NEW UPDATE: Why Sky Go isn’t on Android Jelly Bean yet
Early adopters are like brave explorers, stepping into the unknown, where sometimes dangers lurk. In the case of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean updaters, many have been met with a lack of Sky Go app compatibility. So we had a chat with Sky to find out what was going on.
It turns out that since Sky Go is meticulously built – the same attention to detail that won it Stuff’s App of the Year Award – there's plenty of testing to be done before it hits Jelly Bean mobiles like Samsung Galaxy and HTC handsets. According to Sky's research most users are still on Ice Cream Sandwich – with no complaints to speak of. And since Sky wants the same level of quality in the Jelly Bean version it’s working on testing Sky Go across the myriad handsets now.
All we could get from Sky by way of a release date was, "we aim to launch Sky Go on this OS as soon as possible." So sit tight and, in the meantime, why not check out this year’s Stuff Gadget Awards to keep you entertained.
UPDATE: We've gone back to Sky with your questions. And are awaiting answers.
1/ Why is Sky Go not on Jelly Bean when the developers have had the software for six months, Android 4.2 is already here, and Apple's already had two updates in that time?
2/ Why has Sky Go been blocked on the HTC Sensation since July and still isn't on the HTC One X?
3/ Android counts for nearly 50 per cent of the tablet market – where's the app for those users?
4/ When is the S3 LTE going to get Sky Go?
5/ Sky Go is available in HD in other counties like Germany, why not in the UK?
6/ When will Sky Go work on Android tablets and Jelly Bean mobiles?
NEW UPDATE
Sky has now responded. Here's what it had to say:
"We’re working hard on bringing Sky Go to HTC One series phones. Having experienced some initial compatibility issues, we’re having to carry out additional development work to make sure we deliver a high-quality experience. We expect to be able to launch into the HTC One series before Christmas. This is also our timeline for supporting the Jelly Bean operating system. We thank customers for their understanding and patience.
"Although Sky Go is used as a product name in other countries, those services are offered by separate companies. There is no direct relationship between the services nor their development teams. As for HD, although there are no confirmed plans to move to HD at this time, we regularly keep streaming options under review. At the moment our focus is on bringing Sky Go content to even more devices.
“We’re always keeping the smartphone and tablet market under review so that we can satisfy as many of our customers as possible. While we aim to distribute our content as broadly as possible, we do need to prioritise our development activity in line with customer demand. Therefore as and when devices reach scale within the Sky customer base, we focus our development work on them.”
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Comments
Danfrench
27 weeks ago
Can you ask them why it still isn't on the one x running ics?!
catfood49
27 weeks ago
Hardly the greatest ever article their Stuff, what exactly did you tell us? Any Danfrench is exactly right, why no HTC One X yet?
ajr37
27 weeks ago
Are you kidding me? This reads more like a cut and paste press release rather than journalism!
Have you read the complaints on Sky's forums?
Sky launched a version for ICS in May, the same week Jelly Bean came out. Since then it has been testing, with no comments or news, for SIX MONTHS!
Samsung has sold 30m Galaxy S3 and Android Tablets now account for 50% of tablet sales but still no Sky support.
In the meantime, Apple users have had two major updates for Sky Go and the BBC has launched its iPlayer across a wide range of devices, including Jelly Bean and tablets.
Sky have failed to communicate with customers, and Stuff is letting its readers down by listing this vacuous puff piece that contains no content and a very patronising conclusion to sit tight and wait. Shameful.
ajr37
27 weeks ago
Stuff - read the thousands of negative re views on Google Play Store. There are 4892 poor ratings of 1 star! Over half of all ratings and probably the lowest score for any corporate produced App.
How can Sky claim here that there are no complaints to speak of when there are so many in the store and in their forums?!
paulbrock
27 weeks ago
What arse is this? How about acting like journalists and getting some proper answers why Sky are so far behind on Android support compared to Netflix, or even the BBC? How about asking them why they support the s3 but not the lte s3,or why by the time ice cream sandwich was supported, jelly bean was out, and why they're doing the same again, not supporting 4.1 until the no doubt unsupported 4.2 is out?
Or how the hell its taken 6 months to check their app works on jellybean?
