Related
As many of you already know, the long-awaited, high-end, albeit “disconnected” HP iPAQ 21x series is out - currently, the only (standalone) PDA to have a 4", good-quality (if they use the same, excellent screen as in the predecessor, the hx4700 – that is, not a cr*ppy one, heavily suffering from severe polarization issues like the one in the Dell Axim x50v/x51v) VGA screen – at a pretty nice price point, compared to the high-end PDA phones of, say, HTC.
Some (not all – see for example THIS) of the initial discussions talked about the new, high-end, 210-series being based on the PXA320 CPU, the best of the new, Marvel PXA3x0 series. This is why I really was looking forward to this device - after all, it would have been the very first VGA device to sport a PXA320.
Currently, there is only one Windows Mobile model out there with the PXA320, the LG KC1, but it's just an, in my opinion, pretty much mediocre QVGA phone - really nothing to write home about (no 4” VGA and it’s Korean and WM5-only – and I don’t know of “hacked”, “cooked” ROM’s making it English – albeit I haven’t searched XDA-Devs for more info), except for the high (806 MHz) CPU clock, which can come VERY handy when running for example emulators like Masterall's excellent FinalBurn, the various SNES or GBA emulators or Mplayer playing back HTTP RealAudio streams, all requiring as much processing power as possible.
Using the new PXA320 instead of the 310 would have been a decent decision. Not only because of the higher CPU clock (and, therefore, the higher maximal speed) and other goodies like the large(r) cache, but also because of the seemingly superior video decoding capabilities, which help a lot with decoding for example full (not just “plain” 640-wide VGA), that is, PAL/NTSC-resolution (720 pixels wide) H.264 videos (please consult the just-linked H.264 Bible if you don’t but would like to understand this paragraph). Incidentally, the H.264 PXA320 is so powerful that it’s even rumored to be able to decode 720p (that is, 1280*720) H.264 videos on even an underpowered Pocket PC (!!) without problems. Quite a feat, isn’t it? Not that there would be any point in watching 1280*720 videos on a 640*480 (or, at most, 800*480) screen – let alone the huge storage requirements of these x264 files, which, in many cases, exceed the file size capabilities (4096 Mbytes at most) of the FAT32 file system used on current cards (because, initially, they were designed for NTFS or other file systems capable of much bigger files).
However, HP’s decision for going with the clearly worse 310 is pretty much understandable (considering the price difference between the two CPU’s) and acceptable – as long as you resize & reconvert your H.264 videos to be no wider than 640 pixels. Then, assuming CorePlayer (the premium video player for all major mobile platforms) indeed, as is promised HERE, receives support for WMMX in version 1.2, you’ll see a dramatic increase in decoding efficiency of at least inferior video formats like MPEG-1 and MPEG-4 Part 2 (a.k.a. DivX / Xvid; not to be mistaken for the much more advanced H.264 / AVC!). This subject, by the way, is also thoroughly discussed HERE – I really recommend sonichedgehog360’s posts in there.
Note that, currently, the CorePlayer folks only promise WMMX support (which, again, doesn’t help with decoding H.264). That is, no hardware H.264 decoding support has been announced. They have stated they will announce if and, if it’s possible at all, when this kind of support is added to CorePlayer after the release of CorePlayer 1.2. This means don’t run out to purchase the new iPAQ if you’re a H.264 buff: CorePlayer may not receive H.264 hardware decoding support at all.
Of course, even if no H.264 hardware decoding support is added to CorePlayer, the new CPU platform is still vastly superior to the old, PXA270 platform. Just take a look at THIS and THIS (the PXA310 and PXA320 specs, respectively). Note that some of the online comparisons are plain useless. For example, the PXA310 quick summary HERE doesn’t even mention WMMX2 or H.264 hardware acceleration support (as opposed to the PXA320 quick summary HERE). The above-linked PDF files, on the other hand, contain much more dependable information.
Otherwise, the device is pretty nice and the fact that it is no longer based on a touchpad (as opposed to the predecessor, the hx4700) makes it much more usable in everyday situations (for example, gaming, e-book reading or Web browsing using the D-pad). It also sports USB host capabilities, which, unfortunately, is a very-very rare feature among current Windows Mobile models and was REALLY useful on the Fujitsu-Siemens (RIP!) Pocket Loox series (for example, the most versatilye WM2003SE device ever, the Loox 720) and some other models like the Toshiba e750+ - and some current ones like the (otherwise, isn’t that nice) Toshiba G900.
I plan to publish the further installments of my Multimedia-related Bible series (of which I've already published several chapters of) only after 02/21 - that is, after the impending release of CorePlayer 1.2 (only the Windows Mobile version, unfortunately - that is, the Symbian / Palm versions will only be released later. See for example THIS for more info on the release date of the Symbian version). Version 1.2 promises a lot of great goodies: UPnP support, RTSP support etc. I’ve chosen not to publish the final Bible before the release so that it doesn’t get outdated in the very near future.
I’ve, in the meantime, purchased a BlackBerry 8800. This also means I’ll start working on the long-promised Push Mail Bible really soon, paying special attention to accessing BlackBerry servers from Windows Mobile and explaining the difference between BlackBerry and Microsoft Exchange, the advantages and disadvantages of both approach with a lot of never-before-published, real-life tricks and benchmark results.
