xbox smartglass, good for anything?

[michail71]

I've tried messing around a little with the xbox smartglass and I really can't see what all the hype over it is. Perhaps my expectations were rather high since I was thinking it would work like apple's airplay and allow for media pushing.

Anyway, is smartglass anything more than an over-hyped xbox remote?

 

[vedichymn]

It can just be a fancy remote, it depends what the app maker codes for it. Forza Horizon for example lets you use your phone/tablet as an in game map.

Here's a list of the current things you can do with it

Xbox SmartGlass Activities

 

[tk-093]

Anyway, is smartglass anything more than an over-hyped xbox remote?

That's mostly it. It also can act as a 2nd screen for some XBox games. Like in Halo 4 I think it will display your stats. When playing music it can display artist information.

 

[michail71]

Sadly disappointed it can't mirror or push media. I was spoiled by airplay and apple TV.

 

[martinmc78]

Sadly disappointed it can't mirror or push media. I was spoiled by airplay and apple TV.

I can play music from my xbox and then get it to play on my surface and vice versa and also works for videos as well either from netflix or xbox movies

 

[MikeInBA]

I would say that smartglass is not really demonstrating MS's vision in its current form. I expect a lot of things with it regarding games once the new Xbox comes out. To be honest, I think a lot of these media "headscratchers" that MS has released lately are just to get the product out there and will be fully realized with the next xbox (Music, Video, smartglass)

 

[vedichymn]

Sadly disappointed it can't mirror or push media. I was spoiled by airplay and apple TV.

Yeah, that was't the point of Smartglass. Xbox 360 can be used as a DLNA device (I can start watching something on Windows 8 and tell it to play on my 360), just not any DLNA software for Windows Phone 8 right now (Nokia has said they're working on it though).

 

[inteller]

Smartglass was great for the live VGA awards, you could vote in polls and look at the nominees. What Microsoft needs is more free Smartglass opportunities that don't require buying a game to take advantage of it.

 

[Reflexx]

Right now, the things available more like minor tech demos than real experiences.

SmartGlass has a lot of potential. But MS is going to need to come up with something that really shows some amazing integration before people will get excited.

 

[jhguth]

I think it is fantastic!

 

[my_wolfe]

If I have a playlist or an album on my phone can I somehow push that playlist to the 360 with smartglass and have it play from there?

 

[budney]

Looks like the ESPN and NBA Game Time Xbox apps just got Smart Glass support.

Xbox Live adds SmartGlass support for ESPN and NBA Game Time

 

[michail71]

If I have a playlist or an album on my phone can I somehow push that playlist to the 360 with smartglass and have it play from there?

No, that's what I'm disappointed about. Anyone who has ever used airplay and apple TV will know what I'm talking about. If you haven't you don't know what you're missing .

Perhaps it will come in the future. I like Windows Phone 8 enough to give up airplay but it would be nice to have some kind of equivalent. Smartglass makes you think it might work like airplay but content just starts playing through the phone.

If we get xbox and phone streaming and photo sharing through Skydrive that may also bridge the airplay gap. However, the need to be signed into both devices at the same time would still make it more cumbersome than airplay.

The Nokia PhotoBeamer app is nice. It's similar to push streaming photos through airplay.

 

[busngabb]

Its got enormous potential, but it is pretty useless now. All the big future releases will use it though, for example play calling on American football games, subs and formations on football games like FIFA and for maps, alerts and weapon selections on action and shooting games. Other ideas could be using as the car stereo on GTA style games or to use it as your in game mobile, for example if someone texts you in the GTA story.

It also has a lot of media potential, just because some of the features aren't there now, doesn't mean they won't be added in the future. I agree with the poster above who mentioned the next Xbox. A lot of these features are being brought in now to increase familiarity ahead of them being core features of the next Xbox.

The potential is there and it's pretty enormous, its now up to the game developers to utilise that potential.

 

[my_wolfe]

Right, that's unfortunate about the music though. Since xbox music syncs across all your devices it really should provide this functionality with smartglass. There's even a share with xbox feature on the phone when you're listening to a song, but I guess it doesn't actually push that song to the 360 and start playing.

I agree there is a lot of potential, but it would have been nice if some of these things were more integrated from the get go.

 

[Guzzler3]

No, that's what I'm disappointed about. Anyone who has ever used airplay and apple TV will know what I'm talking about. If you haven't you don't know what you're missing .

Perhaps it will come in the future. I like Windows Phone 8 enough to give up airplay but it would be nice to have some kind of equivalent. Smartglass makes you think it might work like airplay but content just starts playing through the phone.

If we get xbox and phone streaming and photo sharing through Skydrive that may also bridge the airplay gap. However, the need to be signed into both devices at the same time would still make it more cumbersome than airplay.

The Nokia PhotoBeamer app is nice. It's similar to push streaming photos through airplay.

Apple's Airplay is just their proprietary version of DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance). Xbox 360 is a DLNA certified device, as are a lot of new "Smart TV's" and various other devices. You can even download open source DLNA software to make your PC (Windows, Linux, Apple) a DLNA device.

Heck, my router is a DLNA certified device. I plug in an external USB drive with movies, music, pictures on it to my router, I can use my TV, laptop, my A/V receiver to play the content (as long as they are networked devices) anywhere in my house.

Even good old Windows Media player 11+ is DLNA compliant. I regularly push a movie from my laptop to my TV (Samsung Smart TV).

The biggest problem is the manufacturers tend to give their DLNA offerings another name. Example, Samsung calls it "Allshare". But if you read the fine print, it's DLNA.

We're just waiting for someone to write the app for windows phone. Nokia sounds like they might be first, but who knows.

 

[jmerrey]

If you have your photos and videos set to upload to skydrive, can't you just view them on the Xbox app?

 

[michail71]

If you have your photos and videos set to upload to skydrive, can't you just view them on the Xbox app?

Yes, but it isn't quite the same still. It's rather crude compared to airplay on an apple tv.

I think MS will get there soon. It could even be patents in the way.

 

[jmerrey]

Not having an Xbox to see for myself, how is it crude?

 

[inteller]

the Skydrive app on Xbox is actually quite nice, better than I would have imagined. Nothing crude about it.

I just tried out some of the new sports smartglass apps for ESPN. I really want a smartglass app for Netflix and my needs will be just about settled.