XBMC, the free, open source cross-platform media player extraordinaire, will soon be arriving at the Google Play Store, the company has confirmed in a blog post on its site. Although mobile iterations of software tend to be considerably watered-down, XBMC is said to be a fully-fledged, feature-rich port, and will be available for Android tablets, smartphones, or set-top boxes.
Currently, there’s only an XBMC Remote app for Google’s platform, but XBMC for android will offer local network video and audio streaming in the same manner as its desktop counterpart. This is great news for those who like to stream media through devices around the household, and what’s more, root access isn’t required in order to use the software.
Team XBMC has yet to unveil any other specific information with regards to the Android release, but have noted the app is now stable, and developers looking to get their hands on it will begin to see beta releases in the next few weeks.
XBMC has been in development since 2003, and has grown to become one of the most popular alternatives to the likes of Windows Media Player and Front Row. It started off as an Xbox-only application (hence the name), but since 2010, Team XBMC has brought forth iterations for Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, iOS and Windows.
Its versatility is unmatched, and as well as being made available for nearly every platform under the sun, hackers and modders have tweaked XBMC for use in a plethora of other devices, namely Smart TVs and set-top boxes. Such is the widespread use of XBMC, that spin-off apps have been created based on its code, and some of those – such as Boxee – have been officially certified by the XBMC Foundation.
The devs plan to offer more details with regards to the app very soon, so we’ll be keeping a close eye out for more info as to when XBMC for Android might be leaking into the wild, or available officially, whichever comes first to our front. For the time being, fans can check out the teaser video released via YouTube, which is embedded below:
(source XBMC)
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