Also, in my future Bibles, I’ll also elaborate on the differences between the BlackBerry (BB ) OS and Windows Mobile – as I’ve done with Symbian S60 in the last few weeks. This will be especially useful for both new WM users coming from BB and both WM software developers and Microsoft itself – just like with my WM vs. Symbian S60 comparisons.
Note that, in order NOT to completely mess up my all-in-one Bibles with the constant references to, currently, three mobile operating systems, I’ll use different text colors when referring to non-Windows Mobile operating systems. That is, if you have only had Windows Mobile devices and don’t want to know how a particular feature differs from, say, Symbian or BB, you will easily know what sentences / paragraphs / charts / columns in charts you can safely skip.
Note that, in the future, I also plan to add
- Apple iPhone – as soon as third-party apps (like CorePlayer, which is being ported to iPhone and already has a working (!), already MPEG4 Part 2 (DivX) video playback-capable prototype – see THIS, THIS and THIS for, for example, YouTube demo videos) become common on it and/or
- Android if and when it gets more support and/or
- (at least) Nokia’s Linux implementation when and if they release the rumored successor to their current, flagship Internet Tablet N810, which MAY contain a built-in phone unit. This, incidentally, will also allow for discussing Linux running on the, unfortunately, discontinued Sharp Zaurus line, of which I have the SL-C860 – a truly excellent, clamshell, VGA device with unparalleled screen quality. Yes, I’ve long been promising articles on Zaurii; now, with the advent of Nokia’s Linux platform on their Internet Tablets, I may indeed start paying attention / devoting articles / comparisons to the old, but still popular Zaurus platform along with the new Nokias.
With references to so many mobile operating systems, the new, colorized text will be a life-saver for people only interested in one (or some) of the covered OS’es. And, a gold-mine for multi-platform geeks & gadget freaks like me
There has long been a new and, on the protocol level, vastly improved, 6.x version of I’m InTouch, one of the best remote desktop and, particularly, PIM info / mail access tool for Windows Mobile. I’ve already made the tests & comparison to the previous version reviewed in the Remote Desktop Access Bible; as soon as the developers review / comment on the draft of my article, I publish it.
Bitbank Software have released the brand new, 4.0 version of their, for long-time Windows Mobile users, known VirtualCE PDA controller. I post a detailed review & comparison to SOTI’s highly recommended Pocket Controller and My Mobiler as soon as I get feedback from the Bitbank folks on my preliminary comparison & feature chart I’ve sent them. Speaking of My Mobiler, it has received a very decent upgrade – much more bugfree and has a lot of nice features – since I’ve reviewed it and, now, is pretty much recommended if you don’t mind the somewhat lower speed, particularly with VGA devices.
If you speak Finnish and follow one of the best, multiplatform Finnish mobility-related blogs (that of Tero Lehto), you may have already heard of Strategy Analytics Inc.’s 5-Star Safari Leads Mobile Browsing Experience. The results of the study have resulted in a heated discussion (and a lot of flames) in the Finnish blogosphere. I’ll also publish an article on this issue as soon as the author, Paul Brown, answers my last two mails asking for more thorough information on how the tests have been conducted, why Opera Mini was completely neglected and whether the testers were aware of the keyboard shortcuts of Opera Mobile. The latter is key to using Opera Mobile as effectively as possible – no wonder I’ve always, in all my Opera Mobile-related articles, strongly emphasized to learn its default button shortcuts – or redefine / reassign them if you’d like so. (The same stands for Opera Mini, by the way. If you do learn the button shortcuts, it’ll become the fastest-to-operate browser.)
I, along with the linked-to Finnish blog, feel Internet Explorer Mobile (IEM) certainly doesn’t deserve the excellent (second) place, which is far better than that of both Opera Mobile and Nokia’s Web (Browser) in S60v3 FP1. The latter two browsers are without doubt FAR superior, in most respects, to IEM – if you learn to master their controls and shortcuts, that is. It’s the latter that I certainly lack from the users’ report in the Strategy Analytics Inc. report / summary. That is, it seems they didn't really try to learn to master all these shortcuts; instead, they used the menu system to access, for example, the favorites, go back to the previous page or enter a URL. In these respects, IEM is indeed easier to use (requires less screen taps / button presses) than both Opera Mobile and Nokia Web. However, if you do master the, on the Internet (for example, in my MS Smartphone Web Browsing Bible - see the related chart HERE, covering IEM and the two Operas on devices with a built-in dialpad), well-explained button shortcuts, the situation will be radically reversed and Opera Mobile / Nokia Web both become easier & faster-to-use than IEM. (The same stands for the non-reviewed/compared Opera Mini, of course.)
I also find that the lack of Opera Mini – currently, probably the most popular Web Browser even on Windows Mobile; see for example the latest voting results HERE, which also emphasize this – makes this report conveying pretty much questionable results. Finally, I also miss Netfront and, to a lesser degree, Thunderhawk and Picsel on Windows Mobile (and, the latter, on Palm OS as well). While, personally, I don’t particularly prefer these browsers (Opera Mini is far faster and more usable, particularly on a device with a dedicated dialpad – that is, a Blackberry, a Symbian phone, a MS Smartphone or one of the very few Pocket PC’s – for example, the Asus P525 and the LG KC1 – with a dialpad on the front), they still have a lot of fans.
