14 DAY TRIAL // Soon, owners of Android-based smartphones out there will be able to grab the final version of the VLC application, as the software has just reached version 0.9.0 beta, en route to 1.0.0.
The new app release is slowly rolling out to users in various markets out there, though it appears that it won’t be available for those living in the United States as of now.
This is the second main release of VLC for Android to date and brings along a nice range of enhancements, including UI changes, which get the application closer to a modern Android theme.
“This release of VLC for Android is the 17th Beta. It's numbered 0.9.0, since it's the last important version before the 1.0.0 release. It will be finally available in the US with our next release,” a post on jbkempf reads.
The video browser has been changed in the new release, as the first screenshot attached to this article shows. Additionally, there are changes brought to the audio browser, which are complemented by the inclusion of an equalizer in the app.
VLC for Android now also features a playlist and provides users with the possibility to easily edit it with simple gestures. The video player has been updated as well in the new release.
Moreover, VideoLAN, the company behind the player, says that they have been working hard on improving the hardware acceleration in VLC for Android, something that users will take full advantage of in the new build.
“The second important change is the introduction of full hardware acceleration. With this release, we've been able to decode 4K streams on a Nexus 5 or a BayTrail tablet,” the aforementioned blog post explains.
“Hardware acceleration is now enabled by default on 4.3 and 4.4. You can access it on 4.1 and 4.2 in preferences.”
Moreover, the new application iteration comes to devices with better-looking subtitles support, the same as it happened with the desktop version of VLC not long ago. Apparently, software decoding was also accelerated in the new flavor of the player.
Other changes were also included in the new release, such as support for Widi and HDMI screens, along with fixes for a series of audio bugs on Android 2.3. MicroSD memory card misdetection was also resolved, it seems.
You can download VLC for Android from Softpedia today. The mobile player is compatible with all devices running under Android 2.1 and newer platform versions.
VLC for Android (6 Images)
