Menneisyys
04-25-2008, 09:54 AM
Watching YouTube videos is a favorite pastime of many. With data charges constantly decreasing (or, should I say, plummeting), not-that-expensive flat 3G data rates getting common, Wi-Fi’s getting pretty ubiquitous and, of course, YouTube’s getting really-really full of videos worth checking out, you might be tempted to watch YouTube (or other) videos on your handset. After all, it's a great pastime and these handhelds have both the processing power, the necessary hardware and, in most cases, connection speed to render these videos well.
In this YouTube Bible, I show you how this all can be done on the three major non-iPhone platforms: Windows Mobile, Symbian S60 and BlackBerry. (As the iPhone, as opposed to most other solutions, already comes with a decent player, there isn’t much point in elaborating on it. You just fire up the YouTube icon and off you go at – if you have Wi-Fi connectivity – very good quality. Nothing needs to be installed and there’re no alternatives you will need to know to make an intelligent decision.)
Note that I’ve published several YouTube-related articles (a quick search for YouTube on my blog (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&s=YouTube+&sentence=AND&submit=Search) reveals these tutorials). These, however, are pretty outdated now – particularly that a lot of vastly superior solutions have been released in the meantime. I’ll, however, refer back to for example the HTC Streaming Media tutorial (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2045&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1).
Also note that this Bible is multiplatform, as with the majority of my later Bibles. If you're a fanboy of any of the three reviewed operating systems, don't post angry messages like "Why on earth did you include operating system X? I hate it, it's sooooo inferior and lame!". Sorry, both as a gadget-loving geek and as a professional IT advisor / consultant, I MUST know all the mobile operating systems. (Particularly now that the Microsoft folks have just told me they would be interested in some of my week-long lectures on the differences on BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices. I need such kinds of work because I (more precisely, my employer) prefer getting mobility-related IT consultant contacts as opposed to non-mobility-related ones. This is also why I keep posting on other operating systems - as I need to know them, why wouldn't I post on them? Finally, I won't create a separate version of the Bible for Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices for two reasons: 1. it'd cause me a LOT of additional work not only initially but also when I post a revised, updated version: restructuring the entire Bible, taking out all references to other OS'es; 2. knowing what other operating systems are capable of won't do anyone any harm - you may even find that having read info on another OS useful if you are given a handset running a different OS.)
Also note that, Windows Mobile-wise, the discussion applies to both touchscreen-less MS Smartphones (Windows Mobile 6 Standard) and touchscreen-enabled Pocket PC’s (Windows Mobile 6 Classic / Pro) models. All the reviewed Windows Mobile solutions run on both platforms. In the compatibility lists, I've listed the earliest Windows Mobile operating system a given solution is compatible with but didn't list them all. This means if you see WM2003+, it means compatibility with WM2003 and all subsequent operating system versions (WM2003SE, WM5, WM6, WM6.1), not only with WM2003.
1.1 Browsing the desktop Web version of YouTube
This section applies to both platforms of Windows Mobile starting with WM2003+ and used with Internet Explorer Mobile (IEM) and Opera Mobile; Symbian with integrated Flash Lite 3.
1.1.1 Windows Mobile
1.1.1.1 IEM / Opera Mobile + Flash 7 plug-in
If you install the Flash 7 plug-in (see the Flash Bible HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/menneisyys/052006FlashPlayers.asp) for more info on the availability etc.) on your Pocket PC and either use the WM5+ (not earlier: due to bad JavaScript support, they won’t work) Internet Explorer Mobile (IEM) or WM2003+ Opera Mobile (any version), the videos will be played back in-line, just like on the desktop.
This is, however, the worst approach you should ALWAYS avoid because it, in some cases, grinds the entire handset to halt and is very slow, even on high-end Windows Mobile devices. All in all, it’s in NO WAY recommended - there are far superior approaches.
1.1.1.2 IEM + FlashVideoBundle
This is an immensely better solution having all the advantages of the desktop version; most importantly, direct access to YouTube, Google Video & Veoh links sent in, for example, mails. Then, when IEM is invoked, you’re shown a context menu, where you can instruct IEM to show the video in TCPMP, save it into a file or, alternatively, take you right to the page so that you can see for example the comments / related videos:
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/FVBDirectURLEnteringContextMenu.png
If you directly enter the URL in the address bar (by, for example, pasting it to there), it’ll too present you with the same context menu; the same will happen if you just click a video link on YouTube (GV etc.) pages.
The current version is 1.4.4; CAB file available for download HERE (http://discussion.treocentral.com/showpost.php?p=1319431&postcount=1) (if you don’t want to register, I’ve mirrored it HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008W3CSpeech/FlashVideoBundle.rar)); my old, now-outdated article HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&title=yet_another_great_way_to_play_youtube_go&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1). Installing it is pretty straightforward; just follow the section "Installation instructions" in the tutorial on the homepage (http://discussion.treocentral.com/showpost.php?p=1319431&postcount=1).
This is one of the most recommended ways of playing back online videos, particularly if you get links in e-mails / other, offline documents like Word files.
1.1.2 Symbian with Flash Lite 3
In order to play back (Flash, including YouTube) videos embedded in Web pages, you’ll need to have a device with Flash Lite 3 preinstalled. One of them, the, currently, best multimedia handset of all, the Nokia N95 received Flash Lite 3 support in firmware version v21 released some weeks ago (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/6952_Finally_the_Nokia_N95_hits_v21.php).
If you have a compatible handset, you don’t need to install anything else (no third-party apps at all): videos will be played back right in the pages that contain them, with much-much less adverse effects than (currently) with Windows Mobile relying on the CPU-hog Flash 7.
