Google’s Android TV platform is one of the search engine giant’s progressive products that has been on a steady pace since its inception. After years in business, Android TV still doesn’t compare with some other prominent Google products, yet it’s constantly growing and as of earlier this year, the Play Store for Android TV had upwards of 7,000 native apps. This may be an insignificant number when compared to roughly three million apps on Google Play for smartphones but then there are developers consistently building apps to get more fun and flair to the Android TV.
Latest such app is SmartTubeNext – an unofficial open-source YouTube client for Android TV. The next-gen YouTube client also compatible with FireYV is a revamp of the Smart YouTube TV client that brings a new take on Google’s video app with some native Android TV UI.
The app is currently in beta but already has some exciting and advanced playback features and settings to tinker with. The currently available version of the app is 4.3 and it’s designed primarily for Android TV devices.
Reportedly, the SmartTubeNext app functions as a “typical YouTube Client” offering features such as subscribe to a channel, animated preview of videos, search videos, like and dislike videos, browse videos, and change player settings to name a few – read full list of features here.
The open-source app’s progress can be tracked in GitHub. According to initial user reviews, the app has exciting features and users seem “pleased with the progress.” Some YouTube features like support for multiple accounts may be absent at the moment but then this is a beta version and many additions are expected until the stable version is rolled out.
