Wednesday, January 29, 2014

App Review: Tube Download

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With all the fanfare that Microsoft’s amazing YouTube App received last year, many newbies to the scene haven’t been given proper notice. While I doubt that anything out there will match the power and look of the official Microsoft App, there are a few that function quite well.

Tube Download is one of those perfectly functional Apps, with a few twists thrown in for fun. First off, there’s not much in the way of frills for this media streamer. The screen opens to a search bar with a few videos listed. A swipe to the right takes you to your videos and another takes you to playlists. One last swipe takes you over to the downloads list, where you can see the videos you have downloaded.

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Simple and clean, and did I mention that it is a data mongers dream? When you tap on the videos in the search bar, you get a screen that gives you the option to download, play or share the video. One click of the Play Video button and we are off and running.

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If the video was encoded with playback options, you can select the stream level at this point. Fortunately, our test video was, and this is where those with limited high speed data will appreciate this App – you can select the bandwidth of the playback stream before it starts playing. This means over Wi-Fi at Starbucks you can watch the HD video and when you are on that precious cellular plan, you can choose to watch a lower quality stream.

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Overall, the playback quality is great, navigation is easy and the App does exactly what it says. You can jump online and save content with a few simple clicks, then play it back later for friends, even when you don’t have data.

Tube Download is available in the Store for $2.99 and for those with one of those limited data plans can really rack up the savings for you. Don’t let the simple layout and the ease of use take away from the power that Tube Download brings.

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