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/FLite3LSMain.jpg
As has already been emphasized, Flash Lite 3 on Symbian behaves much-much better than the full Flash 7 on Windows Mobile. While the latter is in no way recommended, the former – if you have a Symbian device – is. Note that you can still use the Mobile YouTube Web and the MIDlet-based interface too (see sections 1.2 and 1.3, respectively), but they only deliver 3GP videos at a much lower quality than Flash Lite 3. Alternatively, if you need high-quality (Flash / H.264) videos, you may also want to prefer Mobitubia – or the soon-to-be-released, YouTube-capable version of CorePlayer.
Note that Portrait playback will always be oversized as can be seen in THIS (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/FLite3PortraitOversize.png) screenshot (source link HERE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFhuuV84tjQ)). Also, if you use the standard Nokia Web menu (Options / Rotate Screen) to switch to Landscape mode, it’ll stay oversized (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/FLite3LSOversize.png). The trick is clicking the Flash Lite 3 surface with the Action button – it’s then that it’ll be resized to fit into the screen as can be seen in the first screenshot.
Also note that there’s still no Flash Lite 3 on Windows Mobile but will, hopefully, be soon released; see THIS (http://www.aviarts.com/blog/?p=42) and THIS (http://msmobiles.com/news.php/6761.html) for more info.
1.2 Browsing the mobile version of the YouTube on the Web (Windows Mobile (WM), Symbian, BB(?))
If you fire up YouTube in your mobile Web browser for the first time, you'll be taken to the mobile version available at http://m.youtube.com/ - as opposed to the desktop one. This is vastly different from the desktop version in that it uses 3GP / RTSP - and has much less bandwidth usage even for rendering Web pages themselves.
This, of course, has both advantages and disadvantages. While it has much lower video/audio quality and is incompatible with firewalls (except for directly Net-connected Access Points, which almost all do decent RTSP NAT'ing), it uses applications most likely to be already present on your handset. For example, most Symbian handsets have the RealOne Player sufficient for playing back RTSP streams, but comparatively few have the latest, recently released Flash Lite 3. Similarly, on Windows Mobile, several, mostly HTC-branded devices come (but if your device doesn't have it, you can safely download and install it) with HTC's Streaming Media as is explained HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2045&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1). Finally, it MIGHT be compatible with more recent BlackBerries too as they too have an RTSP-capable media player; in my tests, however, it reset my OS 4.5.0.9 (beta)-based BlackBerry 8800 - unlike vTap's streams. (This doesn't necessarily mean it resets all other BlackBerries!)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/myoutubemain.png
Note that m.youtube.com already has ALL the videos available, unlike some months ago when it was first announced. That is, if you can live with the lower video / audio quality of 3GP streaming (and/or you don't have a network connection making RTSP streaming impossible), it might be a better choice than the desktop version - on both Symbian and Windows Mobile. Also, its interface offers exactly the same capabilities as that of the desktop version - in a much more bandwidth- and memory-conserving way. This also means you don't need to learn a brand new interface - your can safely rely on your already existing knowledge of the desktop YouTube interface. (Not that the alternative apps and interfaces would be THAT hard to master...)
Also note that if you ever click "View Desktop Version" link once (at the bottom of the page (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/myoutubemain.png)), after that, you'll always be taken to the desktop version.
1.3 Using the official YouTube MIDlet, YouTube for Mobile (beta) (currently, Symbian)
If you navigate to http://m.youtube.com/app from inside the browser of your (select) Nokia or Sony-Ericsson handsets (N73, E65, N95, 6120c, 6110n / k800i, w880i), you can easily download and deploy the client by just clicking the Download link (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientDL.png).
This client is a standalone app; that is, you don’t need to fire up for example the Nokia Web browser to get to your videos.
It has both restrictions and advantages. The biggest problem with it is that it can’t work over Wi-Fi connections (even with RTSP NAT correctly working, which is pretty much the case with most current Wi-Fi access points), unlike other clients. That is, you can only use wireless data to access videos. Another problem is that it’s only able to access 3GP streaming, meaning low playback quality.
However, it has a very nice and capable GUI, much better and powerful than that of most of the standalone alternatives on all platforms (not only Symbian). For example, it supports upload, account; it has related videos and is VERY polished – for example, it has search history support, which is even saved through restarts. Some screenshots showing it in action:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientSearchinProgre.png
(searching in progress)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientRelVideos.png
(related videos)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientsrchhist.png
(search history)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientFlaggingvideo.png
(flagging videos)
(A GUI screenshot of portrait and landscape playback is HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientPortrait.png) and HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientLS.png); unfortunately, the screen capturer app couldn’t capture the rendered video.)
Note that this app, currently, is NOT compatible with any MIDlet Manager on Windows Mobile, as has also been explained HERE (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=387069). The reason for my not putting it in the strictly Symbian-only section is that it hopefully will be made compatible with Windows Mobile as well – if Google doesn’t release a native (C++) version for the operating system, as they have done with Google Maps.
Related threads HERE (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69219), HERE (http://www.intomobile.com/2008/01/24/official-youtube-application-in-beta-working-on-nokia-nseries-and-sony-ericsson-phones.html) and HERE (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71592).
1.4 vTap (WM, Symbian, BlackBerry)
vTap (http://www.vtap.com/) is an RSS-like content syndication service with integrated, multi-site searching (including all major video sites, WikiPedia etc.) It has both a standalone (Windows Mobile / BlackBerry) client and a Web interface. The latter is of paramount importance with BlackBerry, as it’s, currently, the only way to access online YouTube videos.
First, let’s take a look at the standalone Windows Mobile client. After installing and starting, it presents you a single input field, where you can enter for example the video you’re looking for – as with the traditional YouTube search. It, however, also presents Wikipedia (and other video) hits.
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/vtapSerach1.png
(a Windows Mobile screenshot showing the collected results of a search – again, not only from YouTube)
Its GUI is pretty powerful as it allows for for example feedback, account login etc. Its settings capabilities are also pretty cool (1 (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/vtapMainMenu2.png) 2 (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/vtapMainMenu3.png)). Also allows for showing related videos which is pretty rare as of the writing of this article.
