Update: The MX Player apps have been confirmed as real, but early prototypes.
As Q2 wraps up for Microsoft, you may have noticed a small avalanche of new apps and games for their Windows and Windows Phone platforms. In that sense, the arrival of MX Player, a popular video rendering app on Android, fits right in.
However, we have some problems believing that this is a legit release, rather than a clone, hence our reluctance to write this article.
For one, everything in the app description is a carbon copy from the Google Play Store. Next up, is the developer. Last time we checked, back in October, there were no plans for a Windows release. Going further, so far they have been mum about this release, with no announcements in their forums, nothing on their website, etc. Then there is the fact that the Windows 8.1 version just crashes upon launching for us, which makes it useless. Finally, at just 1 MB in size, the notion that this includes a multitude of proper codecs is a bit hard to fathom.
This app has all the telltale signs of a bad port/clone.
Moreover, for those citing the same name for the publisher – J2 Interactive – that means squat, as anyone can register any name in the Store so long as it is not already registered. Microsoft never asks for "proof" of a publishers name, so please do not present that as evidence.
Nevertheless, hey, we could be wrong on this, so we are reaching out to the developer to try and verify. After all, there is no risk of money here, as both apps are free, so feel free to grab them. At this point though, it is not clear what advantage this has over MoliPlayer Pro for Windows Phone or VLC for Windows 8.1, it just plays videos but is itself nothing special.
So be warned that this is likely not legit.
