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Does anyone else think the Android YouTube app sucks?

C

chimpy

Well-Known Member
At first I thought it looked decent since the interface was clean and the HQ videos looked good.

But now the more and more I use it I realize how much it sucks.

To start, you can't do ANYTHING while watching a current video without it stopping. So if you want to comment on the video, read it's info, or put your phone on sleep, the video stops playing.

Because of this it makes YouTube useless for music. YouTube is one of the best music sites out there (since almost any song is uploaded in video form), but because you can't put the phone on sleep or do something else while it's playing it's unusable. Why would I stare at an image on my screen at full brightness for 5 minutes while listening to a song? It's a battery killer and makes no sense.

Also the search feature is weaker. For some reason when I search stuff on YouTube.com I get much more results than I do on the mobile app.

Lastly, you can't tweak the settings to make HQ video as the default. The low-quality videos are awful and you have to go into settings each time to change it to HQ.
 
chimpy said:
At first I thought it looked decent since the interface was clean and the HQ videos looked good.

But now the more and more I use it I realize how much it sucks.

To start, you can't do ANYTHING while watching a current video without it stopping. So if you want to comment on the video, read it's info, or put your phone on sleep, the video stops playing.

Because of this it makes YouTube useless for music. YouTube is one of the best music sites out there (since almost any song is uploaded in video form), but because you can't put the phone on sleep or do something else while it's playing it's unusable. Why would I stare at an image on my screen at full brightness for 5 minutes while listening to a song? It's a battery killer and makes no sense.

Also the search feature is weaker. For some reason when I search stuff on YouTube.com I get much more results than I do on the mobile app.

Lastly, you can't tweak the settings to make HQ video as the default. The low-quality videos are awful and you have to go into settings each time to change it to HQ.
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Compared to what other phone that does better?
 
chimpy said:
What does that matter?
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I think it matters because of your assessment that the Android app 'sucks', which implies that the Android app is crappy compared to the Youtube app on other devices.

Personally, I think your assessment that you're using it for a purpose for other than what it was designed is a major portion of the problem. You state that you like to use it as a music player when the app's purpose is for video. There are plenty of music apps that would suit your needs better, ie... Slacker, Pandora, Tune-Wiki (especially good if you want videos with it), LastFM, GrooveShark, etc...

I'm kind of at a loss as to why you tout being able to get every song in video form, but the very next sentence you bemoan why anybody would stare at the screen. One would wonder why you're looking to get the music in video form yet not intending to watch the video.
 
The youtube app DOES suck. They actually FILTER searches so you cant get official music videos. If you want to listen to a popular song you will never find it with the app other than crappy covers done by the general public. Sucks balls...
 
DenverRalphy said:
I think it matters because of your assessment that the Android app 'sucks', which implies that the Android app is crappy compared to the Youtube app on other devices.

Personally, I think your assessment that you're using it for a purpose for other than what it was designed is a major portion of the problem. You state that you like to use it as a music player when the app's purpose is for video. There are plenty of music apps that would suit your needs better, ie... Slacker, Pandora, Tune-Wiki (especially good if you want videos with it), LastFM, GrooveShark, etc...

I'm kind of at a loss as to why you tout being able to get every song in video form, but the very next sentence you bemoan why anybody would stare at the screen. One would wonder why you're looking to get the music in video form yet not intending to watch the video.
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So I can open up the song and minimize the window and listen to it while I'm doing something else. They dont have mp3's on YouTube...is that really hard to understand?
 
The one linked above that has the HQ button is fine. How does it suck? It is a client app and not desk top level function. Seems fine to me and I am a picky SOB.

Far better music apps anyways- IMO :)
 
MobileDoggy said:
The youtube app DOES suck. They actually FILTER searches so you cant get official music videos. If you want to listen to a popular song you will never find it with the app other than crappy covers done by the general public. Sucks balls...
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What are you referring too? I use the stock android youtube app and I've never had anything "filtered". I've been able to find any official music video I want.
 
ORDarksideD said:
What are you referring too? I use the stock android youtube app and I've never had anything "filtered". I've been able to find any official music video I want.
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Depends what your looking for, like you cant find anything posted by Vevo on any stock youtube mobile app. Does anyone know a way around this? And as for filtering, just search on mobile app and online for the same thing, and look at the number of results it will be significantly less on mobile. Dunno how the filter works.... But it surely filters quite a bit out, and its usually the things you want to see.. lol
 
For some reason the shipped youtube app quality is not as good as the EVO 4g version. Even when HQ is not selected in settings you have better quality playback. I highly recommend installing the EVO version.
 
Reddog80p said:
For some reason the shipped youtube app quality is not as good as the EVO 4g version. Even when HQ is not selected in settings you have better quality playback. I highly recommend installing the EVO version.
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EVO version ruins the Widget. I uninstalled after a few days. Running the EVO version with the widget killed my battery
 
ramcharger1979 said:
EVO version ruins the Widget. I uninstalled after a few days. Running the EVO version with the widget killed my battery
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My youtube widget works. Did you try and remove the widget then put it back on? I have not experienced any problems with the EVO app or widget.
 
no official music videos on mobile it's a bummer :-( Lots of times i can't even find a "non-official" video with the song playing and maybe a slideshow going on or just the album cover in the background.
 
Need to change the thread title to "....Mobile YouTube app sucks". It's no better than the iPhone/iPod Touch in terms of what you're limited to from the search. But to echo a few comments already made: 1) You can't access the music videos through the mobile app, period. Doesn't matter if it's Android or iOS (iPhone). 2) Where Android, or rather HTC, wins is with having Flash Lite. If you want to access the full YouTube library and play anything, just navigate to the YouTube site through your browser. I've watched many official videos this way. With the iPhone/iPod Touch, you're s*** out of luck.
 
I've been using the EVO Youtube HQ app since it came out and it has been like butter.

Just make sure if you're using a task killer to added to the ignore list.
 
OMFG wanna punch youtube app in the face!! RAERW@U$_(Q god damn its frustrating, it locks up my phone to where i need a battery pull, takes forever to load, unless sitting in one spot, doesn't work when im riding in the car.
 
Yes but at least it works unlike the one on the Eris before it go 2.1.. in fact there was some guy talking about a class action law suit because he could not get on YouTube from the app :rolleyes:

so lets be grateful that our app even works and only filters out "official music videos" and not everything like the Eris :)
 
thanks for the EVO youtube app link. works great.

for those with widget problems, remove and re-add it.
 
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