As far as the BlackBerry is concerned, the native client is only able to search from the Wiki as can be seen in HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BBvTap1.png). The vTap folks do state (http://vtap.com/faq.html#qb1) the standalone client is, as with Windows Mobile, able to play videos (or, at least, pass videos to the system-level multimedia player) starting with BB OS version 4.3. This doesn’t seem to be the case with version 4.5[0.9] beta of the operating system (see the 04/23 update of THIS (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2589&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) article for more info on acquiring and installing the beta). As can be seen in HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BBvTap2.png), there’s no Play icon at all and the menu (screenshot HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BBvTap3.png)) is much less powerful than that on Windows Mobile. (These are all 4.2.1 BB 8800 screenshots; the client behaves in exactly the same way on the same device with the latest 4.5.0.9 beta OS). Some Pearl users with native 4.3, on the other hand, did state it worked for them.
See for example THIS (http://blackberryforums.pinstack.com/46017-vtap_video_browser_player_coming_blackberry.html) for more info.
However, this isn’t a problem! There is, fortunately, a way to play back online, streamed content on the BlackBerry too. (Note that the following part has only been tested under 4.5.0.9. It might work on "official" 4.2 / 4.3 OS versions as well.)
1.4.1 The online Mobile vTap (http://m.vtap.com/)
If you navigate to http://m.vtap.com/ on your BlackBerry, you’re presented an interface pretty similar to that of Mobile YouTube. It allows for searching and a lot of other goodies. On BlackBerries, it’s the only way to get online, non-reconverted content, unlike the ways described for example HERE (http://blackberryforums.pinstack.com/21653-you_tube_videos_play_my_pearl.html) or in the well-known, related CrackBerry.com tutorial (http://crackberry.com/blackberry-101-lecture-10-getting-started-videos-your-blackberry-device). Screenshots showing it in action – again, under OS version 4.5.0.9:
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BB45YouTube1.png
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BB45YouTube2.png
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BB45YouTube3.png
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BB45YouTube4.png
(note that, as with Symbian, I couldn’t make a shot of the rendered contents)
Note that Mobile vTap is also compatible with Symbian; in there, it uses the built-in RealOne player (and RTSP) (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66533). It must also be compatible with HTC’s Streaming Media on Windows Mobile (haven’t tested this), should you want to prefer it to alternate solutions.
1.5 Operating-system specific, other apps
1.5.1 Windows Mobile
1.5.1.1 CorePlayer
I don’t think anyone needs to introduce CorePlayer (particularly not to readers that have been following my past multimedia-related articles (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&s=CorePlayer&sentence=AND)), which has recently received native YouTube browsing / searching support – in addition to, of course, playing it back. And it does the latter extraordinary well. Being based on the fastest AVC (H.264) and HE-AAC decoders, it plays back high-quality (non-3GP) videos with much less overhead than any other YouTube client on Windows Mobile. See for example THIS (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2139257&postcount=138) and THIS (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2141083&postcount=149) post for more info on this.
If you know iPhone’s YouTube player, you already know that of CorePlayer – the latter is very similar to iPhone’s. (Except for, for example, the lack of related videos.) This means it’s very easy to use and, again, has the most CPU-efficient decoding algorithm when it comes to playing back quality AND firewall-friendly, H.264 + AAC content - as opposed to the low-quality RTSP-streamed and, therefore, not firewall-friendly, 3GP content, which has considerably lower demands and can be played back by even non-optimized code without major CPU hits. Some screenshots:
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/CPYouTubeList.png
(standard list view)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/CPYouTubeList2.png
(detailed view of a selected video)
It’s still worth explaining how you can switch between the RTSP + 3G (low/medium-quality) and H.264 (high-quality, firewall-friendly HTTP-streamed) modes. By default, CP is configured to use the former. If your network topology / connection doesn’t allow for RTSP connections, the current, 1.2.3 version doesn’t display any error message – just times out after some minutes. (This will be fixed in a future version, as is also explained by the developer (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2139257&postcount=138): "Automate the YouTube Quality Control 'seeking'... this will help incase one setting appears to hang (spinning buffering icon).") If you either want to fix this problem or just want much better audio & video quality, just switch to "High Quality" in Menu > Tools > Preferences > Select Page > Network > YouTube Format:
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/CPYouTubeFormatSet.png
Note that QTv Display is set by default as the video renderer; therefore, if you don’t see any video (only sound), you’ll need to set the video mode to Raw Framebuffer or, if your PDA has a graphics co-processor (for example, the Intel 2700G), to it in Menu > Tools > Preferences > Select Page > Video > Video output:
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/CPYouTubeVideoOutSet.png
Note that with the (unfortunately, still very few) stereo high-quality (H.264) videos (like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAMXgl_53uE)) aren’t played back in stereo, unlike with TCPMP-based H.264 / FLV players - or simple 3GP players like that of Nokia Flash Lite 3 or the BlackBerry. This problem will be fixed really soon, as HE-AACv2, the state-of-the-art sound compression technology I’ve often elaborated on in my articles (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&s=HE-AACv2&sentence=sentence&submit=Search), finally gains support in CorePlayer in the near future. This is just great news – so far, Windows Mobile clearly lagged behind both Symbian S60 (on N-series devices) and BlackBerry 4.5 (which both support HE-AACv2 out of the box, with minimal CPU usage and AVRCP support not available with Windows Mobile) when it came to playing back HE-AACv2.
Also note that, while the YouTube client of CP currently lacks a lot of additional functionality like clip upload, login, online favorites etc., this will soon be fixed as is explained HERE (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2141083&postcount=149): "we have omitted some features till later on when we add it as a module with login, uploading, related, and bookmarking".
