Smartglass tablet vs smartphone differences

[madhavtt]

Just got a WP8 phone and really enjoying it so far. Enjoying the great info on these forums as well!! (Microsoft's own documentation on almost everything is really weak).

Saw there were a few posts on Smartglass, but I thought I'd explore a few observations/questions here in case they are useful for anyone:

- SmartGlass does not work like AirPlay on WP8, but it seems like it does work like that on the tablets (and maybe PCs?). I cannot play a random song/video on a website and "AirPlay/Play To" my Xbox (I'm using an 8X, so I don't have the Nokia app assuming it is out there already)

- There is the option to Bing search for music and "videos" within the SG app, but those essentially expect you to use Xbox Music/Video/some other Xbox service to actually play them fully.

- The reason "video" is in quotes is that the SG app does not search for any web videos (youtube, etc) which is really strange. Using Bing in the Xbox will find web videos but then require you to use the YouTube app or other to actually play them.

- Speaking of YouTube, you can link your WP device to this app in particular which allows you to search for videos on the YouTube website in IE and then play them on Xbox (not sure if this works with the many YouTube apps that are out there)

- Net result is that SG is really just a somewhat fancy Xbox controller on WP for now and it appears there are functionality differences between how it works on W8 or RT devices - I find this very odd.

- Side note: Echoing what some others have said, I couldn't find a movie/game/app that had the SG built in yet, and I'm not sure how useful that would really be anyway - my guess is that it is better served in a tablet than on the phone

Please correct anything I've said that is incorrect - would love to hear that it has more functionality than I'm able to see!! Thanks all.

 

[Robert Carpenter]

SmartGlass has separated experiences on purpose for phones and tablets.

Form factor plays a big key in this. A SmartGlass companion app needs to be created for tablets and mobile phones separately by the developers. The tablet experiences usually have a more complex companion app because there is more real estate on the screen, so they can add more without restricting usability.

SmartGlass is way more than a fancy Xbox remote.

On Windows 8, there is a way to view the source code for SmartGlass. It's only after doing this that you will realize how many features it supports for the future. You have to remember that the technology is completely new for developers. It will take some time for them to get experience utilizing it, but the companion apps will only continue to get better.

Forza Horizon currently supports tablets only.
Halo 4 supports both tablets and phones. The tablet experience has a lot more features though.
I also believe the ESPN app on Xbox supports SmartGlass now too.

As of now, the only thing we are waiting on is for developers to get creative.

Hope this info helped!

 

[madhavtt]

Thank you! And agreed, the potential is great, and glad to see the underlying code reflects that. Based on the demos, it definitely looked a lot more useful than airplay, though I do wish MS would be better at ensuring some basic execution.

Overall though, I am loving the WP experience and very glad I switched - the OS is intuitive and polished, and my usage has not been hampered at all by the lack of apps. Really wish MS would market the great functionality better - the ads and online docs really don't do it justice at all.