Just a thought.
paulbrock
27 weeks ago
Oh and tablets. How about having your App of the year running on your tablet of the year, along with catchup tv, Netflix and Iplayer?
(just running will do. Don't care about the "tablets optimized" crap, which invariably just means a semi-permanent sidebar)
applepieman
27 weeks ago
What a shocking article a useless explanation from sky with no possible counter argument or investigation from stuff. You have just become apologists for sky and alienated the thousands posting and complaining about the woeful support android is receiving from sky. Not only is jellybean not supported nor is the vast majority of android hardware.
Well done stuff great journalism.
stanley_knife
27 weeks ago
Really?! What complete horse b0110ck5, maybe stuff employs Lithuanian sheep herders as journalists, surely they must be the only people in the world that are not aware in all this time sky have released nothing - absolutely zero for jelly bean, they have not properly explained why, refuse the devote any technical support to any android threads on the sky forum, from a company that made £1bn pretax this year.
Even tiny businesses such as TVCatchup can deliver streaming TV that works on jelly bean.
Sense the collective frustration? I think you just opened a very nasty can of worms. Good journalism girls.
eSeM
27 weeks ago
If you check the Sky Go App on the Google Play store you may notice that 4,800 people have given the App 1 star and that is probably only because it can't be rated at 0.
Only 1,800 people have given the app 5 stars.
Doesn't look like a great app with lots of happy customers to me.
4 months and counting on the testing of the app for 4.1 on the Galaxy Nexus. They either have a deal with Apple that they will not admit to at the fear of losing a lot of customers or they are completely incompetent.
catfood49
27 weeks ago
excellent. loving the opinions this has brought up as it's been frustrating me for months and months as i have a HTC One X and a Nexus 7, plus a full Sky account I can't use on the go.
Stuff, any follow up word? Will you be passing these comments on to Sky and getting some real answers this time?
churchto
27 weeks ago
It works like a dream on ipad 3
But not on my smartphone which is a galaxy
I think that quality apps should be exclusive to apple
Virgin media anywhere launched yesterday....... But oops no android support at all and only wifi. So compared to its rival sky is way ahead
Sandman#1
27 weeks ago
"According to Sky's research most users are still on Ice Cream Sandwich – with no complaints to speak of"
Poor journalism.
No support for a flagship android device, (one X), the fact it worked for a while, then was revoked for a period of time on the HTC sensations was a complete joke. The argument about licensing and ability to stream through the Media Link is complete horse shit. Maybe if journos had the balls to highlight such shite, SKY wouldn't get away with favouritism towards Apple. I can stream sky go from my laptop to my tv with ease, why oh why that's such a controversial thing to do with your phone is beyond me.
The Play market really, really needs a negative star ability.
Sincerely,
A pissed off One X owner.
JonEM
27 weeks ago
Sky have ignored their android customers and provided no information other than to say they are working on it. A situation which has been the same for over a year since Sky Go appeared. It is not acceptable. Everyone with an Android should rate the Sky Go app with 1 star as I have to show their frustration. The article in Stuff is the red rag to the bull. People are very annoyed by Sky. I saw the article and thought it was great someone was finally looking into it, but then was angered to read the trite contents that look like they have been written by Sky's PR team. I have an S3, a Nexus 7 and a Galaxy Note 10.1 and Sky Go does not work on any of them. I have an iPad 3 which it does work on but I gave that away as I think the iPad is rubbish. Sky Go can never be called a good app when it is not available to over half their customers.
jdg28
27 weeks ago
sky is really por when it comes to android support i have the xperia s which is not supported at all and iam getting the nexus 7 too which is obviously not supported, i have contacted sky before about xperia and all i got back was keep a check on our page for new devices, i even suggested allowing customers to help them by dong beta with different handsets and getting feedback to help, no response to that one, tv catchup did this and thiers is a good app. A freiend said to me i should have chose my phone based on support for app & i said why should i . If sky got thier heads out of apples arses maybe android devices might stand a chance.
pcofcfc
27 weeks ago
I agree with all the above!!! Countless emails + commenting on Play Store gets you absolutely nowhere!!! I had Sky Go on the original Desire & it worked fine. I upgraded to One X the day after it came out and have been contacting Sky ever since!!! The S3 came out and was updated within weeks (still too long btw). It's not as if Sky are unaware of theses OS updates - they probably know long before Joe Bloggs does but they don't give a s**t!! Look for yourself on the forums(Sky Go for ICS for One X etc etc.) on Sky's own website and you'll see how angry people are as well as Play Store!!!Go on look now! I bet you don't!!
