spotify app: App Review: LazyTube v2.2

Jumat, 06 Mei 2011

App Review: LazyTube v2.2

Thor's winning smile, powered by LazyTube's HD streaming

We told you earlier this week that the excellent LazyWorm YouTube and LazyTube apps were simultaneously updated to v2.2 and it brings a ton of new features. SuperTube is no longer the exclusive HD YouTube app any longer, as LazyWorm has caught up with them to introduce the new feature. But it goes further than that: this is by far the best version of LazyTube yet. Find out why past the break.

For a full breakdown of the app since its v2.0 redesign, you can refer to our War of the 'Tubes feature as this review will focus mainly on the v2.2 update. Obviously the biggest of the new features is HD video streaming, a highly-requested feature that has catapulted SuperTube to the spotlight. Now in the upper-right corner of any video, you'll find a new 'HD' option next to the HQ button, and jumping between streams is as simple as you would expect. One thing to note is that while watching HD video the rotation is locked, meaning you can't jump out to the video page mode while the video is loading. This limitation makes sense, considering that HD video would likely impact performance of the rest of the app.

LazyTube does beat SuperTube in one very important area: it can actually play every HD video.

However, LazyTube isn't drastically better than SuperTube's playback of HD--when it came to performance, videos still were not as smooth as the native 720p videos played through the Music + Videos or Pictures Hub. Another issue we noticed was that HD videos were not given enough time to buffer before starting playback. This resulted in the video playing but the "blue dots" loading animation to appear in the middle of the screen, which was quite distracting. That being said, LazyTube does beat SuperTube in one very important area: it can actually play every HD video. SuperTube seems to be picky when it comes to streaming HD videos, and we noticed a pattern where it wouldn't play any videos that had a 1080p option. Not so with LazyTube: every single HD video we tried played and that alone makes LazyTube the more compelling option.

The next feature LazyWorm Apps is touting is its new LazyList, which is basically a playlist of videos the assign to a pivot in LazyTube. The pivot consists of videos they recommend and videos of updates to LazyTube in order to communicate with its users. While the benefit of such a feature is certainly present, at the same time we feel most would ignore the feature unless it were regularly updated with news from LazyWorm Apps, which it hasn't since the update's release on Sunday. Of course it may be too much to ask for daily new videos about LazyTube, but the fact that the rest of the content only seems to mimic other categories instead of offering unique videos make it seem pointless. The idea of LazyList is sound, but the execution isn't there. Fortunately LazyWorm has made the feature optional, but unfortunately we think more people will turn it off than actually use it.

The idea of LazyList is sound, but the execution isn't there.

Besides those headlining features, LazyTube has also seen a very nice performance boost. Videos seem to load faster and even HD videos which match up in load times with SuperTube, which is impressive for its first implementation. The entire app itself feels much tighter and faster, with reduced hesitation and buffering times. Another notable improvement can be found in the animations. We specifically noticed in the fullscreen playback mode that each button now has a nice 'bounce' effect to it that runs perfectly smooth, which makes a great impression in favor of the app's quality. LazyTube has also added a new pivot called 'Recently Played' which shows your video-watching history in the form of a list. One thing to note is that in version 2.2, the 'Share to Twitter' option for videos has become broken, but LazyWorm Apps has informed us they are working to fix it very soon.

Conclusion

LazyTube's HD streaming is a nice plus and performs more consistently than SuperTube but performance overall isn't where it needs to be. LazyList promises to put users in touch with developer but I could imagine most people turning it off without regular updates or more differentiated content. Despite those qualms, we still firmly believe that LazyTube itself holds up and with this latest updation is the best it's ever been. Version 2.2 brings along welcome speed improvements and animations are notably more fluid. It gets held back by the only-decent HD and the questionable addition of the LazyList but still comes highly recommended.

LazyWorm Apps has a free YouTube app that includes all of the features we've discussed, but the only one that offers HD streaming right now is the $0.99 LazyTube. However, as a special promotion, the developer has given LazyTube an unrestricted free trial and has told us the offer should last for a while, so try it for free while it lasts!