emTube - Youtube on Symbian Smartphones

One of the greatest Websites, that stands for Web 2.0 like no other is Youtube. Youtube is everywhere, everyone knows Youtube. The online-video community grows bigger and bigger. That is why users want to access videos even from their mobile phones. One solution for watching Youtube content is a program called emTube. We gave it a try, and here are the results.

Review Conditions

We tested the current version 1.0.10 of emTube, that was released on January the 19th. The testing-device was a Nokia E65 using a wireless-lan connection for accessing the online content.

Installation

EmTube is only supported by Series60 3rd Edtion smartphones, because it uses libraries, that are not offered in the 2nd Edition of Symbian OS. After downloading the installation file from the official website you have to ensure, that you allowed the phone to install unsigned software also. You do that by going to the application manager, jump into the settings and turn the entry “Software installation” to “All”. Otherwise you will get a certificate error when trying to install. After that the installation is as easy as known from other applications.

First view

After starting emTube watching the first videos is pretty fast. Just choose featured, top rated or most viewed, as known from Youtube, from the menu and click a video. That’s it! It begins streaming immediately, in the top you will be shown the progress of caching the video. Fast-forwarding and rewinding works surprisingly speedy. Really nice, if the clip is fully loaded.

Main features

Naturally the main feature of emTube is watching Youtube videos. You can either search for them, enter the url or ID directly, or browse lists of featured, top rated, most viewed or by author. Once an internet connection is required, you are asked to choose your connection. After a clip is opened, the programm starts streaming it to your phone. There are several shortcuts to controll playback, but unless you visit the official website you will have to find out by yourself, which keys are for doing what. For instance you can switch between normal and landscape mode by pressing [1].

Also possible are muting, pausing and resuming playback. So far emTube is really useful. But what makes it even better is, that it supports watching locally stored flash videos. That could either be videos you downloaded via emTube, yes that little programm can download them, or flash files you got anywhere else. Now you do not need to have an internet connection established for watching your favourite clips. If you don’t wish to download all videos you like, emTube could manage them in a list. For people who own a Nokia N95, or any other smartphone with a motion sensor, it is also possible to turn on autorotate. If enabled, emTube switches to landscape mode automatically when turning the device.

Handling

All in all the navigation of emTube is good. It supports the special buttons for lowering or turning up the volume level and has shortcuts for the main functions need in playback. If in landscape mode, the functions of the navigation keys change in order to offer intuitive handling.

Weaknesses

Since Youtube is very much based on interaction, it is vital to read and write comments or rate the videos. All that is not possible yet. But don’t mind, the developer already plans including these features, besides uploading own videos. In the settings tab emTube offers some simple customisation possibilities. Setting up the standard playback mode to landscape would be nice, as well as choosing a default folder for downloading videos .

Conclusion

Up to now emTube cannot replace the Youtube-Platform utterly. For watching and downloading Youtube videos or viewing your own flash files it is a great application, perhaps the best. Taking into account, that emTube will get further improvements but does not offer full functionality yet, I rate it with 4 of 5 stars.

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