AVI, FLV, OGM, MKV – you probably recognize these three-letter combinations as some of the various formats that video files come in today. These and other types are easily viewable on your Android smartphone provided of course that certain hardware and software requirements are met.
In terms of processors, the one that powers your device has to run at a minimum of 800 MHz. High-end phones, besides having faster main chips, also have integrated auxiliary chips that specifically handle video and graphics.
On the software side, this is usually just a matter of having the right media player app. Presented here are three of the more popular ones that run on the Android platform.
This particular program has had a long run in desktops and laptops. Thankfully third party developers have now come up with various editions for Android. The most notable quality of this app is that it can accommodate a wide range of formats. In addition to this flexibility, VLC features a lot of enhancements and tweaks such as changing the aspect ratio or boosting the audio with various filters. Some of the editions like VLC Direct allow for streaming between PCs and an Android device. There are also others that come with a nifty screen lock so that you don’t accidently activate some other function while watching the video. Your handset’s OS usually needs to be at least Android 2.2 for VLC to work.
A much younger app compared to VLC, but nevertheless it features the same flexibility when it comes to handling various video file formats. Besides the types already mentioned, Seaman can also accommodate less common ones such as RealMedia’s RMVB. One notable quality about this app is that the developers seems to have taken into account older devices and thus only requires Android version 1.6 as a minimum.
This is another free media player app that has a comparably wide range of dealing with different video formats. You can load separate .srt subtitle files and it also has support for .m3u playlists so you can better organize your media files. Much like Seaman, this app’s minimum system requirement is only Android 1.6. This makes it a viable option for older (and thus slower) Android phones. Take note that this app, possibly in order to maintain its free status, is backed up by ads.
Via androidflip
by Paul Nuñal, 9 months ago
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