BBC iPlayer for Android Coming This Week [FROYO+]
Daniel Danker of the British Broadcasting Corporation has just announced the company’s plans to release an Android version of their BBC iPlayer app this week. It comes a year after an initial iPad offering that BBC admitted wasn’t their best shot.
Here are some of the key features Danker highlighted in their blog post:
- Watch live TV and listen to radio (not previously widely available on mobile devices)
- Access the BBC’s full catalogue of catch-up programmes; seven-days’ TV and radio on demand as well as series stacking (as you get on the web)
- A simple and intuitive design with high picture quality and personalised favourites (making the most of the touch-screen UI, and a popular feature on the website)
Unfortunately – due to the requirement of Adobe’s flash plugin – the application will only be available for Android devices with version 2.2 or higher and will need powerful processors and strong WiFi connections. He didn’t say whether or not the app would work without a WiFi connection, but it certainly sounds like one is recommended.
It’s a strange limitation considering so many other applications are able to provide quite-decent streaming media experiences over the slowest of 3G signals. BBC iPlayer for Android will be available in the Android market by the end of this week. [via Android Forums]