As far as games are concerned released / announced since my previous all-in-one news post, Amiga Inc.’s Invasion is definitely worth mentioning, which has received a trial version available for download HERE. Note that, should you want to purchase the game, do it on Amiga Inc.’s own page, in there, the title only costs $5.99 – as opposed to the twice more expensive Clickgamer.
It’s the best and most enjoyable Space Invaders clone I’ve ever seen on Windows Mobile (see THIS, THIS, THIS and THIS for the alternatives) – for the price, a definite keeper. Its strengths are mostly the stylus-based control; the fact that you can also go upwards (should you want to kill your enemies faster – remember, your fire rate is restricted, as you can only have two missiles on the screen at the same time), the excellent animation, good sound effects and the in-menu, tracked, stereo, “scener” music (no in-game music, unfortunately).
Unfortunately, it isn’t compatible with pre-WM5 operating systems. Note that it’s one of the very few titles to support 240*240 square-screen phones.
Also note that, while the official homepage (or ClickGamer) doesn’t mention it with a word, it’s also compatible with the MS Smartphone platform: both QVGA and 176*220 devices (I’ve tested it on both my HTC Vox / s710 and Oxygen / s310). It runs flawlessly even on slow, non-overclocked TI OMAP CPU’s.
All in all, make sure you give it a try. Again, download the demo from ClickGamer, but purchase the game itself from the developer’s homepage to save some money!
Another gaming news: the new, in addition to the venerable and no-longer-developed Pocket Humanity, Civilization-alike, Revival (see the links to (p)reviews HERE), has still not been released. It’s promised to be released today, after some last-minute bugfixes. Hope they indeed manage to achieve this.
Emulation news: Masterall has released a preview of the brand new, 0.12 version of his EXCELLENT FinalBurn, by far the best (advanced 2D) arcade gaming console emulator. Make sure you give it a try – and provide feedback in the original thread. (And, if you don’t know the excellent games Finalburn is able to run, do check out the Arcade Emulation Bible!)
Are you coming to the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona? Then, we can even meet I’ll be there with my brand new, shiny Canon PowerShot SD950 IS (but will also take my Nokia N95 with me as another “video camera”) and posting long-long reports on the latest gadgets of the mobile worlds (mostly Windows Mobile, but, given that I’m really interested in other operating systems as well, I also plan to report on at least Symbian and BlackBerry). Yeah, be prepared for a LOT of news. (Megathanks for Hal Goldstein at Smartphone & Pocket PC Mag for the financial help; without him, I couldn't really attend the conference.)
A short offtopic thought (on high-end point&shoot digicameras): some time ago, I’ve stated I’d go for the SD870 IS mostly because of the wide lens and the excellent DP review. However, after reading through a lot of user opinions and direct comparisons of the two devices, I’ve realized the Canon folks still haven’t managed to produce a lens with flawless wide-angle. While some other manufacturers like Fuji and Panasonic have managed to produce a lens with better wide-angle; however, their Finepix S8000fd and TZ3 are suffering from some severe problems (for example, the, with Pana, ever-present, huge noise); so, I didn’t see the point in going for them. And, for portability / pocketabilty reasons (and the fear for the mechanical mirror’s getting worn out much faster than with a non-DSLR camera – I tend to take hundreds of photos a day, meaning several tens of thousands of photos a year, so, it’s a concern for me), I didn’t want to go with the, otherwise, tempting and great Oly E-510 either.
So far, I'm pretty much impressed with the camera. The 12 Mpixel CCD is definitely an overkill in a P&S camera with such a small lens system (it's the optics that puts a physical threshold on the maximal resolution, it seems) but is certainly a big step ahead of my old HP R717.
UPDATE (01/25/2008): PG frontpage
The WM version of CorePlayer 1.1.3, now, with the above-mentioned WMMX optimizations in place, has just been released.
It, among other things, has FULL HTC Kaiser / AT&T Tilt support (and support for all Qualcomm 7200-based Windows Mobile devices, for that matter - see for example THIS for more info on this issue). See for example THIS thread for more info on the Kaiser / Tilt opinions.
Note that it has a lot of other goodies as well; however, some of the advanced (mostly networking: UPnP, RTSP etc.) stuff is still missing. See THIS for more info on this - what the new version contains (of 1.2) and what it doesn't.
Well done, CoreCodec (Now, I only hope you'll release the Symbian version of 1.2 as well - or, at least, an interim, bugfix version just like 1.1.3 for WM...)
UPDATE (02/01/2008):
I, after more than a week’s waiting, still haven’t received any feedback from the Strategy Analytics Inc. folks regarding the lack of Opera Mini in their 5-Star Safari Leads Mobile Browsing Experience, which, in many Windows Mobile users’ (including me) opinion, is the most useful / quickest Web browser for the Windows Mobile platform. And, for other mobile platforms too – on my Symbian Nokia N95 and BlackBerry 8800, I almost exclusively use this browser to access the Web. Not including it in the test makes the entire report pretty hard to depend on – it’s like completely ignoring, for example, Ferrari (a top-performing car) when evaluating the cars of Formula-1.
