Fill out our Daily Orange reader survey to make our paper better


APPreciation

APPreciation: Streambels

If you are planning to spend a serious chunk of your Thanksgiving Break in front of the television, your phone has a new way to change the experience.

The recently released app Streambels makes it easy to wirelessly stream music and video from your Android mobile phone or tablet to any TV or speaker system connected to your local area network. While mobile streaming solutions have been around for years, Streambels is a nice option because of its simplicity and interoperability. You don’t have to pick between your favorite Apple or Google devices. Instead, get the best of both worlds by hooking up your Samsung Smart TV and AirPlay-enabled Bose speakers from one simple interface.

The music and video-streaming app was created by Tuxera, a Finnish company best known for its multiplatform file systems software. Streambels is available for free, but after a five-day trial period, users have to start paying for certain features.

The app allows users to stream from an Android phone or tablet to any AirPlay or DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) enabled device. Those two standards are integrated with a wide swath of smart devices currently on the market, including Apple TV, Bose wireless speakers and wireless-enabled Samsung TVs.

To stream from the app to a device on your local wireless network, open up Streambels and tap the device you want to access from the available devices listed. Pick the kind of media you want to stream from inside of the app, or stream directly from the app you want to share from, like YouTube, for example. If you want to customize the look of the app, Streambels offers a few different skins to choose from.



The app’s biggest limitation deals with the media channels available for streaming.  Streambels can play music and video played within the app or with supported media players — which at present only include Facebook Video and YouTube. But hopefully we will not have to wait long for expanded offerings; Streambels’ creators say they are working on bringing popular channels like Spotify, SoundCloud and 8tracks to the app in future updates.





Top Stories