Fuming!!!
ajr37
27 weeks ago
Stuff
Still think that there are no complaints to speak of?
jdg28
27 weeks ago
i thought sky are a 'TOP DEVELOPER' joke
Dougzo
27 weeks ago
Why did I have Sky Go on my Galaxy S3 then all of a sudden I am getting told Sky Go is not compatable with this phone?????
applepieman
27 weeks ago
What does sky is "testing on the myriad of handsets" mean anyway you know how few sky go supports right?
catfood49
27 weeks ago
any comments Stuff?
sheepybach
27 weeks ago
After reading this article and the comments from other people and then no replies by Stuff to any of the questions asked about this unbelievable article I honestly thought I was on the Sky Customer Help Forum where any questions asked about anything Android get the full and great customer service that Sky is so proud of, it's called "Ignore Mode".
OK I can understand that you may be upset with Sky for pulling a fast one on you but that does not mean you need to ignore your members on here is it?????????
Luke Edwards
27 weeks ago
Thanks for all the feedback guys.
This article is simply the initial feedback as we begin investigating Sky.
We are currently digging deeper to get some real answers. Any specific questions you have please keep posting and we will add them to our ever growing list.
Check back soon for a full update.
ajr37
27 weeks ago
Stuff (Luke)
THANK YOU!
Careypa
27 weeks ago
Sky are incompetent. I can't believe what they are saying. A few facts here. Sky are developing this app for each handset which is pure crazy. They have been testing jellybean for over 4 months and haven't released on a handset.
One thing here isn't right. It took them 15 months to develop an app for android and then they cannot get an app. Tested in 4 months.
The sky team are insulting their customers intelligence by either lying or copy and pasting 4 month old responses.
I would appreciate any response that you can get from sky to get proper answers and the truth.
Yours hopefully.
Android jellybean user.
wul04
27 weeks ago
Patronizing and insulting our intelligence. My son writes better stories for his primary 3 teacher.
Sounds like your in the pocket of sky aswell...when will it ever end.
sheepybach
27 weeks ago
Luke, No matter what you ask Sky they will ignore or fob you off. Take a lot of fact's and figures with you and try to get them to say they are correct, lol ha ha one chance and that's no chance. No matter who you talk to you will get the same answer, Not many android user's in the UK, android tablets few and far between, any/all data showing Android market share is wrong. Their customers are happy et al.
Why I say the above is because I been through it all and have been fobbed off by Sky, banned from the customer forum for having the cheek to ask the same question 3 times, that is classed as spamming by Sky and so it was bye bye me, Oh by the way I still never had an answer. Here is the best of all, I asked Sky to comment on data showing Android Tablets now have a 48% market share and why are they still saying Android tablets in the UK are little used. Reply the data/information I supplied was incorrect and I should tell where ever I got if from they are wrong. That was when I knew that no matter what Sky have no interest in their customers or Android. Oh by the way the data I got from an article on SKY NEWS. You can't make this stuff up.
I really hope you can get some answer from Sky but I don't hold out much hope for you.
hobgoblin
26 weeks ago
Agree with all of the comments on here . Why didn't stuff ask when Apple update IOS there are no problems , when Android update they have to "research" the app for 6 months before they can release it.This smacks of incompetence or Sky being in Apple's pocket As for making Sky Go the app of the year, are you having a laugh ?, an app that doesn't work on an operating system that is far more popular than IOS?? (fastest selling tablet ,worlds biggest selling smartphone) I pay for the full sports package on Sky and am unable to access it on my Nexus 7. You need to ask Sky some searching questions , otherwise you cannot be taken seriously as tech jounalists.
Rant over.
hobgoblin
26 weeks ago
Good luck in getting them to answer any sort of question with regard to the Sky Go app on Jelly Bean , BTW.
sheepybach
26 weeks ago
Luke, If you really are going to ask Sky questions about their stance on Android in the UK you could ask why we are treated differently to Sky customers elsewhere.
