Hulu has officially released the Hulu Plus app, which grants you access to thousands of television shows and movies on your smart phone, provided that you are a Hulu Plus subscriber of course. You can’t even access the app unless you are a subscriber.
The actual video quality is great. Whenever I used it, I had a nice, high resolution picture with very short buffer times. The app allows you to browse TV and Movies by what is featured by Hulu, most popular, recently added, alphabetically, or by network/studio. Of course, you still have access to your queue. I feel the queue could be organized much better though. It just shows you all of the episodes in a massive list, rather than organizing them by shows first and showing what episodes are available for that show, like the folder system they use on the actual website. If you know what you are looking for, there is always a search function to utilize, and you can view your viewing history as well. I just didn’t like how clunky the queue was when it should have been the most organized feature. You can, however, view your subscriptions in the “more” section of the app, which is much more like the queue on the actual website.
A problem I have with this app is just how many shows are only available on the web. Over half of my queue was not available on the app. I don’t really know why it is that way, but it’s disappointing. I also have some criticisms about Hulu Plus itself, rather than the app. I hate how we still have to view advertisements even after paying the 8 dollar monthly subscription. If it’s a paid feature, shouldn’t advertisements have been the first thing to go? Especially since the only time buffering issues occurred were immediately after commercials.
Still, this app is a pretty great mobile version of the Hulu Plus service, plus the app itself is totally free. If you are already a Hulu Plus subscriber, then you have no reason not to try this one out. There is a weeklong free trial of the service to sample as well. Check it out.
jallp82
I just love how people always complain about the advertisements. When you pay for cable is it ad free, no. You get a lot more ads with cable. I really don't mind the 1 min max commercial break as opposed to the 2-3min you get on cable that cost a hell of a lot more. If they took the ads out then it would cost more than than $8 a month, then you'd be complaining that is cost so much. The movies are presented ad free though and you get the HD streaming with that $8. I cut my cable and only use Hulu and Netflix works great for me. I get to watch both on my TV throug my PS3. My only grip is that it's not available for my phone yet. HTC EVO 3D.
Associated Apps: Hulu Plus