And, of course, I’ve already elaborated on the bad ranking of Nokia Web (running on Symbian S60 3rd edition devices – that is, NOT on Windows Mobile) and, particularly, Opera Mobile (running on all major mobile platforms). Again and again, if you do learn the dialpad shortcuts and/or, with Opera Mobile running on a dialpad-less Pocket PC, use a third-party tool to assign its key functionalities (accessing favorites, current tabs, back etc.) to Pocket PC hardware buttons, they both become quicker and easier to operate than Internet Explorer. It’s clearly at this point (in addition to the lack of Opera Mini) that Strategy Analytics Inc.’s report severely lacks – it’s evident the test folks didn’t really make an attempt at learning the dialpad shortcuts / configure Opera Mobile for easy and much quicker access / use.
UPDATE (02/01/2008):
As far as running Invasion on MS Smartphones is concerned, you can’t use any of the dialpad buttons for firing (or controlling the ship). This makes the game pretty hard as you will need, in addition to pressing the Action button to keep firing, use the D-pad to control the ship. On Pocket PC’s, this isn’t an issue because, there, you can use the touchscreen for the latter. (Unless you have a 2.8”, non-Intel Xscale-based HTC phone – that is, almost all of their 2.8” WM5 and WM6 phones, including, for example, the Trinity, the Kaiser and the Wizard. Then, the well-known touschreen CPU usage bug will make the game pretty slow. Unfortunately, the HTC folks don’t seem to be bothered about the bug – I’ve been reporting it for two years to them but, so far, they haven’t fixed it.)
CorePlayer 1.2.1(w/ YouTube support!) & Pocket Player 3.6 out;gr8 Conduits price cuts
1. The latest, 1.2.1 version of CorePlayer has JUST been released, with the long-promised Mobile YouTube support. It also has Configurable YouTube quality control; let me cite their post on this: “But the BIGGEST reason why YouTube is better in CorePlayer then on YouTube.com or any other third party application? CorePlayer is the first media player to feature Configurable YouTube quality control.... You control the bandwidth and quality that your platform can handle. From Low, Medium, to High quality (H.264) streams. Once you start to play with the YT interface in CP and play with the quality settings you will see what we mean by 'Great'!!!”
Also see THIS and THIS for user reports
Note that, should you have a Symbian device, you will be interested in their 1.2.0 preview (the official version is 2-3 weeks away). There’s still no sign of the Palm OS version - other than their announcement of working on it. Finally, as far as the iPhone version is concerned, it’ll be released in about three months.
2. Conduits Pocket Player, another, excellent, albeit a bit sluggish and less CPU-friendly all-in-one player, has just been updated to 3.6 with a better thought-out interface and other goodies.
See for example THIS for more user feedback.
3. The same Conduits has just cut the price of their two flagship applications:
Pocket Slides, the only app to be able to not only display, but also edit PowerPoint presentations and
Pocket Artist, feature-wise, without doubt the best image viewer for Windows Mobile (not taking into account the order of magnitude more expensive solutions) – albeit it isn’t the fastest. See THIS for the Image Viewer Bible; note that the review of the new Resco Image Viewer is HERE and both Spb Imageer and XnView have also been updated in the meantime, fixing the bugs mentioned in the article and adding new features. Also, there’s a brand new, 4.0 version of PQV, THE fastest (but not particularly featureful) image viewer out there. Finally, Glass Lantern's PocketLoupe has been entirely discontinued in the meantime, unfortunately.
Anyone got a download link? Handago have not updated the version on their site it just downloads the 1.2.0
thesoulpoet said:
Anyone got a download link? Handago have not updated the version on their site it just downloads the 1.2.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See http://www.corecodec.com/forums/index.php?topic=797.0
Menneisyys said:
See http://www.corecodec.com/forums/index.php?topic=797.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone notice the difference in scrolling after there is a song playing in the program itself not the phone, terrible.
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 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.
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 system, 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 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:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
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 (if you don’t want to register, I’ve mirrored it HERE); my old, now-outdated article HERE. Installing it is pretty straightforward; just follow the section "Installation instructions" in the tutorial on the homepage.
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.
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.
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 screenshot (source link HERE). Also, if you use the standard Nokia Web menu (Options / Rotate Screen) to switch to Landscape mode, it’ll stay oversized. 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 and THIS 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. 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!)
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), 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.
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:
(searching in progress)
IMG]http://www.winmobiletech.com//042008YouTubeBible/NativeYTJavaClientRelVideos.png[/IMG]
(related videos)
(search history)
(flagging videos)
(A GUI screenshot of portrait and landscape playback is HERE and HERE; 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. 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, HERE and HERE.
1.4 vTap (WM, Symbian, BlackBerry)
vTap 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.
(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 2). 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. The vTap folks do state 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 article for more info on acquiring and installing the beta). As can be seen in HERE, there’s no Play icon at all and the menu (screenshot HERE) 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 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
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 or in the well-known, related CrackBerry.com tutorial. Screenshots showing it in action – again, under OS version 4.5.0.9:
(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). 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), 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 and THIS 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:
(standard list view)
(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: "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:
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:
Note that with the (unfortunately, still very few) stereo high-quality (H.264) videos (like this) 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, 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: "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 (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.
(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)
(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 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 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 of YTPocket.
(the thumbnail list)
(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)
(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, but it’s been down for some months and it’s still not known whether it’ll be restarted at all. Also see THIS.
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
The feature / comparison chart available HERE 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 has 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 (see section 1.4.1) if you're on BlackBerry.
UPDATE (04/25/2008 12:02PM CET): note that BlueApple.mobi is another great transcoding service compatible with, among other mobile platforms, the (4.3+) BlackBerry. See for example THIS for more info on its BB compatibility.
