at Honeycomb, it's only available on Tablets. Not a single tablet has Sky Go yet due to this being yet another operating system.

Jelly Bean will mess things up more, I agree. However it's understandable. It's one of the things that you have to deal with being an Android user. It's not a unified system in the same way as iOS, but hopefully once the ICS/Jellybean updates go out to more devices we'll see an update.

Though I can confirm that staff trials are currently underway for ICS devices (Galaxy Nexus, HTC One series etc)

The real source of the anger revolves around the timescale and the song and dance Sky are making over it all. The app has been available to Apple users for virtually a full year now. It was launched July 6th last year. Sky took a further 7.5 months to produce the promised Android version which would then would only work on a half dozen older handsets - and even then only if you turned down the latest updates. It's now over 4 months since the Android launch and still nothing has changed. As for Jelly Bean, the source code has already been published and it will be a good four months before it starts to appear on devices other than the Nexus 7. Yet what makes me think Sky Go will be nowhere near ready to provide customers with an update?

As for your point about how complex it is to write apps for the Android system, everyone accepts that. But please remember there are dozens of other major companies producing Android video apps out there who have managed to keep up and for whom DRM is equally important - from Netflix to the MLB, from HBO to BBC iPlayer. All have successfully embraced the Android "ecosystem" and managed to keep the apps coming as the OS evolves - and most importantly have not limited their apps to a handful of models!

You'd think Sky were some kind of pioneers in this field if you were to listen to their twaddle. And that is another source of the anger: they are simply incapable of giving customers a truthful response. The fact is all along they have, for one reason or another, got it badly wrong on the amount of development resources they needed for the android project. Now if they could just say that and give us some kind of clue when we might expect the ICS update ...........

[Paul1360]

Highdef,
It's a group of devolopers who do all sorts of good things for apps
Iechyd da

[Paul1360]

Restorer,
What a very very good post you have done. All to the point and everything spot on.
Well done Sir
Iechyd da

[dog-man]

XDA is a forum (doo a google search).

Lots of software developers frequent it.


dog-man

[highdef]

So have you got the link where I can find the sky go that works on xda?