14 DAY TRIAL // Work on the official universal app version of VLC is advancing fast, and a VideoLAN developer has revealed that a public beta will be released next week for mobile devices running Windows 10 (VIPs are a little bit luckier and will receive it as soon as this week).
The official launch of the app is projected to take place in early May for mobile devices while a closed beta for PCs is due in the first weeks of the next months too, but in this case, the team of developers doesn’t plan to roll out a public beta version. The PC version is scheduled to see daylight in mid- May.
As far as Windows 10 Mobile users are concerned, only Redstone devices will be supported because of the limitations that currently exist in TH2.
“Redstone only, TH2 will probably not be supported. This is because of technical limitations around Background audio APIs, and bad drivers on the phones not receiving the RS1 bits,” VideoLAN developer Thomas Nigro explains in a post on his blog.
Windows Phone losing support in May
There’s more bad news for those who don’t want or can’t upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile. Devices running Windows 8.1, Windows Phone 8.1, or Windows RT will receive one last update in May, and then VideoLAN will end support for the application.
As far as features of the universal app are concerned, the first versions will come with almost the same capabilities as the existing versions in the store, Thomas Nigro adds.
“To be completely honest - the first upcoming versions won’t have many more features than the current version of VLC for Windows Store. All those features will be present in the May/June timeframe. We’ll add new features on a weekly basis,” he says.
But of course, there will be some additions, including a design that matches the Windows 10 style, Windows 10 tiles and notification support, Continuum features, dark and light themes, and options to choose your own accent colors.
