How to watch videos on Hulu.com on your Dell Streak
Hulu has yet to release an official app or allow Android devices to play videos from its website, but that doesn't mean it's been off limits. On the contrary, many users of the Dell Streak and countless other phones have been enjoying Hulu since last year's release of Adobe Flash for Android.
Hulu.com can be accessed via Splashtop Remote, PlayOn Mobile, and similar apps, sure, but your computer has to be on and running the respective software for it to work, which isn't always feasible. There are several versions of an unofficial app (not dependent on a computer) out there, but many of them need to be flashed via a custom recovery and/or involve more than a single file; the last one I used, for example, was made up of two .apks and a .zip that needed to be flashed to fix what was referred to as "demon voice."
Forget about that. Here's a very simple, single .apk way to get Hulu.com working with Flash 10.2 on your Streak.
Please note that I'm referring to watching videos from your web browser; this is not about the Hulu app.
Here's what you do:
- Uninstall any previous version of Flash you currently have on your Streak. If necessary, use a root-only app like Titanium Backup or Root Explorer to forcibly remove it.
- Download and install imneveral0ne's Flash 10.2 + Hulu.apk from XDA (StreakSmart mirror here).
- Change the Streak's web browser user-agent string (UAString). The process varies by browser, but here are the instructions for how to change it in the stock browser:
- Type about:debug in the URL bar and press Enter/Go.
- It will look as though nothing has happened but press the Menu key on the Streak anyway.
- Tap More > Settings > UAString > Desktop
- Go to Hulu.com and enjoy!
If these instructions don't work, there's a less noob-friendly manual method outlined here.
Full-screen mode (long press embedded video and tap full-screen icon in the left corner) is the best way to watch videos, as the windowed video is too small in portrait and strangely cut off in landscape, but it won't fill the screen completely.
Video quality depends on the video: some play smoothly and perfectly in sync with the audio, while others lag and can sometimes freeze during buffering. I've had more hits than misses, though, and until Hulu does something to "break" this (as they've done in the past), being able to catch up on your favorite TV shows straight from the Streak's web browser is a great way to take advantage of the large screen.
