The Story

Wouldn’t it be great if you could download a single app, for free, that can play just about any type of video file you throw at it? Now then film fans, time to take a deep breath. The basic Android Video playback app is fine if all your video files are in one of the more standard formats of, say, MPEG-4 or H.264 AVC.

But what if you prefer to use other video formats, such as DivX, WMV, AVI, or even M4v? Several apps offer to help here,  but VPlayer handles a greater number of video file-formats than most, and does so more reliably. It delivers smoother playback too.

The Experience

Don’t expect bells and whistles – VPlayer  doesn’t even scan your phone for video files, and playback controls are minimal (though it’s a nice touch that you can slide a finger up the left-hand side of the screen to alter luminance and right-hand side for volume). VPlayer is, essentially,  a one-trick pony – fortunately, that trick one trick works brilliantly.

Not only can VPlayer recognise and then playback more video files than the competition, it also plays back HD videos with fewer of the stuttering and out-of-synch audio issues that tend to plague other Android video players.

You can’t  always expect to enjoy Full HD files flawlessly, but VPlayer will at least try, and less-demanding video files run extremely smoothly. The app is still under development – we tested a beta version – but broadly speaking it seems to be entirely stable. And it’s free.

The Bottom Line

The one app that every Android movie-buff should own
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Additional Info

Version reviewed 0.7.7b2

Requires Android 2.1 or above

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