Review: YourTube Pro
Score:
82%
Now here's a category of application which shouldn't really exist. Downloading (for offline use) rather than streaming YouTube content is, I'm sure, somewhat frowned upon in Google/YouTube circles, yet we've all done it using one tool or another. And here we have another Symbian application to offer the raw MP4 video streams - very handy for squirrelling away videos for watching on a journey, for example, when data connectivity is likely to be scarce or expensive.
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Before working through the (rather good) application, it's well worth a word about the name itself though. On the phone, this is "YourTube Pro", in the store it's "YouTube Downloader Pro". Such a contraction might be acceptable if the application was unique. Sadly, there are two other YouTube downloaders (not as good, but....), both of which have similar names - making the situation all the more confusing.
Anyway, the one you want is the one by Oleg Derevenetz and it's unique selling point is that it lets you download multiple YouTube videos in a managed queue environment, right up to 720p, with no hassle and a delightfully simple interface. Rather cleverly, it piggybacks on the existing mobile version of the YouTube web site, but with a custom toolbar at the bottom of the screen:
From left to right, there's a navigation control, providing (as a pop-up) basic 'browser' functions like 'Back', 'Refresh', 'Home' (shown below, left) and a rather nice little help mini-FAQ; plus the all important 'Download' button; the file drawer is where completed and in-progress downloads are logged, while the power icon is the way out.
Having found a video that you'd like to download onto your phone, tap on the Download icon and you'll be shown the various file types available (above, right). Not all videos are available in 720p resolution, of course, but it's worth grabbing in this form if available as the N8 and other modern phones are more than up to the job of playing high resolution videos, plus you'll be able to transfer to your desktop later and view on a bigger screen if needed, at full quality. In case you're wondering, the FLV (Flash Video) movie files also play on Symbian phones, but overall quality is usually lower.
Rather nicely, there's queueing and management of downloads, as shown below, right. You can monitor progress at any point, pause or resume any items as needed. All while going back and finding your next video to download. The Muse video shown in download progress below was a whopping 900MB, so it's a given that you should only be doing this sort of thing at a Wi-fi hotspot of some kind.
Note that the File cabinet icon changes to a Web icon when in the file cabinet, i.e. tap this to return to 'browsing' mode. Also note the red 'minus' icon - this deletes a download item/instruction from the queue. On the right hand side, in Symbian Videos, showing some of the videos I've grabbed via YourTube Pro.
The other thing you'll be wondering is whether you can 'log in' to this mobile instance of YouTube, to have access to your favourites in the usual way. Absolutely yes, YouTube behaves as it normally would, except that rather than streaming videos on request, it's up to you to 'Download' videos manually - to mass memory or memory card, as appropriate.
Although elegantly built on top of an existing Internet resource, this does have one weakness - you're limited to the fonts and thumbnails presented by m.youtube.com - there's no way to zoom in to read things more clearly. This I could live with, but I did get annoyed several times that the size of text links and the size of the 'Search' button and field meant that multiple taps were needed to 'hit' these successfully. On the 3.5"-screened N8, at least - I imagine the situation would be worse on the 3.2"-screened devices like the C6-01, 5800 and X6.
It's true that there's at least one more YouTube downloader utility that claims to handle 720p downloads - but in my experience this is the one that works the most reliably. It's also the most stable, the most elegant and the most intuitive. In my eyes, that makes it worth the £1.50 being asked.
Right, I'm off to archive a few more of my favourite clips, while I can.
Steve Litchfield, AAS, 26 September 2011
Reviewed by Steve Litchfield at