so why do you think we dont have flash, anyone else fed up

[Moxymo69]

Why the hell don't we (G1 and Iphone users) have flash yet? What is the hold up, I just don't get it

 

[lkosova]

Many phones don't have flash but agree that we need it. I have read articles that the G1 "might" go with Microsoft Silverlight, their version of flash, instead of flash. I think the details and testing might be in the works.

As long as it works with "flash" applications I don't care which version they use.

Larry

 

[Masonator]

Can you have a flash application built in Java? Wouldn't it have to be an application built by google? isn't it for the same reasons that Fennec isn't coming to android? Dont get me wrong, we need flash so bad its crazy, but we'll probably see a gold android release before we see flash.

 

[Dzeimsas]

Well... It will be a battle between Adobe(FlashLite) and Microsoft(Silverlight). Which one will hit a home run first is yet to be determined. If anything we will most likely see something released on the G1 before the iPhone. Being that Apple controls what software runs on the iPhone it might be a longshot that you will see Silverlight on the iPhone. Siverlight will have a better chance on the G1 since we all know that Android is Open Source. Earlier this spring Microsoft inked a deal with Nokia to run Silverlight on the Symbian OS. So we will see!

Being that I am a Flash/ActionScript Developer, Im hoping that Adobe will jump on the G1 first. FlashLite is great for mobile devices and in my opinion can be far more superior than Siverlight, it just needs to be implemented in a way that the Android OS can take advantage. Who knows, maybe I could do something about it... Hehe!

Some of the features of FlashLite:

- FLV support—including H.264, On2 VP6 and Sorenson video codecs
- Enables a more complete web experience on mobile devices by providing access to content and video created with Adobe Flash
- Faster performance
- Object-based extension mechanism for accelerated UI design
- Integrated authoring environment
- Multiplatform support

 

[MarvinAndroid]

Nice post Dzeimsas, thanks.

It's obviously not a technical limitaion.. it is some kind of political issue that has to be worked out... and it's probably just a matter of time. I read somewhere that Flash was running already on an early version of the G1... so at least a beta verison probably already exists out there.

 

[rushmore]

Since Flash is not a native function of the OS, won't such a function require more overhead due to Java interpretation? This is part of the program requirment of the SDK and the OS.

Coreplayer wants to port their player to the G1, but they are having problems because any new codecs must go through both GSstreamers AND Java.

The result is more cpu load and a more complex codec.

I think the flash delay is more to do with OS issues than legal or political ones.

Go to Corecodec forum for more info on the coded issue with Android.

 

[devolio]

Personally (and I'm probably the only one with this view here,) I don't mind that there's no flash support. Flash is a huge mess.

If they can't even get support for flash on Linux (as in, non crashing with more than 1 instance), how do they expect to get it working well on a phone?

 

[Kael29]

FlashLite3 is on some phones. Windows Mobile has it - the issue is that certain browsers aren't supporting it. The beta of Skyfire does limited Flash (Hulu.com works, but Pandora doesn't, etc). I believe the next version of IE-mobile will support Silverlight.

Just because an app has Silverlight, doesn't mean it's going to help us any. Most of the popular sights are using (at the moment) Flash. Silverlight is Microsoft's competitor to Flash, it doesn't render Flash content though. So a Silverlight website requires the Silverlight plugin, a Flash website requires the Flash plugin.

 

[android_goes]

I don't mind about flash as well. You would have much more limited battery life and in addition for streaming video you don't need flash at all. Even YouTube would be possible in the web without Flash. Looking at HMTL5 we will see Flash disappearing for presenting video content.

 

[ram100987]

I use linux on my desktop and flash has come a long way. I have not had an issue with flash for a while on the desktop. A few minor glitches here and there, like the layers being in the wrong order(drop down menus going behind pictures or other content) but no crashes or having to reinstall it constantly like I used to. Also, last I heard, adobe is all for flash in linux now which help fix these issue. I don't think it will be long before adobe can create a version that will run smoothly on th G1.

 

[trancemode]

we need flash! lol

 

[martin-f]

yes i have to agree

 

[richy240]

Eh, I think Flash is overrated. It's cool, but for development - not for the web. It makes things like streaming video easy, and it's cool for animations and interaction, but I hate web sites built strictly in Flash. That's not the web, that's an abomination.

But yes, it's be nice to be able to run little flash games, etc. on Android, as long as they're presented as a native application. I'd hate to have Flash running in the browser. As long as there'd be a way to disable it, I'd be cool with having Flash support. But I don't necessarily want it or need it.

 

[Deleted User]

i dont think anyone is refering to those flash-only websites.. no one likes those. they're talking about everything else that flash does to make our lives easier :] alot of sites use flash embedded in discreetly to make the site more interactive without being a nuisance.