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Sky Go, the app that lets Sky subscribers watch TV on their smart phone, laptop or tablet, is now available on the HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and Motorola Razr i — but still not on any Android tablet larger than 7 inches, such as the Google Nexus 10.
Sky Go updated to version 3.0 last night, with Sky Go Extrabringing offline play for your TV shows and movies for an extra £5 per month, or €6. That payment also lets you use your Sky subscription on four devices instead of two.
Sky’s offering a two-month free trial of Sky Go Extra, providing you sign up by the end of March. You can cancel the service whenever you want, but you have to give a month’s notice.
Sky Go works on all Apple devices, but Android fans haven’t had such good service, with only selected phones — and very few tablets — supported. Those devices now number 30, but if you’ve got an Android tablet that isn’t a Nexus 7 or Tab 2 7.0, you’re bang out of luck.
Here are the Android gadgets now supported:
- Samsung devices supported include all Galaxy S phones (including the new S3 mini), both Notes, the Galaxy Nexus and Ace 2, and now the Tab 2 7.0.
- The whole HTC One series is supported, as are the Desires (S, X and HD), the Incredible S, Sensation and Sensation XE.
- Google’s Nexus 4 and 7 are supported, but not the Nexus 10.
- LG’s only phone supported is the 4X HD.
- The Xperia S and Xperia T are the only Sony devices currently on the list.
- The Razr i is the first Motorola phone to be supported.
If you have one of those devices, it should work (of the new phones, I was only able to check it on an HTC One X+). There was previously a major problem, where if users of phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 updated their software to Jelly Bean, Sky Go would no longer work, because the latest version of Android wasn’t supported.
“Sky Go is currently available on v2.2, 2.3, 4.0, 4.1, 4.2 and 4.2.1 running on a supported device,” the company promises.
Some users are unimpressed with the update. “Sky, I give you nearly £100 per month, and yet this still isn’t enough! So you want another £5 per month for a feature that was previously free (and for more than four devices),” complains Lee Davies on Google Play, referring to older versions of Sky services that weren’t restricted to certain devices.
“Charging 5 pounds to watch content offline? Hahahahaha, is it April?” quips one anonymous app reviewer, while Aaron Tattersall thinks the service is “Excellent, love the fact that Sky Go is an extra free service to all Sky TV customers if I only want it on two devices. But for a fiver I can have it on four devices and watch downloaded content when I’m abroad or flying… Way ahead of the competition.”
“Your Android support is awful and until you find a way to improve your support of ALL Android devices, there’s no way I’m paying for a service I might lose access to if I change my device,” Jamie Kettlewell says, not unreasonably. “You need to add Nexus 10 support!!!”
“We will be bringing Sky Go to more devices over time,” Sky promises, “and will continue to assess demand to make sure we deliver the service to as many customers as possible.”
Sky has repeatedly said it uses its own data to monitor which Android devices are the most popular, but has never revealed that data, or its source. Android fans took to the company’s forums late last year, forcing Sky to respond to complaints it wasn’t keeping up with enough Android gadgets. Since then support has improved, but is nowhere near comprehensive.
What do you think of Sky Go Extra? Is your Android tablet still not supported? Blue-sky your opinion down in the comments, or over on our all-devices-welcome Facebook page.