Sky Go Germany has HD channels.
Sky Go Italy has HD channels, jailbroken/rooted devices can watch certain channels and Galaxy Tabs 8.9 & 10.1 are supported.
Sky Go Arabia has HD, android Tablets and Jelly Bean is supported, had it running on Tab, Tab2 and nexus 7.
To me this shows how little Sky thinks of it's UK customers well apart from Cash Cows that is. Yes they may try and tell you those have nothing to do with Sky here but if you look at BSKYB accounts it tell's a different story.
cnanthony
26 weeks ago
Below is just another example of the guff you get from Sky, who I chased for over a month to get this response in January. After that I gave up. I would love to know how they can continue to justify ignoring the majority of the market.
I understand that you are unhappy with the delay it is taking to launch Sky Go application on Android phones. As a paid TV broadcaster we are obliged to fulfil certain contractual obligations with our content providers. This includes the type of broadcast we are making available to our customer.
Due to these contractual agreements Sky holds with our content providers we need to follow few rules and regulation before before broadcasting any of their content. Sky Go is also a service that broadcast viewing service on laptop, Xbox and Apple devices. Hence, in order to make service available on a new platform of Android we need to get clearance from our content providers.
I assure you that we are in a process to make Sky Go service available on Android devices. Once the new application is approved and all the contractual agreement is signed , we will make no delay in launching the service.
I understand that you must be unhappy with the information provided, however; I hope that you can appreciate our position on this issue.
Kindly write to me if you have any other issues or need any other information and I'll be happy to assist you further. You can also contact our customer service team on 08442 41 41 41, where one of our advisors will be happy to help.
Kind regards
Toufique
Sky Help Centre
Albino Bunny
26 weeks ago
I asked them and they told me they chose a handful of devices in the market that were the most widespread to support.
This means it costs the least to implement while targeting quite a large audience.
Basically they're trying to increase profits by using it as advertising but putting the least amount of effort in.
Why isn't it on android tablets or for Jellybean users? Not enough people have them.
hobgoblin
26 weeks ago
STUFF--Thanks for asking the questions , pretty much all the questions I would like answering. I'm not holding my breath though.Sky have been appalling in their attitude towards Android/Jelly Bean users.
hobgoblin
26 weeks ago
Albino Bunny
Since when has nearly half the market not been enough users?. Have you seen the figures for the amount of Nexus 7 sales??. Go and check those figures and comeback and say "not enough people have them". Tosh.
Oh Have you seen the Sales for The Samsung S3 ?, which happens to use Jelly Bean.
Albino Bunny
26 weeks ago
Hobgoblin,
Yes, lately android tablets have a large user-base, so I'm sure they're going to *begin* development. I believe the reason is isn't on them yet is because android tablets didn't use to be as popular.
When was the S3 updated? Within the last month or so? Same here, Jellybean was used by relatively few users (and [probably still is), so they didn't bother on it. I'm sure development is also *beginning* here too since the best selling phones are being updated to Jellybean.
Once something's been very popular for a decent amount of time, it should get Sky Go.
paulbrock
26 weeks ago
ah well. thanks for trying I guess.
Still don't understand why Sky are one of the only companies to limit their Android app to such a tiny number of phones. Totally unnecessary. Just stick a caveat of "only model x,y and z are supported. Installed on other devices at your own risk"
'developing' for one handset at a time simply isn't sustainable and goes against the whole Android ethos. Apps that work on the Galaxy s3 work on the HTC One X (generally). You don't develop for each model in turn (and then again for each software version). I'm sure Google can help them with this.
catfood49
26 weeks ago
Can this be called a minor victory for people power? From what I've seen Stuff articles never get any comments and because this one created a stink with a number of people action at least there is a slightly better answer (slightly).
hobgoblin
26 weeks ago
As per usual BS answers from SKY. Android tablets have half the market. So when is it going to be enough ?. I really wish Sky would just say what everybody knows , they are in apples pocket.
Albino Bunny
26 weeks ago
For them it's a marketing gimmick, just like Sky Anytime. Making it as cheap and good (sounding) as possible to make the most customers switch over.
