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If You're Still Betting On Adobe Flash For Anything Mobile, The Joke's On You
Business Insider ^ | 02/21/2011 | Dan Frommer

Posted on 02/21/2011 3:51:57 PM PST by SeekAndFind

Motorola's Xoom tablet, the first serious Google Android rival to Apple's iPad, will ship without Adobe Flash support. Big shocker. (Not really.)

This is surely a disappointment to Motorola, Adobe, and Google. But to anyone who has been watching Adobe fumble with Flash on mobile devices for as long as we have, it's hardly a surprise.

Since the middle of last decade, we have heard Adobe time and time again promise to ship versions of Flash for mobile devices that can perform adequately without destroying battery life. We still haven't seen one, and apparently the Xoom won't initially ship with one, either.

In theory, we understand why Flash -- which is ubiquitous on the PC desktop web, for things like video, games, and advertising -- would be nice to have on a mobile device or tablet. (We were once even excited enough to suggest that Palm could beat Apple's iPhone with a Flash phone. We sure learned our lesson!)

But even if it's technically possible to have Flash on your mobile device -- ideally, properly tuned to work without draining your battery -- that doesn't even necessarily mean it's going to do what you want.

Flash on the desktop expects a mouse, not a touchscreen, so some Flash websites may not even work properly. And forget about using Flash on your Xoom to watch Hulu; the video site historically blocks Flash on mobile devices. Hulu wants you to pay for its Hulu Plus subscription, which has customized mobile apps that don't rely on Flash.

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Society
KEYWORDS: adobe; flash; mobile; smartphone

1 posted on 02/21/2011 3:51:59 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: ShadowAce

at least there are apps ... sigh


2 posted on 02/21/2011 3:59:24 PM PST by tutstar
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To: SeekAndFind

Flash 10.1 works fine on my Droid. I do carry my
charger to work. The battery holds up about 10
hours in moderate use.


3 posted on 02/21/2011 4:13:31 PM PST by Myrddin
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To: SeekAndFind

They should just kill flash, it is a major fail.


4 posted on 02/21/2011 4:18:14 PM PST by dila813
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To: dila813

You haven’t seen Flash 10.2 beta — best HD around at 25% of its former cpu.

It has come roaring back...Xoom will have it in next release - guaranteed, when 10.2 goes live.


5 posted on 02/21/2011 4:26:16 PM PST by ImaGraftedBranch (...By reading this, you've collapsed my wave function. Thanks.)
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To: Myrddin

Same on my EVO


6 posted on 02/21/2011 4:30:23 PM PST by shadowcat
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To: SeekAndFind
Flash truly sucks. Besides crashing all the time, you have no control over aspect ratio.
7 posted on 02/21/2011 4:56:54 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum ("If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." -- Barry Soetoro, June 11, 2008)
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To: ImaGraftedBranch

I got a phone with the promise of better flash support, that was more than a year ago.


8 posted on 02/21/2011 8:38:10 PM PST by dila813
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