Surprise! The Steam Link App is available on Android (Today)
Contrary to what Valve shared in their Press Release, the Steam Link App is now available on Android (in beta). You can download it today and start playing games! Read on to find out what it’s like.
Early Release
Feel free to visit the Google Play Store and download the Steam Link App for Android. After installing, the App will guide you through a quick setup wizard. As we mentioned in our earlier article, you are welcome to use a Steam Controller if you’d like.
If you choose to pair a Steam Controller, it will prompt you to update it through your computer first.
As soon as we plugged our Steam Controller into our Gaming PC (we used a Micro USB Cable), we were prompted to update the Controller’s Firmware to support BLE (bluetooth low energy).
After updating the Firmware, an on-screen Guide prompted us to pair the controller with our Android Tablet through Settings. This worked exactly as expected and we successfully paired the Steam Controller with our Nexus 7. Then we ran into a problem.
Upon returning to the Steam Link App, it didn’t appear to detect that the Steam Controller was paired. We were forced to go back a screen and continue. We received a warning that there was no Controller connected. We continued anyway.
The Steam Link App detected our Gaming PC right away. When we selected the computer, it automatically ran a quick network test (spoiler, we passed).
From here we attempted to connect to our Gaming PC again. We received a warning that no Controller was detected by the Steam Link App (even though the controller showed that it was connected in Android’s Settings). We continued anyway.
How does it perform?
It turned out that all that fuss was for nothing. The Steam Controller worked as expected and was fully functional just like Valve promised. The Streaming experience is impressive. Games are fluid and look great on the Tablet. The Steam Controller works exactly like it does when connected directly to our PC.
We will need more time to play with the Steam Link App, but it is already very promising. The Steam Link App is not yet available for iOS or Apple TV. Valve is still hoping to release it for those platforms during the week of May 21st. They have added a helpful Steam Controller Page to their website that deep dives into the new BLE mode.
So what do you think? Are you excited to try the new Steam Link App? Let us know in the comments! And keep an eye on Flickstiq to get even more information about the Steam Link App in the coming days.
Originally published at Flickstiq.