STUART123
26 weeks ago
don't even try to install sky go if you are running jelly bean on galaxy s3, I have just finished talking to one of their staff that was not even aware of a problem, I then asked him if he used an iphone (YES HE REPLIED) I then asked him to access google on his computor and look at the amount of complaints about sky go and android users running the jelly bean update, he replied we are not allowed to access google ?????????? TODAY Apple and Htc announce a new partnership/truce and guess what ? Yes htc are to be the first to get sky go to work on the jelly bean update. NOW SKY BE HONEST you are taking backhanders, your call centers are Apple dictatated and since ios6 took google off your outdated system, your employees are now using iphones. SHAME ON YOU "SKY" and SHAME ON YOU "TIM COOK" goodbye sky and hello soon VIRGIN.
BYE FROM STUART.
ajr37
26 weeks ago
So hopefully JB support next month. Hopefully that will also support 4.2 released today and Sky won't use that as an excuse not to roll out!
ajr37
26 weeks ago
Today, 13 November, Google rolled out an update to Android, still called Jelly Bean but Version 4.2.Hopefully, like good developers with a reputation for meticulous attention to detail and award winning application development, Sky have factored this update in to their schedules. As a result, when they finally release a version of Sky Go that supports Jelly Bean it will support all versions and not just a specific build number.
It would also be good to support multiple devices and not just one or two.
sheepybach
26 weeks ago
Thanks Luke, As you can see it's a waste of time as Sky & Android don't mix or want to mix. You have to give them their due that Android Tablets are not on their roadmap as it has not reached Scale with their customers haha, so instead of lack of market penetration as an excuse it's now reach scale for their customers. Sorry to say this is nothing new to sky android customers as no matter what they use what ever or say what ever and use their own data and ignores the rest. I wonder how many customers have to reach scale?? Could be 1 question to as Sky Luke if you are not knocking this on the head now that is.
sheepybach
26 weeks ago
Hey Luke if/when you contact Sky again can you ask them please why they are going down the route of single device development and not as a whole? As the way they are doing it means NO android device will make scale. Sky are the only media lot doing it this way and this goes to show their none interest in the android platform.
sheepybach
26 weeks ago
Hey Luke if/when you contact Sky again can you ask them please why they are going down the route of single device development and not as a whole? As the way they are doing it means NO android device will make scale. Sky are the only media lot doing it this way and this goes to show their none interest in the android platform.
hobgoblin
26 weeks ago
What do you , as a tech journalist think Luke ?. Are Sky justified in their lack of support for Jelly Bean?. Are they favouring Apple??. Is it fair that I pay Sky for their Sports package which I cannot access on my mobile devices because they are on Jelly Bean?? . Do you think the Nexus 7 and S3 haven't "reached scale within the Sky customer base?" , despite record sales.
I have been a Sky customer since their inception and the only reason I stay with them is because I am a football fan and their is no real alternative , which is probably the reason why Sky can get away with what they are doing.
"Believe in Better?" , don't make me laugh
Oh and 1 final question Who voted to give this app, Stuff's app of the year?, when it DOESN'T WORK on the most popular operating system?
hobgoblin
26 weeks ago
Don't hold your breath on support for 4.2. Probably take them another 6 months to "research".
sheepybach
26 weeks ago
hob,
If it goes to form Sky will take a min of 9 months before they support 4.2, due to the stupid way they dev the app. Odd that in Feb when the android app was released on the low number of phones they stated that they couldn't support more makes as they are hard to dev and takes time and money. Yet 2hrs after release xda had an akp out that worked on 90% of makes that Sky said they couldn't do Sony HTC et al and there was a lot of happy people around, you still had to have a Sky package to use this app so sky not lose any money and then they spent 6+ weeks making sure xda couldn't do it again. How childish is that.
AnkithPatel
26 weeks ago
It would be brilliant if Sky did recognise a world outside the iPad for tablet support.
AnkithPatel
26 weeks ago
It would be brilliant if Sky did recognise a world outside the iPad for tablet support.
JonEM
26 weeks ago
Based on the Sky responses, given Android phones are now more popular than Apple ones and that Tablets are soon to be more popular too (with 48% of current market share and growing), one is to assume that Sky will stop supporting Apple products very shortly on the grounds they are simply not popular enough?