Finally, should be interested in why I recommend CP so much, take a look at my H.264 Bible (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2373&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) (if you haven’t already done so), where I’ve thoroughly benchmarked the H.264 (and AAC) decoding efficiency of all media players.
1.5.1.2 Milesmowbray’s YouTubePlay - YouTube Player
There’s another, free(!) and pretty cool, but, being based on the old TCPMP libraries, compared to CorePlayer, less efficient standalone player, Milesmowbray’s YouTubePlay available HERE (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=385227).
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MilesmowbrayYouTubePlayMain.png
(the search results, highlighting a clip - as you can see, there isn't much you can do - no related videos, flagging, account support and the like)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MilesmowbrayYouTubePlayMain2.jpg
(it uses a built-in video player for playback - that is, it doesn't rely on external players)
It’s pretty straightforward to use as it’s a stand-alone app: you just install it and fire it up. No further (external) app installs are necessary. See the above-linked thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=385227) for user discussion & new versions (albeit, of course, I’ll try to keep you updated).
If you want a standalone (non-Web-based) app and don't want to pay for the, otherwise, technically superior CorePlayer, this app is worth checking out. Note that, however, it's pretty much inferior to CP, capabilities-wise.
1.5.1.3 YTPocket
YTPocket (http://www.ytpocket.com/) is a decent Web-based interface offering Flash-based, that is, high-quality (as opposed to low-bitrate and, hence, low-quality 3GP streams) and HTTP (meaning firewall-friendliness) streaming. The interface is pretty much similar to that of the Web interface of Mobile YouTube.
As it’s FLV-based, you must have a FLV-capable player to play the videos it downloads. Shouldn’t you already have TCPMP with the FLV plug-in installed, you can easily download them over-the-air from the setup tutorial page (http://www.ytpocket.com/install.php) of YTPocket.
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/ytpocketThumbnailList.png
(the thumbnail list)
After clicking the Down arrow, the file fully downloads (to anywhere in the local file system) and, then, TCPMP is invoked on it to play it back:
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/ytpocketFLVDownloadReq.png
Note that the biggest advantage of this interface that it stores the FLV files in the file system on your PDA, should you want to keep them for future use. (Also, it works in all alternate browsers – even Opera Mini! –, not only with IEM – as far as one of the most recommended YouTube playback solutions, FlashVideoBundle, is concerned) This, however, also means it will not utilize any kind of streaming, which means
1. you’ll have to wait until the file is fully downloaded, which can take some time (as opposed to streaming-based solutions, which start at once), particularly when downloading to a non-optimized / slowish storage card (see THIS (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2590&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) for my latest benchmarks)
2. you must also have the necessary free storage. In the age of cheap 4+ GB cards, this is less of an issue, though.
1.5.2 Symbian
The most important standalone app is the highly recommended Mobitubia (http://www.mobitubia.com/); see for example THIS (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71834). It has become a commercial app but you can get it by even donating as low as $1.50. Of course, you’ll want to donate much more to keep the development going (I donated $10 at first and if the dev continues to come out with new, even more enhanced versions, will definitely donate more). It’s really decent, plays back high-quality FLV videos without stuttering (as opposed to the Flash Lite 3 plug-in or the native YouTube MIDlet)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MobiTubiaThumbnails.png
(thumbnails after a search)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MobiTubiaSrchSorting.png
(you can sort the clips using several different methods)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MobiTubiaPlayback.png
(playback; note that I’ve forced the app to display the toolbar; otherwise, it’s hidden and the video is played back in full screen)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MobiTubiaURLInut.png
(a direct URL can also be entered – or, better, pasted – should you have received a direct link in, say, an e-mail and don’t want to fire up Nokia Web or Opera Mini to find out the title or other parameters of the clip to be able to quickly find it)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MobiTubiaIDInput.png
(you can also supply the YouTube ID – see the remarks of the previous screenshot)
Note that there used to be another Symbian app to play back YouTube, emTube (http://www.emtube.yoyo.pl/), but it’s been down for some months and it’s still not known whether it’ll be restarted at all. Also see THIS (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71834).
Finally, the Symbian version of CorePlayer will receive the same functionality than the Windows Mobile version in 1-2 weeks (this being written on 04/24/2008). See section 1.5.1.1 for more info.
2. Comparison chart (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/YouTubeMainChart.html)
The feature / comparison chart available HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/YouTubeMainChart.html) is pretty easy to understand based on the info above. It lists the compatibility, quality, protocol (whether it’s using high-quality, firewall-friendly HTTP / H.264 or the low-quality, firewall-unfriendly RTSP 3GP), standard YouTube features like uploading, editing / reading comments, related videos, logging into your account and the ability to save videos for future use (in which YTPocket really rocks).
3. Verdict - what to go for?
There're no hard-and-fast rules for choosing the right solution. First, you need to decide whether the quality (or the lack thereof) of 3GP streams are sufficient for you. If they aren't (and you aren't a BlackBerry user) OR you can't play back RTSP streams (because of your restricted network connection), go for something FLV / H.264-based. Fortunately, both Symbian and Windows Mobile have several apps offering FLV / H.264 playback. For WM, I recommend FlashVideoBundle and/or CorePlayer the most. For Symbian, Mobitubia is a really decent solution - and the forthcoming CorePlayer, if you don't mind the higher price tag. Of course, on Symbian, you can also safely stick with Flash Lite 3 if you have a compatible handset / firmware version (again, remember that Flash Lite 3 being comparatively new, your otherwise compatible phone may still running an older, incompatible firmware - as was the case with the Nokia N95 before firmware version v21).