Also note that I may haven't included some other YouTube transcoder services in the Bible - there're quite a few of them, and I've found the reviewed ones the best.
I thought overall this was a good review. I would take exception on one thing.
You say: 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.
I disagree if we are talking purely about youtube. YouTubePlay plays youtube videos much better than CP1.2.3 on a US 3G network. Sure CP's youtube integration is very nice with the favorites and most viewed etc, but when it comes to play the video you have to decide if you want to lower the resolution or watch it stuttering. Y2P works fine with little buffering using h264. It may work fine over Wifi, i havent been able to test that. Betaboy has said this should be fixed in the next milestone, and if it is, then yes, CP will be superior for youtube viewing. I hope thats the case , as I really do like the CP integration
volwrath said:
I thought overall this was a good review. I would take exception on one thing.
You say: 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.
I disagree if we are talking purely about youtube. YouTubePlay plays youtube videos much better than CP1.2.3 on a US 3G network. Sure CP's youtube integration is very nice with the favorites and most viewed etc, but when it comes to play the video you have to decide if you want to lower the resolution or watch it stuttering. Y2P works fine with little buffering using h264. It may work fine over Wifi, i havent been able to test that. Betaboy has said this should be fixed in the next milestone, and if it is, then yes, CP will be superior for youtube viewing. I hope thats the case , as I really do like the CP integration
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, many complain about the buffering issues with YouTube and CP; will definitely emphasize this in a future article update. (BTW, interestingly, here in Europe, I have no similar problems with Vodafone (using an unlimited data plan via HSDPA).)
UPDATE (05/10/2008): there is a lot to report on; most importantly, the just-released CorePlayer with its, on Windows Mobile, heavily bugfixed and enhanced YouTube support – and, on Symbian and Palm OS, its pure existence. I, in addition, elaborate on the differences of the three major formats used on YouTube: H.264, FLV and 3GP and give you some excellent screenshots of the real-life difference between them.
First, however, let’s take a look at the operating system-specific news.
1. Symbian
a. some people have asked me to elaborate on myZen, a Java-based and YouTube-compliant player. It’s not recommended at all - it's 3GP / RTSP only with all its drawbacks (sub-par video and audio, not compatible with several wireless operators etc.) Besides, it's, being based on Java, a bit slow. (Albeit this isn't really visible at playing back video as it uses the underlying media player.)
b. I haven’t emphasized this in the initial version of the Bible, but it’s surely worth mentioning: not even the latest (build 4) version of MobiTube can play about 20% of the (FLV) videos off YouTube without (on the high-end N95 with the latest-and-greatest v21 firmware) major stuttering problems. One of these videos can be found HERE. Fortunately, the just-released CorePlayer can play all these videos without problems – or, for that matter, the Flash Lite 3 plug-in, if you don’t mind having to browse the full (and bloated) YouTube site from Nokia S60 Web. The developer has promised to look into the problem. In the meantime, I recommend getting CorePlayer for Symbian to play videos that MobiTube can’t play back. (YouTube does have some advantages over CorePlayer, though; for example, any number of hits. More on this later.)
2. Windows Mobile
milesmowbray has been busily enhancing his youtubeplay app (see the review of an earlier version above) and adding nice features like getting the list of Related videos, a new, much more capable in-play GUI and saving a particular video to the file system. (Screenshots of the latter HERE and HERE). Currently, it’s at version v1.0.0.6 and is worth checking out if you want a free solution, don’t want to browse the bloated, original YouTube site in order to be able to utilize FlashVideoBundle, don’t want to watch low-quality 3GP streams (HTC Streaming Media, http://m.youtube.com/ etc.) and don’t want to use third-party, but FLV-based Web interfaces like YTPocket. Otherwise, if you don’t mind being commercial, the lack of clip saving and Related videos and/or have a VGA Pocket PC, CorePlayer might be a better, more mature solution.
3. CorePlayer 1.2.4
Fortunately, CorePlayer, which has only recently received YouTube support, has received a lot of bugfixes in the meantime, which is certainly very good news for Windows Mobile users. Also, Symbian and Palm OS users rejoice: now, you also have YouTube support!
3.1 Windows Mobile
Let’s start with Windows Mobile. Two huge YouTube problems with pre-1.2.4 versions was the lack of FLV support and the buffering issues have been fixed. I’ll elaborate on what FLV is and how it compares to the other two streaming formats supported by CorePlayer.
As far as the buffering is concerned, the new version no longer exhibits the bad buffering problems of the previous versions, which stopped for buffering quite often even when the connection was far faster than required. In the old versions, this could only be partially fixed by increasing the system buffers to 32M (and enabling microdrive mode). There are no buffering problems with FLV playback either.
Unfortunately, it still has some major functionality problems; most importantly, it still doesn’t list related videos and, even more importantly, it’s only capable of listing 13 videos at most in ANY list. Just an example: if you look for, for example, all parts of Scandinavia: The Forgotten Front - see THIS for the first part - , at least one part will pretty surely be missing if you search for “winter war” using the built-in search tool. (Fortunately, the CorePlayer folks have promised me they would fix all these issues, along with adding support for other video sites – that is, not only YouTube, but also for example dailymotion (which already works in internal test versions) and, hopefully, Google Video.)
