Fans of the open-source media player software XBMC, now known as Kodi can get excited today as the XBMC Foundation releases their Kodi app to Google Play with full unfettered access – no pesky Beta invites required.
After a fairly brief beta period – it went up in April – the Kodi app for Android is now available for Android devices, including Android TV consoles such as the Nexus Player, ADT-1 and Shield Console, with the Nvidia powered Shield Console getting a special 4K playback @ 60Hz as an extra bonus.
Like Android TV, Kodi is built to use the 10-foot ‘leanback’ experience to ensure that the usability of the interface is optimised for use on big-screen TVs. There has been a lot of hype for this launch and the availability on Google Play sans Beta group membership is a bonus.
This release isn’t a full release with Kodi still referring to it as ‘Beta 2’ code-named ‘Isengard’ and if you’re into the nuts and bolts of the release there’s a full list of improvements from Beta 1 on the Kodi site.
Suffice to say, if you want to grab Kodi for your Android or Android TV device, head over to Google Play and select the install button now.