On the other hand, if your connection isn't firewalled (which would make incoming RSTP connections impossible), the 3GP "quality" is sufficient for you and/or you must reduce network traffic (or, you are on the BlackBerry), you can safely stay with http://m.youtube.com/ (see section 1.2) if you're a Windows Mobile (making sure you do have an RTSP player (pre)installed; for example, the free HTC Streaming Media) or Symbian user or the online Mobile vTap (http://m.vtap.com/) (see section 1.4.1) if you're on BlackBerry.
In this YouTube Bible, I show you how this all can be done on the three major non-iPhone platforms: Windows Mobile, Symbian S60 and BlackBerry. (As the iPhone, as opposed to most other solutions, already comes with a decent player, there isn’t much point in elaborating on it. You just fire up the YouTube icon and off you go at – if you have Wi-Fi connectivity – very good quality. Nothing needs to be installed and there’re no alternatives you will need to know to make an intelligent decision.)
Note that I’ve published several YouTube-related articles (a quick search for YouTube on my blog (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&s=YouTube+&sentence=AND&submit=Search) reveals these tutorials). These, however, are pretty outdated now – particularly that a lot of vastly superior solutions have been released in the meantime. I’ll, however, refer back to for example the HTC Streaming Media tutorial (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2045&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1).
Also note that this Bible is multiplatform, as with the majority of my later Bibles. If you're a fanboy of any of the three reviewed operating systems, don't post angry messages like "Why on earth did you include operating system X? I hate it, it's sooooo inferior and lame!". Sorry, both as a gadget-loving geek and as a professional IT advisor / consultant, I MUST know all the mobile operating systems. (Particularly now that the Microsoft folks have just told me they would be interested in some of my week-long lectures on the differences on BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices. I need such kinds of work because I (more precisely, my employer) prefer getting mobility-related IT consultant contacts as opposed to non-mobility-related ones. This is also why I keep posting on other operating systems - as I need to know them, why wouldn't I post on them? Finally, I won't create a separate version of the Bible for Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices for two reasons: 1. it'd cause me a LOT of additional work not only initially but also when I post a revised, updated version: restructuring the entire Bible, taking out all references to other OS'es; 2. knowing what other operating systems are capable of won't do anyone any harm - you may even find that having read info on another OS useful if you are given a handset running a different OS.)
Also note that, Windows Mobile-wise, the discussion applies to both touchscreen-less MS Smartphones (Windows Mobile 6 Standard) and touchscreen-enabled Pocket PC’s (Windows Mobile 6 Classic / Pro) models. All the reviewed Windows Mobile solutions run on both platforms. In the compatibility lists, I've listed the earliest Windows Mobile operating system a given solution is compatible with but didn't list them all. This means if you see WM2003+, it means compatibility with WM2003 and all subsequent operating system versions (WM2003SE, WM5, WM6, WM6.1), not only with WM2003.
1.1 Browsing the desktop Web version of YouTube
This section applies to both platforms of Windows Mobile starting with WM2003+ and used with Internet Explorer Mobile (IEM) and Opera Mobile; Symbian with integrated Flash Lite 3.
1.1.1 Windows Mobile
1.1.1.1 IEM / Opera Mobile + Flash 7 plug-in
If you install the Flash 7 plug-in (see the Flash Bible HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/menneisyys/052006FlashPlayers.asp) for more info on the availability etc.) on your Pocket PC and either use the WM5+ (not earlier: due to bad JavaScript support, they won’t work) Internet Explorer Mobile (IEM) or WM2003+ Opera Mobile (any version), the videos will be played back in-line, just like on the desktop.
This is, however, the worst approach you should ALWAYS avoid because it, in some cases, grinds the entire handset to halt and is very slow, even on high-end Windows Mobile devices. All in all, it’s in NO WAY recommended - there are far superior approaches.
1.1.1.2 IEM + FlashVideoBundle
This is an immensely better solution having all the advantages of the desktop version; most importantly, direct access to YouTube, Google Video & Veoh links sent in, for example, mails. Then, when IEM is invoked, you’re shown a context menu, where you can instruct IEM to show the video in TCPMP, save it into a file or, alternatively, take you right to the page so that you can see for example the comments / related videos:
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/FVBDirectURLEnteringContextMenu.png
If you directly enter the URL in the address bar (by, for example, pasting it to there), it’ll too present you with the same context menu; the same will happen if you just click a video link on YouTube (GV etc.) pages.
The current version is 1.4.4; CAB file available for download HERE (http://discussion.treocentral.com/showpost.php?p=1319431&postcount=1) (if you don’t want to register, I’ve mirrored it HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008W3CSpeech/FlashVideoBundle.rar)); my old, now-outdated article HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&title=yet_another_great_way_to_play_youtube_go&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1). Installing it is pretty straightforward; just follow the section "Installation instructions" in the tutorial on the homepage (http://discussion.treocentral.com/showpost.php?p=1319431&postcount=1).
This is one of the most recommended ways of playing back online videos, particularly if you get links in e-mails / other, offline documents like Word files.
1.1.2 Symbian with Flash Lite 3
In order to play back (Flash, including YouTube) videos embedded in Web pages, you’ll need to have a device with Flash Lite 3 preinstalled. One of them, the, currently, best multimedia handset of all, the Nokia N95 received Flash Lite 3 support in firmware version v21 released some weeks ago (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/6952_Finally_the_Nokia_N95_hits_v21.php).
If you have a compatible handset, you don’t need to install anything else (no third-party apps at all): videos will be played back right in the pages that contain them, with much-much less adverse effects than (currently) with Windows Mobile relying on the CPU-hog Flash 7.
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/FLite3LSMain.jpg
As has already been emphasized, Flash Lite 3 on Symbian behaves much-much better than the full Flash 7 on Windows Mobile. While the latter is in no way recommended, the former – if you have a Symbian device – is. Note that you can still use the Mobile YouTube Web and the MIDlet-based interface too (see sections 1.2 and 1.3, respectively), but they only deliver 3GP videos at a much lower quality than Flash Lite 3. Alternatively, if you need high-quality (Flash / H.264) videos, you may also want to prefer Mobitubia – or the soon-to-be-released, YouTube-capable version of CorePlayer.
