I have been reviewing games since … well, since before the advent of smartphones anyway. And yet I have always managed to be able to come up with screenshots from my chosen device -Newton, Psion, Palm, Windows Mobile, iOS … but not Android. For some mind-numbing reason Android lacks a built-in screenshot utility.
No problem for many – just ‘root’ the device and install one of the many screenshot utilities on the Android Market. Heck, that almost makes it seem like it is sanctioned officially!.
But it isn’t – and that is one reason I have not rooted my Android device. Because every now and again you hear something that is broken or unsupported on rooted devices.
The latest? Renting movies on the Android Market. Apparently if you have rooted your device you cannot rent movies. According to Google’s own support site:
You’ll receive this “Error 49” message if you attempt to play a movie on a rooted device. Rooted devices are currently unsupported due to requirements related to copyright protection.
That’s right – having a rooted Android device does something to your ability to pass some DRM criteria. Which is interesting since even Apple doesn’t place those sorts of restrictions on their iOS devices – people who jailbreak their iPhones can watch iTunes movies just fine.
And another brick in the ‘open’ wall falls …