We are on to Android 10 this year and future versions are quickly becoming history. While that shouldn’t worry anyone who is using an Android device from at least the last few years, the few holdouts among us that still have tablets running on Honeycomb have something to worry them: they are not getting the latest version of what is one of the best music players in the Android world, Poweramp.
The latest version of Poweramp, 3.0, drops support for devices running versions of Android older than 5.0, Lollipop. When put that way, the enormity of the situation sinks in properly since, according to the latest statistics from Google (they haven’t been updated since May), about 10% of current devices run on Android 4.4, KitKat, and later versions.
All those will be missing out on Poweramp 3.0’s features which include a new audio engine, support for more music file formats (up to 20 of them because “MP3 is trash”) and better visualizations.
The update also enhances support for Google services like the Google Assistant, Chromecast and Android Auto, which the versions available outside the Play Store have been rocking for a few months now.
What this means, for those not in the know, is that when playing music using Poweramp, a “cast” button will appear in the media player letting you to play the same audio content on nearby Chromecast devices like TVs, Bluetooth speakers etc. Just like you would when using streaming music apps like Spotify. Heck, by digging into the settings one can even set the audio quality and buffer size.
For those with Android Auto units in their cars, plugging in their Android devices will allow them to better interact with the app without needing to fiddle with their phones. Even better, the Google Assistant integration means that now one can simply tell the Assistant to stop, forward and rewind, without having to physically reach for the device. Neat.
Poweramp, which has been a go-to music player for many since it debuted on the Android platform almost a decade ago, has been on a roll recently with the developers heeding to cries from users over the years to update its interface to match its huge feature-set. That finally happened late last year and with the addition of features such as these, it’s still worth the Kshs 200 asking price on the Google Play Store.
