I love movies and shows and a 10 inch tablet is a great form factor to enjoy them. There are a few options for watching movies on a tablet like Google Movies and Netflix. Those are great choices but they do cost money, specially the rentals which I think are still too high. The Redbox model of $1 a day rental makes it hard to shell out $3-4 for a rental on a tablet. That’s why the Crackle app is a great alternative to watch movies and TV shows for free. That’s right, I said full length movies and shows for free.
Crackle gives you the option to watch many movies and shows in full-screen. The choices are pretty good and aren’t just old movies or things you wouldn’t want to see. Some of the current movies and shows include Snatch, Step Brothers, Deuce Bigalow European Gigalo, Baby Boy, Seinfeld, News Radio, Japanese Anime and more. I definitely found the movie section to be better than the TV shows although Seinfeld is my favorite series of all time. Signing up for a Crackle account will let you add movies and shows to your queue and view your history. You have the option for push notification when new shows or movies are added. Any show or movie can be shared to Facebook or other apps. There is also an option to buy any movie your watching from Amazon if it’s available.
The app updates with 20 new movies and episodes each month with the typical genres like action, comedy, drama and more. You must stream over 3G/4G or WiFi to watch anything with no download option. The app is flash based and you should upgrade to the latest version for best performance on Crackle. Currently the tablets supported are as follows:
- Archos 101
- ASUS Eee Pad Transformer
- HTC EVO View 4G
- HTC JetStream
- LG G-Slate
- Motorola Xoom
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
- Samsung Galaxy Tab
Although Crackle is free and that’s awesome, there are a few minor issues. Obviously to support the free model there are advertisements while your watching. I watched a full movie and there were 8 commercials. But the ads weren’t too long and it didn’t take too much away from the experience. The quality of the movie is good but there is definitely a slight noticeable lag. I was on a fast WiFi so it wasn’t my connection and had to be related to the app. It won’t be much of an issue for most movies but might get annoying if your watching an action film or show. But you get what you pay for which in this case is nothing so don’t complain too much.
Crackle isn’t going to replace your TV but it’s a great option if you want to kill some time and watch a movie or a show. I would recommend checking if a movie is on Crackle before you rent or pay for it. I watched Step Brothers on my Galaxy Tab 10.1 without any problems and laughed the whole time as Will Ferrel did his thing. Crackle brings good quality at a really good price, so check it out.
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