In lieu of an actual YouTube app or support for the HTML5 mobile site, Windows Phone users have had to resort to using 3rd party alternatives to get their video on the go. Last week saw the release of two excellent YouTube apps for Windows Phone 7: SuperTube v1.1 and LazyWorm's YouTube v2.0. In recognition of these important releases, I've decided to break down those two YouTube apps plus HTC’s in an all out war of features, performance, and design. Jump past the break to see all of the action!
LazyWorm YouTube
As the first dedicated alternative in the Windows Phone Marketplace, LazyWorm set the stage for what people should expect from a Metro-styled YouTube app.
One advantage LazyWorm has over others is its simplicity, as the app is essentially broken down into two main screens. The main panorama that you see when you open the app has six panels: Featured, Search, Favorites, Subscriptions, Most Viewed, and Top Rated. Swiping to any of these panels (and after looking something up in Search) brings up a vertical scrolling list of videos shown with a thumbnail preview of each and more information to the side of it like the title, user, total views, and upload date. Tapping any of the previews brings up the second screen you’ll see: another panorama dedicated to the video. The main panel shows the video in a small window with a a sliding Like button next to it. Videos start playing in this small window automatically when in portrait orientation and if you want to get a fullscreen view all you do is rotate the phone to landscape and there you go. Swipe to the panel on the right brings up the Author’s page which shows all of the videos they’ve uploaded. Swiping one more to the right is the Comments section where you can read and write comments. All of this makes for a very intuitive experience in practice and the design helps emphasize the content, which is what YouTube is really all about.
As you can tell from the design, LazyWorm packs a ton of features that replicate the YouTube experience very well. It also does the best job of replicating the community experience including a real Like button, commenting, favoriting, sharing (Facebook, Twitter, SMS, & Email), and subscriptions. But while LazyWorm succeeds in this area over others, it’s not a champ when it comes to video quality. The version 2.0 update promised to bring an HQ option to videos but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of a difference. Over 3G it’s a great feature because before you were stuck watching disgusting 240p or 360p videos but on Wi-Fi it’s remained the same as before.
Overall, LazyWorm’s YouTube packs a strong punch by featuring an excellent combination of features with excellent design. While it doesn’t offer true HD videos like SuperTube and isn’t quite as smooth as HTC in performance, it’s hard to overlook the app’s strengths—especially when it’s free.
SuperTube
This is the new kid on the block and its feature set promises to match LazyWorm toe-to-toe and even one up it by offering streaming or downloading of YouTube videos in either 360p or 720p.
The good news is that the 720p SuperTube offers is the highest quality video available out of any of these YouTube apps. The only downside to true 720p streaming is that it does seem more laggy and there is some occasional artifacting as well. Those are small prices to pay however for such excellent HD quality videos…if they work, that is. I’ve noticed in the time I’ve used SuperTube that a lot of HD videos simply wouldn’t play, by streaming or by download. I have a theory that all HD videos that have also have a 1080p option don’t play but HD videos that top out at 720p do work. It’s odd considering the app says it’s only streaming/downloading the 720p version but I’m pretty sure that may be the reason. For example, sxephil (aka The Phillip DeFranco Show) videos play perfectly fine and those top out at 720p but when I tried to stream/download 3 different Green Lantern HD trailers none of them worked. So I suppose that claim of 720p videos comes with a caveat and if you were planning to get your hands on as much HD video as you could, be aware you’re probably going to run into a lot of trial and error before finding something that plays.
Besides HD video, what else does SuperTube bring to the table? Well, in the most recent version 1.1 of the app new community features were added. Those include support for logging in (duh), subscriptions, and to see your favorites. But clearly it’s not nearly as full featured as LazyWorm, as it lacks comments, the actual ability to favorite videos, sharing options, or a Like/Dislike button. If you don’t have a YouTube account or you do but you don’t use it for those features, none of this will bother you. But for the YouTube power users out there (and there are plenty) this feature set simply won’t cut it.
