Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Editorials,
Let’s be honest here: Android’s current multimedia situation is a mess. For one thing, the included music/video players are seriously lackluster; for another, there’s no officially sanctioned way to buy songs or movies from an Android device. Though such features are probably in the pipelines, I believe these are issues Google needs to address now – after all, the iPhone has had these features since its incarnation.
Multimedia Stores
Music
Even after more than two years of being on the market, Android still has no official music store.
Video
This is where I’m starting to get seriously worried.
Google does have a small selection of movies available via the YouTube Store, but for some unfathomable reason, it isn’t accessible from Android phones (when you click on a title, you are told that “this video is not available in your country”).
Android’s lack of a video store will be even more of an issue once Honeycomb tablets start launching – tablets are a media-centric platform (Motorola’s own promo video for the XOOM noted that the tablet allows users to watch videos the "way the filmmaker intended"), after all.
Android needs a decent multimedia store, and soon – ripping DVDs and sideloading the files onto a so-called "entertainment device" just isn’t something the average consumer wants to deal with.
Multimedia Stores
Music
Even after more than two years of being on the market, Android still has no official music store.
Video
This is where I’m starting to get seriously worried.
Google does have a small selection of movies available via the YouTube Store, but for some unfathomable reason, it isn’t accessible from Android phones (when you click on a title, you are told that “this video is not available in your country”).
Android’s lack of a video store will be even more of an issue once Honeycomb tablets start launching – tablets are a media-centric platform (Motorola’s own promo video for the XOOM noted that the tablet allows users to watch videos the "way the filmmaker intended"), after all.
Android needs a decent multimedia store, and soon – ripping DVDs and sideloading the files onto a so-called "entertainment device" just isn’t something the average consumer wants to deal with.
The Applications
The critics all agree: stock Android’s multimedia applications still lag far behind those of
the competition
.
The problems don’t end with the user interface, however – Android’s multimedia applications are lacking in the features department as well. Take scrubbing, headset controls, lockscreen widgets, or even something as simple as deleting a song – all missing from Android’s stock music application. Sure, you and I know that third-party apps like Winamp exist to solve these issues, but does the average consumer know that? Does the average consumer want to know that? After all, most people are looking for something that just works, not something that requires them to hunt down alternative software the moment they take it out of the box.
The bottom line here is that Google needs to improve stock Android’s multimedia applications – this will help Android’s public image, improve its ease of use, and perhaps even help solve the custom skin problem. Go for it, Google!
Left: Stock music player; Right: Slightly modified video player playing back a ShootMe screencast
If you don’t believe me, look no further than the stock music or video players – sure, many manufacturers try to conceal their horrid interfaces from end users by prettying it up with proprietary customizations, but that only leads to more issues.The problems don’t end with the user interface, however – Android’s multimedia applications are lacking in the features department as well. Take scrubbing, headset controls, lockscreen widgets, or even something as simple as deleting a song – all missing from Android’s stock music application. Sure, you and I know that third-party apps like Winamp exist to solve these issues, but does the average consumer know that? Does the average consumer want to know that? After all, most people are looking for something that just works, not something that requires them to hunt down alternative software the moment they take it out of the box.
The bottom line here is that Google needs to improve stock Android’s multimedia applications – this will help Android’s public image, improve its ease of use, and perhaps even help solve the custom skin problem. Go for it, Google!
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