Lumiya SL Viewer for Android Phones & Tablets: Now With New Graphics Features -- and Over 5000 Downloads!

Lumiya, the SL viewer for Android phones and tablets that I've written about before, has a new update full of badass features, and look at how well it displays avatar animations in this silly video demo:

"Lumiya has recently hit 5000 downloads mark since its first release way back in January," the creator Alina Lyvette tells me. "It has a fairly good 'retention rate' - the number of uninstalls is somewhere below 5%, although I really don't know how it compares to other paid apps." Having just wrote a book about game apps, I'd say that's an extremely good rate, especially since it's selling at $2.95 per pop. (By comparison, Pocket Metaverse, the much more limited SL viewer for iOS, got 10,000 downloads back in 2010, which to me suggests Second Life has more iPhone and iPad owners, than Android.)

What features does Lumiya now come with? Read on, read on:

"Basically," says Alina, "the latest update adds true avatar rendering, with animations, ability to change clothing and rebake textures (which was probably the hardest part .. although all avatar-related things in SL are overly complicated, as they evolved over the years). Inara Pey has written a review here in her blog which covers it in great detail."

And so Ms. Pey has, so do be sure to see more there. I don't own an Android myself, so definitely share your own take in Comments as well. For me, the main takeaway is: Now we know the market for a mobile-based SL experience is at least 15,000 -- but likely a lot more.

Hat tip: NWN reader Graham Mills.

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Comments

[Catten]

but will it do avatar physics? :D

[Veeyawn Spoonhammer]

Wow, works great from my Galaxy Nexus. Very exciting!

[Dave Bell]

It's impressive what it can do, but I have to say that it isn't so useful for me. Some of that is down to me: imperfect eyes and stubby fingers that don't always work well with the touch screen interface. And my Android Tablet is not so good. Just being able to use a Bluetooth keyboard would make a huge difference.

I wouldn't want to try using it on a 'phone. Screensize will make a difference.

But knowing it's there if I should need it, and the low price, and I don't regret paying for it.

[Hitomi Tiponi]

Works great on my Nexus 7, and this update makes it even better, much better than the grey blob-man. Just went for a wander around with it, all the features work well and are mostly intuitive. With quality Android tablets at lower prices now hitting the market this will be a very useful app for SLers even if they only use it in an emergency. There is a lack of mesh rendering of course, but I found the lack of ground textures possibly more important. When it has that it would offer an even better visual alternative in-world. A very impressive viewer.

[ZZ Bottom]

How is the code used dependent in LL 1?

[Graham Mills]

There are quite a few things missing from the viewer but I personally find they don't detract from its overall usefulness. There's obviously a balance to be struck between functionality and performance and I think it's just about right at the moment. Support for OpenSim at the expense of pathfinding is a small price to pay in my view (assuming the Havok libraries are licensed for Android which probably isn't the case anyway).

[Alazarin]

Not to sound too much like a fanboi but what can I say? It works even on my low-powered android retardophone. I'm impressed and it's a bargain at the price. It must look great on one of the latest android tablets. Just out of curiosity: what kind of framerates and draw distances can you expect on a reasonable android tablet?

[droppingthatknowledge]

For those that would like to try this on a pc there is an app (free at the moment due to it being beta) called Bluestacks, which is an amazing Android emulator. Lumiya is pretty awesome considering, very well done and worth the price IMO.

[Douglas Story]

This version is the best yet. It even shows my AO properly. It's awesome. Best three dollars I ever spent.

[android store]

I beyond doubt appreciate your articles and blogs.

[Fire Centaur]

I downloaded and paid for Lumiya! Kickass!

[Samantha Atkins]

Can I fly? Can I build? If I can do those two things it is a usable viewer. Otherwise not.

[Megan Law]

I have Lumiya on my Nook HD, and it's doing pretty well. There are bumps in rendering in some places, like when I'm inside a glass cage, but it is quite usable in general.