Note that Portrait playback will always be oversized as can be seen in THIS (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/FLite3PortraitOversize.png) screenshot (source link HERE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFhuuV84tjQ)). Also, if you use the standard Nokia Web menu (Options / Rotate Screen) to switch to Landscape mode, it’ll stay oversized (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/FLite3LSOversize.png). The trick is clicking the Flash Lite 3 surface with the Action button – it’s then that it’ll be resized to fit into the screen as can be seen in the first screenshot.
Also note that there’s still no Flash Lite 3 on Windows Mobile but will, hopefully, be soon released; see THIS (http://www.aviarts.com/blog/?p=42) and THIS (http://msmobiles.com/news.php/6761.html) for more info.
1.2 Browsing the mobile version of the YouTube on the Web (Windows Mobile (WM), Symbian, BB(?))
If you fire up YouTube in your mobile Web browser for the first time, you'll be taken to the mobile version available at http://m.youtube.com/ - as opposed to the desktop one. This is vastly different from the desktop version in that it uses 3GP / RTSP - and has much less bandwidth usage even for rendering Web pages themselves.
This, of course, has both advantages and disadvantages. While it has much lower video/audio quality and is incompatible with firewalls (except for directly Net-connected Access Points, which almost all do decent RTSP NAT'ing), it uses applications most likely to be already present on your handset. For example, most Symbian handsets have the RealOne Player sufficient for playing back RTSP streams, but comparatively few have the latest, recently released Flash Lite 3. Similarly, on Windows Mobile, several, mostly HTC-branded devices come (but if your device doesn't have it, you can safely download and install it) with HTC's Streaming Media as is explained HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2045&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1). Finally, it MIGHT be compatible with more recent BlackBerries too as they too have an RTSP-capable media player; in my tests, however, it reset my OS 4.5.0.9 (beta)-based BlackBerry 8800 - unlike vTap's streams. (This doesn't necessarily mean it resets all other BlackBerries!)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/myoutubemain.png
Note that m.youtube.com already has ALL the videos available, unlike some months ago when it was first announced. That is, if you can live with the lower video / audio quality of 3GP streaming (and/or you don't have a network connection making RTSP streaming impossible), it might be a better choice than the desktop version - on both Symbian and Windows Mobile. Also, its interface offers exactly the same capabilities as that of the desktop version - in a much more bandwidth- and memory-conserving way. This also means you don't need to learn a brand new interface - your can safely rely on your already existing knowledge of the desktop YouTube interface. (Not that the alternative apps and interfaces would be THAT hard to master...)
Also note that if you ever click "View Desktop Version" link once (at the bottom of the page (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/myoutubemain.png)), after that, you'll always be taken to the desktop version.
1.3 Using the official YouTube MIDlet, YouTube for Mobile (beta) (currently, Symbian)
If you navigate to http://m.youtube.com/app from inside the browser of your (select) Nokia or Sony-Ericsson handsets (N73, E65, N95, 6120c, 6110n / k800i, w880i), you can easily download and deploy the client by just clicking the Download link (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientDL.png).
This client is a standalone app; that is, you don’t need to fire up for example the Nokia Web browser to get to your videos.
It has both restrictions and advantages. The biggest problem with it is that it can’t work over Wi-Fi connections (even with RTSP NAT correctly working, which is pretty much the case with most current Wi-Fi access points), unlike other clients. That is, you can only use wireless data to access videos. Another problem is that it’s only able to access 3GP streaming, meaning low playback quality.
However, it has a very nice and capable GUI, much better and powerful than that of most of the standalone alternatives on all platforms (not only Symbian). For example, it supports upload, account; it has related videos and is VERY polished – for example, it has search history support, which is even saved through restarts. Some screenshots showing it in action:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientSearchinProgre.png
(searching in progress)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientRelVideos.png
(related videos)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientsrchhist.png
(search history)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientFlaggingvideo.png
(flagging videos)
(A GUI screenshot of portrait and landscape playback is HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientPortrait.png) and HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientLS.png); unfortunately, the screen capturer app couldn’t capture the rendered video.)
Note that this app, currently, is NOT compatible with any MIDlet Manager on Windows Mobile, as has also been explained HERE (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=387069). The reason for my not putting it in the strictly Symbian-only section is that it hopefully will be made compatible with Windows Mobile as well – if Google doesn’t release a native (C++) version for the operating system, as they have done with Google Maps.
Related threads HERE (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69219), HERE (http://www.intomobile.com/2008/01/24/official-youtube-application-in-beta-working-on-nokia-nseries-and-sony-ericsson-phones.html) and HERE (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71592).
1.4 vTap (WM, Symbian, BlackBerry)
vTap (http://www.vtap.com/) is an RSS-like content syndication service with integrated, multi-site searching (including all major video sites, WikiPedia etc.) It has both a standalone (Windows Mobile / BlackBerry) client and a Web interface. The latter is of paramount importance with BlackBerry, as it’s, currently, the only way to access online YouTube videos.
First, let’s take a look at the standalone Windows Mobile client. After installing and starting, it presents you a single input field, where you can enter for example the video you’re looking for – as with the traditional YouTube search. It, however, also presents Wikipedia (and other video) hits.
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/vtapSerach1.png
(a Windows Mobile screenshot showing the collected results of a search – again, not only from YouTube)
Its GUI is pretty powerful as it allows for for example feedback, account login etc. Its settings capabilities are also pretty cool (1 (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/vtapMainMenu2.png) 2 (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/vtapMainMenu3.png)). Also allows for showing related videos which is pretty rare as of the writing of this article.
