One of the many knocks on the iPad (and iOS generally) is its very public and purposeful lack of support for Adobe Flash.
Obviously, one of the selling points for Android tablets (and phones) is the inclusion of Flash. So, when the Xoom dropped, its lack of Flash support was definitely a head-scratcher.
Last week, Motorola pushed an update to bump Android to 3.0.1 that set the stage for Flash 10.2, which was subsequently announced for March 18.
However, using this leak from Android Police (@androidpolice), I’m currently rocking Flash on the Xoom right now.
Looks like this .apk will work on both 3.0 and 3.0.1 versions of Android, although it’s reported to be far better on 3.0.1.
My initial thought is that it’s really nice to watch videos without a dedicated app, e.g. Comedy Central, South Park, and numerous other sites.
There are some hiccups though:
- Hulu blocks the Android browser’s user agent, just like it does with Google TV and all versions. I expect this will be something a modder will find a way to circumvent.
- You really don’t notice how many Flash ads exist until you start blocking Flash. I did this a year ago with a Chrome plugin, and it’s something that will really matters on a tablet, especially since all those ads will drain your battery and slow load times.
- Most Flash movies aren’t touch-friendly from what I’ve seen, so getting into full-screen or adjusting the volume can be an adventure.
So, do you care about Flash on a tablet?