This problem is pretty huge on Windows Mobile; for example, with milesmowbray’s youtubeplay as of version v1.0.0.6 (it lists only five items as can also be seen HERE). On Symbian, MobiTube don’t suffer from this: there, 25 clips are shown at a time and you can switch to the next (previous) 25 hits by simply selecting Next / Previous page from the menu.
3.2 Symbian
The Symbian version, which has just received YouTube support, still suffers from the lack of H.264 hardware acceleration. That is, H.264 (480*320) clips are practically unwatchable. On the high-end Nokia N95, it drops about 30-40% of the played frames and has heavy buffering pauses. The somewhat lower-quality FLV playback has no such problems. Therefore, before hardware acceleration is added (or the H.264 playback efficiency seriously enhanced), you’ll want to stick to FLV playback instead of H.264 on Symbian (but not on Windows Mobile, particularly if you have a VGA device).
4. Differences between the three streaming formats: H.264, FLV and 3GP
You may not understand what the three streaming formats, H.264, FLV and 3GP, are, and how they compare to each other, quality-wise. Let’s take a closer look at this question, particularly now that CorePlayer introduced support for FLV in addition to the other two formats.
4.1 H.264
H.264 is the best of all and, currently, is only supported by CorePlayer on both WinMo and Symbian. (The other players are either FLV or 3GP-only.) It has the highest video resolution (480*360), the highest video and audio bit rate with the most advanced codecs (H.264 for video and stereo 44 kHz AAC audio). This, however, also means that it has much higher data usage than the other formats: about 1.8 times more than that of FLV and 3-4 times more than 3GP (also somewhat depending on the audio codec used with the latter). Also, it has much higher CPU demands than FLV or 3GP; this is why, for example, Symbian devices currently can’t play back YouTube videos in the H.264 format. Let’s see an example (the first frame of THIS clip); make sure you compare the quality to that of the two other videos. I’ve deliberately selected a clip with some subtitles; it’s mostly on the latter than you can really see the resolution differences between H.264 and FLV. Also make sure you check out the general blockiness of the videos. (Note that I’ve taken these shots with 95% JPG quality; that is, I haven’t introduced almost any additional blockiness.)
The additional strength of the H.264 format is the support for stereo 44 kHz sound. While, currently, very few (see for example THIS) real-world clips have a stereo soundtrack - and the ones that work on mobiles, like THIS and THIS, don’t necessarily have stereo audio on the desktop.
4.2 FLV
Now, let’s turn to FLV, which is the most widely supported format on mobile platforms. On Windows Mobile, for example, there aren’t other players with H.264 support, while ones with FLV support abound (for example, FlashVideoBundle, milesmowbray’s youtubeplay, YTPocket etc.)
YouTube FLV is, technically, far inferior to H.264: it only has the resolution of 320*240, has much lower bitrate and the technically inferior (worse quality at the same bitrate) H.263 video and MP3 audio format. It doesn’t support stereo audio either.
While on a low-resolution (for example, QVGA) screen the quality difference isn’t so visible as on a high-resolution one (where the difference in the resolution plays a big role in rendering FLV much inferior to H.264), it’s still preferable to go for H.264 even on QVGA handsets because the H.264 videos are just less blocky (much higher bitrate and much more advanced format). Also, the audio is much better (44 vs. 22 kHz and, when possible, stereo). An example screenshot showing the resolution / blockiness on a VGA device:
4.3 3GP
Finally, 3GP, the worst of all – the format that you should avoid at any rate (unless you absolutely need to reduce data usage or don’t need video at all because it’s static like with, say, THIS clip) uses the resolution of 176*144 and a very low video bitrate resulting in a lot of blockiness. An example screenshot follows so that you can see how bad it is:
Note that, audio-wise, there’re two sub-formats of YouTube 3GP streams. The first (better) uses 22 kHz AAC mono audio and is referred to as “Medium-quality” by CorePlayer (as with FLV); the second (worse) uses the 8 kHz AMR speech vocoder to further decrease data usage (and to further reduce audio quality). Of course, the gain is marginal; therefore, if you absolutely need to go 3GP, try preferring the former format.
4.4 Setting the YouTube format in CorePlayer
Don’t forget to set the format in CorePlayer according to your needs and the restrictions of your handheld. (For example, as has already been explained, on a VGA device it’s always worth trying to use H.264 because of the higher source resolution. On a QVGA device, the difference isn’t that big - H.264 is a bit less blocky but, again, requires far more CPU cycles and has much higher data usage. Of course, you should also keep in mind the superior audio quality of the H.264-based streams too.)
Maybe not the best place to post here, but outside of the YouTube support, do you think CorePlayer is worth the money?
TheChampJT said:
Maybe not the best place to post here, but outside of the YouTube support, do you think CorePlayer is worth the money?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on what you want to use it for and on which OS. For example, it can't be used for HE-AACv2 playback. If you wouldn't use for it but, say, general non-WMV (ASP, AVC etc) video playback, then, surely.
Great, thanks! Also, great work on all the "Bibles".
Audio with NO video???
Ok, I dont know if this is the correct thread to post but I'll start here...
I'm trying to play saved .flv video files from the storage card on my Hermes/TyTn.
I'm running a Hermes (8525) SuperCID with Schaps4.01
CE OS 5.2.1933 (Build 18533.0.7.0)
I've tried tcpmp.pocketpc.0.72RC1.cab,
TCPMPflvplugin-v0.4.2.CAB,
youtubeplay_1006.CAB
All with no luck. All I get is audio with NO video.
