YouTube Mobile Site Trumps Dedicated iPhone App

From PC World: Goodbye YouTube software app, hello YouTube Web app. Google aims to kill off the YouTube mobile software app with a better mobile Web version compatible with iPhone and Android phones. The new YouTube mobile Web site was introduced Wednesday for smartphones and uses higher-quality HMTL5 video, a more polished user interface, and features video search suggestions.

Since Google doesn't control the native YouTube app on the iPhone -- Apple does -- there are features you won't find in the Web version of YouTube. For example, the native iPhone YouTube app features the 5-star rating system, which the site abandoned in January in favor of thumbs up/down ratings.

Another problem with the native iPhone app is that it uses video streams meant for EDGE (2.5G) connection speeds, which are usually quite blurry -- especially on the iPhone 4's high-res Retina Display. Given the competition between Apple and Google in the smartphone area, perhaps YouTube decided to up the ante with an improved mobile site.

The new YouTube mobile site (see Harry McCracken's quick tour) leverages higher-quality HTML5 videos, which won't open in your dedicated YouTube app anymore. So instead of using the app, Google wants you to use the mobile site (it even allows you to bookmark the page on your home screen by tapping the plus sign at the bottom in Safari and tap "Add to Home Screen").

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