As far as the BlackBerry is concerned, the native client is only able to search from the Wiki as can be seen in HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BBvTap1.png). The vTap folks do state (http://vtap.com/faq.html#qb1) the standalone client is, as with Windows Mobile, able to play videos (or, at least, pass videos to the system-level multimedia player) starting with BB OS version 4.3. This doesn’t seem to be the case with version 4.5[0.9] beta of the operating system (see the 04/23 update of THIS (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2589&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) article for more info on acquiring and installing the beta). As can be seen in HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BBvTap2.png), there’s no Play icon at all and the menu (screenshot HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BBvTap3.png)) is much less powerful than that on Windows Mobile. (These are all 4.2.1 BB 8800 screenshots; the client behaves in exactly the same way on the same device with the latest 4.5.0.9 beta OS). Some Pearl users with native 4.3, on the other hand, did state it worked for them.
See for example THIS (http://blackberryforums.pinstack.com/46017-vtap_video_browser_player_coming_blackberry.html) for more info.
However, this isn’t a problem! There is, fortunately, a way to play back online, streamed content on the BlackBerry too. (Note that the following part has only been tested under 4.5.0.9. It might work on "official" 4.2 / 4.3 OS versions as well.)
1.4.1 The online Mobile vTap (http://m.vtap.com/)
If you navigate to http://m.vtap.com/ on your BlackBerry, you’re presented an interface pretty similar to that of Mobile YouTube. It allows for searching and a lot of other goodies. On BlackBerries, it’s the only way to get online, non-reconverted content, unlike the ways described for example HERE (http://blackberryforums.pinstack.com/21653-you_tube_videos_play_my_pearl.html) or in the well-known, related CrackBerry.com tutorial (http://crackberry.com/blackberry-101-lecture-10-getting-started-videos-your-blackberry-device). Screenshots showing it in action – again, under OS version 4.5.0.9:
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BB45YouTube1.png
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BB45YouTube2.png
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BB45YouTube3.png
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/BB45YouTube4.png
(note that, as with Symbian, I couldn’t make a shot of the rendered contents)
Note that Mobile vTap is also compatible with Symbian; in there, it uses the built-in RealOne player (and RTSP) (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66533). It must also be compatible with HTC’s Streaming Media on Windows Mobile (haven’t tested this), should you want to prefer it to alternate solutions.
1.5 Operating-system specific, other apps
1.5.1 Windows Mobile
1.5.1.1 CorePlayer
I don’t think anyone needs to introduce CorePlayer (particularly not to readers that have been following my past multimedia-related articles (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&s=CorePlayer&sentence=AND)), which has recently received native YouTube browsing / searching support – in addition to, of course, playing it back. And it does the latter extraordinary well. Being based on the fastest AVC (H.264) and HE-AAC decoders, it plays back high-quality (non-3GP) videos with much less overhead than any other YouTube client on Windows Mobile. See for example THIS (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2139257&postcount=138) and THIS (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2141083&postcount=149) post for more info on this.
If you know iPhone’s YouTube player, you already know that of CorePlayer – the latter is very similar to iPhone’s. (Except for, for example, the lack of related videos.) This means it’s very easy to use and, again, has the most CPU-efficient decoding algorithm when it comes to playing back quality AND firewall-friendly, H.264 + AAC content - as opposed to the low-quality RTSP-streamed and, therefore, not firewall-friendly, 3GP content, which has considerably lower demands and can be played back by even non-optimized code without major CPU hits. Some screenshots:
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/CPYouTubeList.png
(standard list view)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/CPYouTubeList2.png
(detailed view of a selected video)
It’s still worth explaining how you can switch between the RTSP + 3G (low/medium-quality) and H.264 (high-quality, firewall-friendly HTTP-streamed) modes. By default, CP is configured to use the former. If your network topology / connection doesn’t allow for RTSP connections, the current, 1.2.3 version doesn’t display any error message – just times out after some minutes. (This will be fixed in a future version, as is also explained by the developer (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2139257&postcount=138): "Automate the YouTube Quality Control 'seeking'... this will help incase one setting appears to hang (spinning buffering icon).") If you either want to fix this problem or just want much better audio & video quality, just switch to "High Quality" in Menu > Tools > Preferences > Select Page > Network > YouTube Format:
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/CPYouTubeFormatSet.png
Note that QTv Display is set by default as the video renderer; therefore, if you don’t see any video (only sound), you’ll need to set the video mode to Raw Framebuffer or, if your PDA has a graphics co-processor (for example, the Intel 2700G), to it in Menu > Tools > Preferences > Select Page > Video > Video output:
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/CPYouTubeVideoOutSet.png
Note that with the (unfortunately, still very few) stereo high-quality (H.264) videos (like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAMXgl_53uE)) aren’t played back in stereo, unlike with TCPMP-based H.264 / FLV players - or simple 3GP players like that of Nokia Flash Lite 3 or the BlackBerry. This problem will be fixed really soon, as HE-AACv2, the state-of-the-art sound compression technology I’ve often elaborated on in my articles (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&s=HE-AACv2&sentence=sentence&submit=Search), finally gains support in CorePlayer in the near future. This is just great news – so far, Windows Mobile clearly lagged behind both Symbian S60 (on N-series devices) and BlackBerry 4.5 (which both support HE-AACv2 out of the box, with minimal CPU usage and AVRCP support not available with Windows Mobile) when it came to playing back HE-AACv2.
Also note that, while the YouTube client of CP currently lacks a lot of additional functionality like clip upload, login, online favorites etc., this will soon be fixed as is explained HERE (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2141083&postcount=149): "we have omitted some features till later on when we add it as a module with login, uploading, related, and bookmarking".
Finally, should be interested in why I recommend CP so much, take a look at my H.264 Bible (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2373&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) (if you haven’t already done so), where I’ve thoroughly benchmarked the H.264 (and AAC) decoding efficiency of all media players.
