Will we soon be able to watch brand new movies on our phones?

“The Interview” is the most successful online release ever for a Hollywood movie. For the first time, customers were able to watch a new film from the comfort of their house and/or on their phone or tablet. Thanks to Sony Pictures Entertainment being hacked and movie theaters being threatened, Sony decided to release the film online at the same time that it hit select theaters.

“The Interview” then took in a surprising $15 million in its first four days of online sales and rentals. As the Los Angeles Times noted, “The Interview” was streamed or downloaded more than 2 million times over the holiday weekend after it was released on Google Play, YouTube Movies, Microsoft’s Xbox Video and a stand-alone website on Christmas Eve, the day before it hit theaters.

But will we soon be able to watch more new films on our smartphones/tablets? Not likely.

Movie theaters continue to resist shortening the window between theatrical and home release. At the moment, theaters have imposed a 120 day window (although, some can get the movie after 90 days). Theater operators argue that making a movie available in the home at the same time as it appears in theaters takes away from the theatrical experience and discourages people from going to the cinema.

Meanwhile, customers who go to movie theaters wearing Google Glass are being detained and threatened, customers who record and send twenty seconds of the movie to a family member are being arrested and customers who record a group of girls celebrating a birthday party at a movie theater are being arrested and jailed for two days.

Let’s not also forget theater owners considering whether it would be a good idea to jam cell phone signals in their theaters to cut down on rude behavior and piracy. Nevermind that it was illegal at the time to jam cell phone signals.

It isn’t all on the movie theaters though as movie studios have financially enjoyed such an arrangement with the theaters. The business of releasing a movie in the theaters, then on DVD and then on HBO/Starz has reaped the movie studios many billions of dollars over many years.

But with DVD business sales declining heavily and ticket sales declining even more rapidly, movie studios are suddenly realizing that they need to open up new distribution streams. The problem for the movie studios is that most money made by the studios does come from movie theaters. Movie theater chains know this and use this fact to fight back against movie groups that they do not like.

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For example, several months ago, Netflix agreed to finance the “Crouching Tiger” sequel. While the movie was supposed to be released on Netflix on the same day as it hit Imax theaters, most theaters across the country refused to screen the movie due to the Netflix availability. According to Regal, the nation’s largest cinema chain, they did not want to participate “in an experiment where you can see the same product on screens varying from three stories tall to 3″ wide on a smart phone.”

This comes after several major movie theater chains refused to show the comedy “Tower Heist” after Universal Pictures wanted to make the movie available at an expensive price to consumers after three weeks from its launch at the theaters. When movie studios wanted to offer $30 video-on-demand movie rentals after the movie had been in theaters for 10 weeks, movie theater chains revolted.

Another victim in this business cycle are smaller theaters who continue to complain about the number of restrictions put in place by the movie studios due to exclusive deals signed with the major movie theater chains. For example, when “Gone Girl” debuted in October of last year, a number of small-town theaters in east Texas wanted to play the movie. But 20th Century Fox made the film available to only one venue in Kilgore, Texas, while other theaters would have to wait another week.

Going back to 2005, one poll (via TechDirt) showed that almost 75% of people preferred watching movies at home. That is 10 years ago when someone’s movie choices with streaming services were much more limited.

The movie industry openly admits to running a distribution pattern that has worked for decades. So, while technology is changing, the movie industry seems intent on trying to slow everything done for their own financial benefit. They will continue to pretend as if Netflix doesn’t exist and will threaten to ban any movies that don’t allow the theaters an absurd amount of window release time.

Qualcomm demos Snapdragon 810 features in video

The Snapdragon 810 is now officially here, thanks to the chip’s début in the LG G Flex 2. Following the company’s CES press conference, Qualcomm has released a few videos to help explain some of its latest SoC’s finer features.

Performance is obviously a big part of Qualcomm’s latest processor line-up, but the company is also introducing some interesting new features, such as 4K video streaming, LTE-to-WiFi call continuity to prevent dropping calls as you roam around, and multi-microphone noise cancellation when recording video. Oh, and there’s a cool looking flying drone thrown in for good measure. You can check out the video selection below.

Are you excited for the next generation of Snapdragon 810 powered flagships?

Kodak licenses trademark to Bullitt for new Kodak IM5 smartphone

You may not have heard of Bullitt, but I am sure you have heard of Kodak. Bullitt designs, manufactures, markets and sells mobile phones in partnership with global brands, in this case with Kodak. And the company has just announced its first Kodak smartphone, the Kodak IM5, at CES 2015.

The Kodak IM5 is all about ease-of-use. Although it runs Android, it doesn’t use the standard launcher, or any of the popular launchers, but rather it has a special user interface that offers quick and easy access to key functions such as calling, messaging, camera and contacts.

The 5 inch device has a full HD display and is powered by an unnamed 1.7 GHz octa-core processor, which if I had to guess sounds like it comes from MediaTek. There is 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage.

Too many memories stay stuck on mobile phones, often because the process for sharing them is too complicated for users.

Since it carries the Kodak name then photos are central to the IM5’s appeal, however rather than make an expensive phone with expensive optics, Bullitt has decided to go with easy-of-use imaging functionality. The idea is that the IM5 makes taking, storing, sharing and printing photos quick and simple. That is not to say that the camera is bad, it has a 13MP auto-focus main camera, but the real power is in the unique image management software that lets users quickly edit photographs and either display them on the device, share them on social media or print them using a customized app compatible with home printers.

The focus (sorry no pun intended) on ease-of-use was underlined by Eileen Murphy, VP Brand Licensing at Kodak: “Too many memories stay stuck on mobile phones, often because the process for sharing them is too complicated for users; that’s why we’ve partnered on the IM5, the first device in a range of mobile products that takes our heritage and experience in photographic technology and combines it with Bullitt’s expertise in designing high-quality devices for a specific target consumer.”

Available in white or black, the Kodak IM5 will be available globally, starting with roll-out in Europe from the end of Q1 2015. The cost is rumored to be around $249.

The Android Authority team on the show floor at CES will try and head over to the Bullitt stand, and if they manage to get some more photos then I will update the post… Stay tuned!