Netflix updates Windows Phone, Xbox 360 apps

By Mike Flacy Published April 11, 2012

Netflix_UI — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Announced within the official Netflix blog this week, the streaming video development team has upgraded the mobile application for Windows Phone as well as the Netflix application for the Xbox 360. In addition to a variety of performance tweaks for the Windows Phone platform to reduce crashes and increase responsiveness, the updated mobile app now allows subscribers to choose their local language and view subtitles when watching a film or television series through the streaming service. As of today’s update, Netflix has also made the mobile application available in the United Kingdom, Ireland and all countries located within Latin America. The application can be downloaded for free through the Windows Phone Marketplace, but requires a monthly subscription to activate the service.

Beyond the improvements to the Windows Phone application, the Xbox 360 application has received a variety of enhancements as well. While the last update to the application added Kinect gestures as well as voice control, the most notable inclusion within this update ties a user’s Xbox Live account to the Netflix subscription.

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This allows a user to log into their Xbox Live account on another Xbox 360 and watch video through the Netflix application. Other tweaks to the application include higher quality contrast for deeper blacks, a zooming feature that allows users to expand letterbox content to the full size of the screen and more useful navigation controls when skipping through a particular video to reach a specific scene.

For users of the Netflix application in Canada, the United Kingdom, Latin America or Ireland, the Facebook integration has been tweaked to include content that friends have watched and rated. Xbox 360 owners will find this data in the main screen of the user interface. Sharing control has also been improved to allows users to choose specific episodes to share with their Facebook friends.

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