For the first time you can now download the official Hulu Plus on a device that doesn’t have the official Android Market app. Last week Amazon announced that the Kindle Fire would be able to run Hulu’s online video app for streaming movies and TV shows, and sure enough it showed up in the Amazon Appstore today.

The good news is that the Amazon Appstore doesn’t just run on the Kindle Fire… the bad news? The Amazon Appstore will only show you apps that are compatible with your device, and as far as I can tell if you’re using anything except a Kindle Fire you can’t download the Hulu Plus app.

While I was able to “purchase” the free app from the Amazon website using a desktop web browser, the app doesn’t show up on any mobile device I’ve tried. It’s not available for download on a Google Nexus One, Velocity Micro Cruz T410, or HP TouchPad.

Still, this is a big first step. Hopefully the app will soon be available for other tablets that don’t include the Android Market as well. The Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet will ship with a Hulu Plus app preloaded later this week, but it would be nice to be able to install it on other budget tablets as well.

The Hulu Plus service lets users watch TV shows and movies from the Hulu service on a mobile device. It costs $7.99 per month, but users also get access to additional TV shows and episodes which aren’t available to free users.

Hulu is currently only available in the US.

Online video streaming service Netflix recently announced that its Android app could work with nearly every device running Google Android 2.2 or Android 2.3. Now it looks like competing online video company Hulu is stepping up its game as well.

Today Hulu released an updated Hulu Plus Android app that adds support for 8 new devices:

• HTC Incredible 2
• HTC Evo 3D
• HTC Sensation
• Motorola Droid 3
• Motorola X2
• Motorola Bionic
• LG Revolution
• LG G2X

That brings the total number of Android devices that support Hulu Plus to nearly 20 phones plus at least one tablet.

The Hulu Plus app lets US subscribers view hundreds of movies and TV shows for $7.99 per month. The company also offers a separate app for Japanese subscribers. Japan is the only country outside of the US where Hulu service is currently available.

Online video service Hulu is expanding the number of smartphones that officially support the company’s Android app. A few weeks ago Hulu launched the Hulu Plus app for Android, but at the time it only worked on 6 devices.

Now the HTC Evo 4G, HTC Thunderbolt, and HTC myTouch G2 and 4G phones can also use the app. That brings the total number of supported devices to 10.

Hulu Plus is a subscription-based service which runs $7.99 per month. it allows US customers to watch movies and TV shows including content that’s not available from the company’s free, web-based service. That includes content such as every current-season episode of TV shows from ABC, Fox, and NBC.

Competitor Netflix doesn’t tend to have current seasons of television shows and typically only features episodes from past seasons. Unlike Netflix though, most Hulu programming includes commercials — even if you pay for a subscription.

Hot on the heels of Netflix, Hulu has released a streaming TV and movie app for Android. But like Netflix, Hulu isn’t making the app available on all Android smartphones just yet. Instead, there’s a list of 6 currently supported phones with additional devices expected to be added to the list later this year.

Right now you can run Hulu Plus on the Nexus One, Nexus S, HTC Inspire 4G, Motorola Droid II, Motorola Droid X, and Motorola Atrix.

In order to use the app you’ll need to be a Hulu Plus susbscriber. While the basic Hulu service is free (and ad-supported) in the US, Hulu Plus offers additional content including more episodes of current TV shows. Hulu Plus subscriptions have also always been a requirement for using the company’s iPhone and iPad apps.

There is also a “free gallery” with limited content for anyone who wants to check out the app before signing up though.

The new Android app supports streaming video over WiFi, 3G and 4G connections. You can also sign into your account on mulitple devices to pick up viewing a program on your TV or computer where you left off watching on your phone.

Online TV and video site Hulu offers desktop and mobile apps for watching videos without a web browser. But right now the company’s mobile apps are only available for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The folks at Engadget noticed a change to the list of supported devices this week though. There’s now a listing for “Select Android OS 2.2 phones.”

The Android app is listed as “coming soon,” and users can sign up to receive an email when the app goes live.

It’s not surprising that Hulu Plus for Android won’t be available for all phones. As developers at Netflix have noted, Android doesn’t include a system-wide DRM scheme to prevent people from saving video streams without the content owners’ permission. So it’s up to each individual phone manufacturer to put tools in place to enable copy-protection, and Hulu will likely have to work directly with phone makers and chip manufacturers to ensure its app works properly on each device.

