Real Networks has been a player in the Windows media world for quite some time. Their player has been excellent at some points in history and just as terrible at others. Fortunately, when dealing with open platforms like Android, there are usually some good benchmarks when designing new software – and Real Player is quickly becoming one, even in its beta mode.
Available for the Market for the horrendous price of FREE, Real Player is still a bit buggy, but the concept is amazingly good. Once the software stabilizes and becomes a final version, Real Networks is going to have a hit on their hands.
Highlights of the operational functions include: PC Sync that rivals iTunes in simplicity, multi-format playing that includes all your audio, video and photos, a download manager on the device and even a rating scale to let it know what songs you like the best from your albums.
The primary menu is very simple and easy to use. You have the choice at the top to select audio files by Playlist, Artist, Album, Genre or a full list of songs. You also can launch video or photo content as well with a simple click of that button.
Once you’ve selected how you want to view your collection, you simply scroll to the song and touch to begin playing it.
The player features a simplistic but extremely functional layout with track information at the top of the screen, album art in the center and play controls at the bottom. The touch screen is extremely responsive and the buttons are large enough to easily control the player.
Finally, after you’ve enjoyed your music library for a while, you might be tempted to watch a movie or two, if your battery can handle it. Real Player steps up big-time here. A quick tap of the video button brings up your movies. Another quick tap begins playback. When playing back a 640x480 mp4 video file, the playback was smooth and the video was crystal clear.
The player controls in video mode are equally impressive and responsive. Overall, next to Rock Player Universal, this is the best option for video playback that we’ve seen.
The player itself is amazing. The issues with it still being a beta keep it from being perfect though. Some random Force Closes and issues recognizing folders and files just drag down the experience slightly. The only piece of the puzzle missing right now from this beta is the fact that AVI files are not supported as they are in the Windows counterpart. Rock Player remains the only option for playback of this file type and it is by far the highest quality file for viewing.
Real Player Beta: 4.5 out of 5 - FREE
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