[Discuss] XBMC ported to Android

[tmetro+blu at gmail.com (Tom Metro)]

XBMC for Android announced
http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/13/3158413/xmbc-for-android-announced

  XBMC has announced its first full-featured release for Android.
  Introduced in a blog post on the developer's website, the open-source
  media sharing software is compatible with any Android-based
  smartphone, tablet, or set-top box for local network video and audio
  streaming. Unlike the existing XBMC Remote for Android app, XBMC for
  Android offers the full range of features found on the desktop
  equivalent. What's more, users will not be required to root their
  Android device to access the software.

See site for a demo video, though it's not particularly exciting.

The motivation for this port has probably been less about getting XBMC
onto phones and tablets, and more about the explosion of low-cost
ARM-based devices made to hook up to TVs. I've mentioned a bunch of them
on the Hardware Hacking list:

Pivos XIOS, Cortex A9 media player running Android
http://www.mail-archive.com/hardwarehacking at blu.org/msg00416.html

$130 Exynos 4 Quad processor dev board
http://www.mail-archive.com/hardwarehacking at blu.org/msg00413.html

MK802 PC-on-a-stick, Pocket TV
http://www.mail-archive.com/hardwarehacking at blu.org/msg00369.html

Via Android PC
http://www.mail-archive.com/hardwarehacking at blu.org/msg00336.html

NeTV: open source Google TV hardware?
http://www.mail-archive.com/hardwarehacking at blu.org/msg00214.html

FXI Cotton Candy
http://www.mail-archive.com/hardwarehacking at blu.org/msg00192.html

Raspberry Pi
http://www.mail-archive.com/search?q=Raspberry+Pi&l=hardwarehacking%40blu.org

(More info on the HH list: http://blu.wikispaces.com/Hardware+Hacking )

Likely we'll see a trend to move away from full-featured home theater
PCs to these small, low-power, yet still hackable appliances, running
UIs that can not only pull video from your local server in the basement,
but also stream video from online sources.

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/