Any advice?
Regards,
UPDATE (05/12/2008):
1. (Symbian):
a. I've tested the last about 20 latest featured videos on YouTube with MobiTubia. All played well. Therefore, it's possible it's only with some older videos that MobiTubia delivers sub-par results; with newer ones, it doesn't seem to.
The Symbian version of CorePlayer, on the other hand, doesn't seem to like firewalled cellular connections. These cause it not to download any clip lists. This works just great under Windows Mobile (and, of course, with MobiTubia under Symbian) and, therefore, must be an internal bug.
b. I've very thoroughly compared the power consumption of MobiTubia to CorePlayer 1.2.4. While MobiTubia consumes a tad more power when it's still loading (caching) the clip in the background, after the clip is cached, it delivers considerably better results (much lower power consumption) than CorePlayer. Therefore, it's always worth going for MobiTubia when your Internet connection speed is much faster than the ~320 kbps stream of FLV videos because, after the caching is finished, the power consumption will be really decreased. CorePlayer, on the other hand, doesn't cache the file and, consequently, it'll use the (with both Wi-Fi and 3G connections, power-hungry) wireless unit all the time.
The following screenshot shows this in effect: the first ~5:30 show CorePlayer playing back a 6-minute clip; the second show the latter with MobiTubia. As can clearly be seen, the latter manages to cache the file in the first about 60% of the total playback time of the clip; after this, it doesn't use the wirleess unit any more, resulting in a heavy power consumption decrease. CorePlayer, on the other hand, streams the YouTube contents all the time, resulting in much higher net power consumption:
I've made another screenshot showing CorePlayer only, repeatedly playing the same 6-minute clip. As can clearly be seen, the power consumption is constantly the same (high) because there's no caching at all.
Let's see some other screenshots comparing the power consumption using HSDPA. As you'll see, the difference won't be as articulated as with Wi-Fi and the average power consumption will be pretty similar because buffering, with much bigger excess power consumption, takes much more time than over Wi-Fi. The following shot shows playing the same clip thru Wi-Fi and, then, HSDPA using MobiTubia:
As can clearly be seen, the average power consumption is bigger because the system were in the low-power (~1.1W) area for a much shorter time than with Wi-Fi. (And, of course, streaming anything (!) via HSDPA will always take much more power than via Wi-Fi, as has also been explained in my Multiplatform Radio Stream Transcoding Bible.)
Let's see the CorePlayer results. Two HSDPA examples follow:
As can clearly be seen, while there indeed isn't any kind of buffering, the overall lower CPU usage of the H.263 / MP3 decoder has resulted in about the same average power consumption as that of MobiTubia.
All in all, as a rule of thumb: on Symbian:
- when you watch YouTube videos over Wi-Fi and would like to have as long battery life as possible, prefer MobiTubia
- when over 3G, both will behave almost the same way.
2. (Windows Mobile): I've continued comparing milesmowbray's youtubeplay to CorePlayer 1.2.4.
a. in youtubeplay, you can fetch the first 50 hits of any search / "Related" operation; but, it seems, no more (it, then, complains about the network's not working.) To set this, go to Config (button in the bottom left) and just increase the number of hits shown with the second slider (Results returned).
b. on the test iPAQ 210, youtubeplay uses about 62-64% CPU time to decode and play back (FLV) videos (in both Portrait and Landscape). CorePlayer, at the same time, uses about 21...23% (again, in FLV). With H.264, of course, CorePlayer requires far more CPU time (more than 80%) and if you run other even slightly CPU-intensive tasks (like acbTaskMan to track CPU usage), there will be some (about 10...30%) dropped frames, particularly with really dynamic videos like those of Call of Duty 2.
This means if you plan to stick to the FLV format (because you're on a QVGA device and, therefore, you couldn't take advantage of the higher resolution of the H.264 video or you're on VGA but the source video is already of bad quality making it unnecessary to stream in H.264), you can save a lot of battery if you go for CorePlayer on CPU architectures that have much higher power consumption with high CPU loads than with low ones. Typically, Intel / Marvel Xscale CPU's belong to this group, where the difference in battery life can even be 1.5...2-fold between two players using 22% and 63% CPU cycles. Of course, with activated Wi-Fi and higher levels of backlight, the difference won't be this pronounced. The only architecture that (somewhat strangely) doesn't exhibit excess power consumption with higher CPU loads is that of Samsung (at least the older architectures; I haven't tested the latest, 6400-series in this respect.)
What about buffering, you may ask. Do alternative solutions like milesmowbray's youtubeplay have an advantage over CorePlayer in the same way as was certainly visible on Symbian? The answer is, unfortunately, no. Just look at the following screenshot, taken via Wi-Fi without power saving enabled on the Dell Axim x51v running WM6.1. (Note that, while CorePlayer had absolutely no problems playing back clips without dropped frames on this particular model, youtubeplay fared much worse. That is, using youtubeplay is in no way recommended on the x51v.)
The CPU usage is shown in the upper and the power consumption on the lower pane. The first ~8 minutes show CorePlayer playing the clip; after that (there's a small discontinuation in the chart) youtubeplay follows. As can clearly be seen, the average power consumption of youtubeplay is much higher than that of CorePlayer. Raising the buffer size from 2048 kbytes to, say, 16Mbytes (to allow for the complete buffering of most clips) won't help at all.
