By: Nick Gambino
The beta version of the data-conscious iteration of the YouTube app has finally arrived in the Google Play Store.
YouTube Go, or as I call it YouTube Lite, was announced last year in Delhi as an app developed with India in mind. Meaning it was designed to be used in areas that have connectivity issues.
Johanna Wright, Product Management VP at YouTube, described it in a statement, “YouTube Go is a brand new app to help the next generation of users share and enjoy videos. YouTube Go was designed and built from the ground up with insights from India, in order to bring the power of video to mobile users in a way that is more conscious of their data and connectivity, while still being locally relevant and social.”
The app is light coming in at only 8.5MB. Every facet of the app is designed to be light. You can preview a video before watching or downloading it and decide how many megabytes you want to spend on videos. In other words you can watch a lower quality version of the video and see how much data you’ll be using.
For instance a low quality version might say “1.2 MB” next to it while a standard quality version might say “12.6 MB.”
There’s an additional social aspect where you can share videos with friends through Wi-Fi Direct instead of burning up your data.
As you can see everything about the app is meant to operate off a low data and low storage diet.
If you’re an Android user you can download the beta version of the app in the Google Play Store. If you’re an iPhone user, I don’t know what to tell you. Google isn’t showing us any love yet.
What do you think of YouTube Go? Have you downloaded it yet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