In other words, there’s no technical reason Hulu, Netflix, or any other company couldn’t launch an app today that would stream video to all Android phones. There are already plenty of apps that do just that. But since Hulu and Netflix have close relationships with copyright holders which they kind of want to protect, they’re going to have to make sure that any mobile apps have digital rights management features.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Hulu is working with Qualcomm and Texas Instruments — just as Netflix is already doing.

Online video service Hulu has announced that it will soon offer its Hulu Plus service for Android phones. Hulu Plus is a subscription-based service that allows users to view more episodes of more TV shows than Hulu offers for free. The Hulu Plus service is also currently the only way to view Hulu content on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

Hulu’s web site is Flash-based, but Hulu blocks mobile browsers, so that even Android phones that support Flash can’t get Hulu videos to play unles you jump through some hurdles (which may, or may not work). So it’s pretty good news that Hulu plans to bring Hulu Plus to Android.

The bad news is that not all phones will be supported. You’ll need Android 2.2 and up, and even then only certain phones will be supported. That likely has to do with the way Android handles DRM… or rather, doesn’t handle DRM. Netflix has already explained that the reason it’s taking so long to bring its video streaming service to the Android platform is because the company has to work with individual phone makers and wireless carriers to enable support for the Netflix DRM. I imagine Hulu has to do the same.

It seems like some Samsung phones will be among the first to support Hulu Plus when it rolls out in a few months, since the announcement came during the Samsung Keynote at CES this evening.

Now that Netflix has finally brought their streaming video experience to the iPhone, it seems like a Hulu Plus versus Netflix client comparison is in order (via my 3GS). We’ll save the content selection and video quality comparison for another day, but some quickly comparable metrics are related to app launch time and battery usage. And, actually, launch time wouldn’t have been on my radar… except that Netflix comes up surprisingly slowly.

Launch Speed

On average and while on WiFi, from a cold start the Hulu app fully loads it’s first screen in about 5 seconds as opposed to the ~8s Netflix requires. On my 3G connection, Hulu came up in about 10 seconds, whereas Netflix took 18 seconds… or more. Ouch. Of course, your connections and coverage will differ from mine but the relative comparison stands: Hulu launches significantly faster.

Winner: Hulu Plus

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Ending months of speculation, Hulu has announced a subscription service for accessing TV shows on a PC, Mac, mobile device, or select Samsung internet-connected TVs or Blu-Ray players.

It’s called Hulu Plus, and at launch, the mobile version of Hulu will work on the Apple iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone. The company says other platforms are in the works, but there’s no word on which platforms, so it’s a bit early to predict if and when we’ll see Hulu apps for Android, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone devices. We do know that Playstation3 and Xbox 360 versions are on the way.

You’ll be able to start watching a show on one device, and resume on another, which is a pretty nifty feature. So if you’re watching on your iPhone on th etr

Hulu Plus subscription will set run $9.99 per month — and you’ll still have to put up with ads in your programs. So what exactly do you get with Hulu Plus that you can’t already get from Hulu’s free, ad-supported service?

1. Every episode from the latest season of currently running TV shows
2. Every episode of every season for select shows including The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Ally McBeal
3. All shows will be available in 720p high definition video streams.

You can sign up to request an invitation for early access to Hulu Plus starting today.

Overall, Hulu Plus seems like it holds a lot of promise — but it’s success will all depend on whether Hulu can offer high quality content that’s not already available from Netflix. Killing or reducing the advertisements for paying customers wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

While Hulu is launching the apps for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch along with the Hulu Plus service, it turns out you can download the free app even if you’re not a subscriber and use it to view a small number of programs available in the Free Gallery. But you’ll need an iPad, iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4, or 3rd generation iPod touch running iOS 4. The app hasn’t been tested on earlier versions of the iPhone OS.

The folks at Gizmodo Gizmodo took the new app for a spin, and they were reasonably impressed with the video quality, and reasonably annoyed by the ads, pointing out that 30 seconds seems like an eternity when you’re on a mobile device.

And NewTeeVee has a nice chart showing how the Hulu Plus content library stacks up against Netflix. Here’s a hint: For currently running TV shows, Hulu wins. By a lot.