1.5.1.2 Milesmowbray’s YouTubePlay - YouTube Player
There’s another, free(!) and pretty cool, but, being based on the old TCPMP libraries, compared to CorePlayer, less efficient standalone player, Milesmowbray’s YouTubePlay available HERE (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=385227).
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MilesmowbrayYouTubePlayMain.png
(the search results, highlighting a clip - as you can see, there isn't much you can do - no related videos, flagging, account support and the like)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MilesmowbrayYouTubePlayMain2.jpg
(it uses a built-in video player for playback - that is, it doesn't rely on external players)
It’s pretty straightforward to use as it’s a stand-alone app: you just install it and fire it up. No further (external) app installs are necessary. See the above-linked thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=385227) for user discussion & new versions (albeit, of course, I’ll try to keep you updated).
If you want a standalone (non-Web-based) app and don't want to pay for the, otherwise, technically superior CorePlayer, this app is worth checking out. Note that, however, it's pretty much inferior to CP, capabilities-wise.
1.5.1.3 YTPocket
YTPocket (http://www.ytpocket.com/) is a decent Web-based interface offering Flash-based, that is, high-quality (as opposed to low-bitrate and, hence, low-quality 3GP streams) and HTTP (meaning firewall-friendliness) streaming. The interface is pretty much similar to that of the Web interface of Mobile YouTube.
As it’s FLV-based, you must have a FLV-capable player to play the videos it downloads. Shouldn’t you already have TCPMP with the FLV plug-in installed, you can easily download them over-the-air from the setup tutorial page (http://www.ytpocket.com/install.php) of YTPocket.
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/ytpocketThumbnailList.png
(the thumbnail list)
After clicking the Down arrow, the file fully downloads (to anywhere in the local file system) and, then, TCPMP is invoked on it to play it back:
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/ytpocketFLVDownloadReq.png
Note that the biggest advantage of this interface that it stores the FLV files in the file system on your PDA, should you want to keep them for future use. (Also, it works in all alternate browsers – even Opera Mini! –, not only with IEM – as far as one of the most recommended YouTube playback solutions, FlashVideoBundle, is concerned) This, however, also means it will not utilize any kind of streaming, which means
1. you’ll have to wait until the file is fully downloaded, which can take some time (as opposed to streaming-based solutions, which start at once), particularly when downloading to a non-optimized / slowish storage card (see THIS (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2590&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) for my latest benchmarks)
2. you must also have the necessary free storage. In the age of cheap 4+ GB cards, this is less of an issue, though.
1.5.2 Symbian
The most important standalone app is the highly recommended Mobitubia (http://www.mobitubia.com/); see for example THIS (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71834). It has become a commercial app but you can get it by even donating as low as $1.50. Of course, you’ll want to donate much more to keep the development going (I donated $10 at first and if the dev continues to come out with new, even more enhanced versions, will definitely donate more). It’s really decent, plays back high-quality FLV videos without stuttering (as opposed to the Flash Lite 3 plug-in or the native YouTube MIDlet)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MobiTubiaThumbnails.png
(thumbnails after a search)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MobiTubiaSrchSorting.png
(you can sort the clips using several different methods)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MobiTubiaPlayback.png
(playback; note that I’ve forced the app to display the toolbar; otherwise, it’s hidden and the video is played back in full screen)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MobiTubiaURLInut.png
(a direct URL can also be entered – or, better, pasted – should you have received a direct link in, say, an e-mail and don’t want to fire up Nokia Web or Opera Mini to find out the title or other parameters of the clip to be able to quickly find it)
http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/MobiTubiaIDInput.png
(you can also supply the YouTube ID – see the remarks of the previous screenshot)
Note that there used to be another Symbian app to play back YouTube, emTube (http://www.emtube.yoyo.pl/), but it’s been down for some months and it’s still not known whether it’ll be restarted at all. Also see THIS (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71834).
Finally, the Symbian version of CorePlayer will receive the same functionality than the Windows Mobile version in 1-2 weeks (this being written on 04/24/2008). See section 1.5.1.1 for more info.
2. Comparison chart (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/YouTubeMainChart.html)
The feature / comparison chart available HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/YouTubeMainChart.html) is pretty easy to understand based on the info above. It lists the compatibility, quality, protocol (whether it’s using high-quality, firewall-friendly HTTP / H.264 or the low-quality, firewall-unfriendly RTSP 3GP), standard YouTube features like uploading, editing / reading comments, related videos, logging into your account and the ability to save videos for future use (in which YTPocket really rocks).
3. Verdict - what to go for?
There're no hard-and-fast rules for choosing the right solution. First, you need to decide whether the quality (or the lack thereof) of 3GP streams are sufficient for you. If they aren't (and you aren't a BlackBerry user) OR you can't play back RTSP streams (because of your restricted network connection), go for something FLV / H.264-based. Fortunately, both Symbian and Windows Mobile have several apps offering FLV / H.264 playback. For WM, I recommend FlashVideoBundle and/or CorePlayer the most. For Symbian, Mobitubia is a really decent solution - and the forthcoming CorePlayer, if you don't mind the higher price tag. Of course, on Symbian, you can also safely stick with Flash Lite 3 if you have a compatible handset / firmware version (again, remember that Flash Lite 3 being comparatively new, your otherwise compatible phone may still running an older, incompatible firmware - as was the case with the Nokia N95 before firmware version v21).
On the other hand, if your connection isn't firewalled (which would make incoming RSTP connections impossible), the 3GP "quality" is sufficient for you and/or you must reduce network traffic (or, you are on the BlackBerry), you can safely stay with http://m.youtube.com/ (see section 1.2) if you're a Windows Mobile (making sure you do have an RTSP player (pre)installed; for example, the free HTC Streaming Media) or Symbian user or the online Mobile vTap (http://m.vtap.com/) (see section 1.4.1) if you're on BlackBerry.