[New App Hands-On] RemotePlay Is A Fantastic Idea For Cross-Device Media Streaming, But Right Now It's Basically Unusable
A few days ago, a pair of apps called RemotePlay and RemotePlayM by new Android developer Piddas21, a subsidiary of Taiwanese Quanta Computer, hit the Play Store ahead of SXSW. The idea is great - media and document sharing in real-time, across multiple platforms, such as Android, iOS, and Windows 8. Want to easily stream a video from your Nexus 4 to your iPad? No problem - it should be as simple as dragging it to a bucket with your iPad's name on it, and voila - you're watching a video on the big screen.
Note: At the time of this writing, both the iOS and Windows 8 versions were still in development, though they should be coming soon.
I went ahead and installed it on 3 of my Android devices, intrigued by the proposition. Here's where things went downhill fast.
Hands-On
The first warning sign was the presence of two apps in the Play Store, with the exact same description. The only difference between them is one has the letter M at the end. There's no explanation for having two separate apps and no indication of which one I needed to use. As it turns out, RemotePlay works on tablets, while RemotePlayM is meant for mobile phones. Why such a distinction is needed in a 1.6-1.8MB app is beyond me - Android allows for targeting tablets and phones alike in a single apk.
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