Xbox SmartGlass app makes its way to Android devices

Microsoft has released the Xbox SmartGlass app for Android after its recent release on Windows Phone 7 devices. The app lets you control your Xbox 360 from your Android device. There are no signs of the app making its way to iOS devices yet, but judging by the swift release on Android, the iOS version doesn’t seem too far off. One of the major requirements for the app is that the device must run at least Android v4.0 and have a WVGA screen.

Xbox SmartGlass is now available on Android

Here are some major features of the Xbox SmartGlass app:

• Navigate your Xbox 360 with swipe and tap
• Use your phone’s keyboard to type to your Xbox 360
• Browse the Internet on your Xbox 360 with full keyboard and zooming
• Play, pause, fast forward, rewind, and stop videos and music on your Xbox 360
• Search the full Xbox catalogue of music, video, and games
• Track and compare your achievements with your Xbox friends
• Change up your 3D avatar
• Message your Xbox friends
• Edit your Xbox profile

Here is a description of the app according to Microsoft: “Xbox SmartGlass lets your phone work with your Xbox 360 console to bring rich, interactive experiences and unique content about what you’re watching or playing, right to the device that’s already in your hand. Interact with your favorite TV shows, movies, music, sports, and games, and bring remote control to a whole new level.”

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SmartGlass was shown off earlier this year during E3 2012, alongside Xbox Music. Xbox Music – Microsoft’s newest attempt to take on the likes of services like Spotify and iTunes – was launched earlier this month. This would be Microsoft’s second attempt at creating a music channel, the first being the not-very-successful Zune. This time, the company is focusing on integrating the service into as many of its devices as it can. While starting with the Xbox 360, the company plans to integrate the service into other devices that would be running Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 through its SkyDrive cloud service.

Microsoft’s Xbox Music aims to compete with the likes of Spotify by giving the capabilities to stream music, and have a free as well as a paid account. The main attraction of the service would be the inclusion of a download-to-own music store. The store will include over 30 million songs in its catalogue, rivalling, and surpassing the catalogue on Apple’s iTunes. The service is also all set to have over 70,000 music videos, but these music videos will only be available for the Xbox 360.

The software giant seems to be gunning for the entire online music market, especially iTunes, Spotify, and Pandora, with the inclusion of the store as well as the artist-based radio service. The biggest letdown is that none of these services are available in India. If Microsoft can capitalise on that, it will probably surpass all the other services. There is no news yet of the inclusion of India in the list of 22 countries where the service will be available.

Xbox SmartGlass is available for free on Google Play.