Then there’s the design of the app, which also isn’t quite as easy to grasp as LazyWorm. SuperTube does borrow the same execution by only really using two screens in the interface. The main screen has a panorama featuring categories, most viewed, top rated, featured, subscriptions, favorites, and search. The second screen is the video page which also features a panorama to cycle between a Details pane which shows a thumbnail preview and info, a Related pane, and an Author pane. However, it simply doesn’t look as good as LazyWorm and looks extremely similar to HTC. From a design standpoint, it boils down to this: the app is functional but won’t win any beauty contests.
Overall SuperTube can’t measure up to LazyWorm’s impressive design or HTC’s performance, but has its own strengths in HD streaming and downloading and some basic account features. Plus there’s the fine print: the trial is limited to only 3 downloads and the full app costs $1.29. Compared to the free solutions HTC & LazyWorm provide, it’s hard to convince yourself to pick up the full version unless you plan to fully utilize that downloading feature.
HTC YouTube
HTC is one of the few hardware manufacturers that also has a real knack for creating excellent mobile software. As overdone as the HTC Hub is on their Windows Phones, you have to admit it mops the floor with the Samsung and (nonexistent) Dell apps. HTC YouTube is another custom piece of software designed for HTC phones only but eventually became available for jailbroken users (like me!) to download and use.
Upon opening HTC’s app, you’ll notice it looks quite a bit like SuperTube. Despite coming out before that app, HTC really hasn’t done much to the design since its release to be able to match up to LazyWorm’s good looks or even differentiate itself in any real way. Instead it relies heavily on the use of color within the Metro UI to stand out and while the app is by no means ugly, it’s not as pretty as it could be either.
But where HTC lacks in presentation, it makes up for in performance. I’ll say it simply: HTC’s YouTube app blazes. Swiping and tapping between areas of the app occurs without hesitation and the videos also seem to load faster than the others. It’s the most responsive and fastest loading YouTube app I’ve seen, and while some would argue it’s because the interface is fairly plain SuperTube has a similarly generic UI and it pales in comparison.
The HTC alternative also has a more compelling feature set than SuperTube for YouTube power users, but lacks in some ways to LazyWorm. HTC features comments, subscriptions, favorites, liking, dedicated author pages, and sharing options. However, subscriptions support is weak and there’s no way to sort through those subscription videos by date. Also, the only sharing option is by email. But they also have a much better commenting system (with a refresh button!) than LazyWorm so that’s a plus. HTC also offers their own HQ video quality but it’s the same as LazyWorm’s HQ and SuperTube’s 360p, which is to say it will definitely get the job done but it pales in comparison to the latter’s 720p option. However, HTC also had it before any of these apps did so you have to reward points there.
There isn’t much else to say about HTC’s YouTube: it’s fast, functional, and has plenty of features to boot. The only thing holding it back is some weak community features and the fact that the app is only officially available to owners of HTC devices.
Conclusion
Click on any of the tiles above to get the apps! (HTC link is for jailbroken users only! It is a direct download of the XAP courtesy of Tom Hounsell. HTC users can find the app in the HTC area of the Marketplace)
In terms of being the best all-around solution for the average Windows Phone user, I must ultimately give the edge to LazyWorm’s YouTube. They have developed a very intuitive solution and version 2.0 of the app offers a lot of flexibility to satisfy both casual watchers and subscribing-and-commenting power users. LazyWorm also offers the best mix of beauty and brains, by offering an excellent and unique design that emphasizes content coupled with unique and slick features like windowed videos. If you need YouTube on the go (and in today’s world who doesn’t) your best bet is LazyWorm’s YouTube.
Now don’t get me wrong, HTC and SuperTube are still quite compelling alternatives in their own right. HTC makes up for the bland design by offering stupidly smooth performance and a good set of community features. SuperTube offers video streaming and downloading which also includes the excellent 720p HD videos. But I suppose it wasn’t much of a competition from the start, as HTC’s YouTube is only available for their own phones (unless you jailbreak and download the app yourself) and SuperTube costs $1.29 and has a somewhat limited trial (free streaming, limited downloads). Meanwhile LazyWorm can offer a compelling mix of features and performance completely free of charge and available to everyone.
At least there’s one thing I can confidently say by the end of all of this: who needs an official YouTube app when you already have so many superb alternatives?
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