Android High Five
Over the last few years consumers of television and film have been eschewing the traditional delivery methods of DVD and scheduled broadcasts, settling in for marathon streaming sessions of instantly available content instead. These are the top Android apps for doing just that. Lights dimmed, curtains pulled, popcorn: GO!
This Sony owned offering has full length movies and TV shows for free. It's library isn't quite as full-to-bursting as some of its competitors and it won't work natively in all countries, but there are ways and means just a quick Google away. It's far from perfect but there's some good stuff on there if you give it a chance.
Limited as it is to BBC content, the iPlayer is an essential download for any self respecting couch potato. With a wide selection of genres across its many channels you can watch documentaries, comedy and drama until the cows come home. With BBC3 going online only soon, iPlayer will be invaluable – and as it's the BBC; no adverts!
If you've just got to watch as it's broadcast, then LiveNow offers all the channels you know and love. It's as simple as choosing your country and what channel you want and you're away. It can even stream to Chromecast for that old fashioned, living room effect. Picture quality can be a bit blocky, but it's TV. On your phone or tablet. For free.
More hot free-ness here, with a fairly sturdy selection of blockbusters as well as a smattering of serialised viewing. The choice of television shows is quite limited but there are a plethora of news channels and a good handful of kids channels to keep the little uns quiet. Chromecast support adds to the ease of use.
Well, I mean it's Netflix isn't it! Sure, you have to pay a monthly subscription, but it's more than reasonable. Frankly, I spend more in a month on newspapers. It's library changes from one region to the next but another few minutes on any popular search engine and the world is your television. Or cinema. Big fan.