With Wi-Fi power saving enabled, the power consumption is far lower - but, with youtubeplay, it's still definitely larger than with CorePlayer:
All in all, unlike on Symbian, on Windows Mobile you'll always want to stick to CorePlayer in order to absolutely minimize power usage when playing back FLV YouTube videos. (Again, the above power usage tests only only show FLV playback power usage as it's FLV playback that the other players support, not H.264.)
UPDATE (05/12/2008, later): I’ve forgotten to elaborate on the other implications of CorePlayer 1.2.4 having just received FLV support.
One of the most important consequences of this is that you no longer need to use TCPMP as a player together with FlashVideoBundle, should you want to stick to browsing the "full" YouTube in IEM and invoke an external player to play back the videos on them.
That is, you only need to install CorePlayer and, then, the single CAB file of FlashVideoBundle (as of this writing version 1.4.4) available for download HERE and, then (making sure you restart it at least once so that the plug-in is loaded), just fire up YouTube in your (WM5+) IEM and click any video link. In the context menu, just select “Play video” and CorePlayer will be invoked. Cool, eh? You’re no longer dependent on the aging TCPMP but can invoke CorePlayer to play your videos instead. One less programs to install on your handset, not to mention the other advantages (more refined, more battery-friendly drivers, decoders etc.)
If your handheld already has TCPMP pre-installed, you’ll want to either uninstall it or, in CorePlayer, override the file associations. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find out how you should force FlashVideoBundle to pass the execution to CorePlayer instead of TCPMP (without a chance to remove it) with ROM’s containing TCPMP built-in, without any way to uninstall them, like that of Ranju's HTC Universal ROM (v7.6). I’ve tried everything including deleting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\TCPMP in the Registry (the plug-in uses it) – in vain. Unfortunately, simply unassociating the files from inside TCPMP won’t work. I'll let you know when I find a solution.
Great points on the new Coreplayer. It is definitely operating much better.
One question I had that you might be able to answer is what does My Src and My Lists do in the youtube menu? I think my src may be my submitted videos but I dont have any. I do have some videos in quicklist, and they won't show up in My List.
Any ideas? and nice writeup btw
volwrath said:
Great points on the new Coreplayer. It is definitely operating much better.
One question I had that you might be able to answer is what does My Src and My Lists do in the youtube menu? I think my src may be my submitted videos but I dont have any. I do have some videos in quicklist, and they won't show up in My List.
Any ideas? and nice writeup btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They might be reserved for future use (1.3 with its brand new Channels etc.)
It was a long time ago that Smartphone & Pocket PC Mag discussed Doppler on desktop. Neither are other articles (like Podcasts on a PDA...) up-to-date either, let alone covering all the current podcasting / podcatching solutions for all the three mobile operating systems I (currently – don’t forget I’ll also support iPhone when I get it!) support: that is, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Symbian S60.
If you don’t know what podcasting and podcatching are about, please do read (at least) the two articles above. After that, you won’t have problems comprehending the chart either.
The chart is here. As usual, feedback is welcome before the final version of this bible is published (which will take at least some days because I’m travelling and the smallish keyboard of my TC1100 tablet isn’t the best for quick touch typing). Note that it has info on all the three operating systems. Yes, even the BlackBerry. Contrary to the popular belief, I’ve found AudioBay pretty much usable (at least here in Europe) for podcatching. Also note that the chart, as usual, is heavily packed with screenshots helping you to find a specific function or just giving you a picture of how a given app looks like. That is, feel free to click the links.
Note that I’ve disqualified the following applications:
Viigo 3.0.18 (Windows Mobile) / 2.2.82 (BlackBerry): very simple in WM and still doesn’t have any podcatching in BB; in Settings, you can only set the max. number of non-enclosure articles and the frequency of autoupdates – nothing else. It only uses its built-in player, incapable of playing anything delicate (videos; AAC on PPC’s – not tested on PPC PE’s in this respect! – etc.) No local OPML import (only via URL), no multiple downloads; downloading is VERY slow. NO auto enclosure refresh!! All enclosures must be manually downloaded. Plus: extensive built-in library.
NewsGator Go! for Mobiles: no direct support for podcatching; only indirect, manual download is supported.
SmartFeed, an old, still widely known, popular app, has been incorporated into NewsGator in the meantime.
The Windows Mobile version of the otherwise very nice and famous Doppler is plain useless and far inferior to any of the products in the chart.
Other, known titles like Spb Insight (as of the current, 1.5.1 version) aren’t enclosure-capable at all.
Listening to or watching podcasts is great fun. If you think they are boring, meaningless or can’t entertain you during, say, a long fight, you’re wrong. For example, watching all the clips of X-Play, played back on my VGA HP iPAQ 214 (thanks to Smartphone & PPCMag / iPhone Life’s Hal Goldstein for the gift!) could entertain me for long-long hours. (Sure, I’m not of a big 3D FPS gamer on desktop PC’s – I only play text adventures like those of Legend Entertainment and RTS games like Starcraft –; still, I did enjoy witty episodes like Cheating Unleashed: Darth Vader Tryst or Final Fantasy Date).
And, if you’re more of a traditional news viewer / consumer, you’ll definitely prefer automated podcast downloading to hunting for the same video / audio clips on the web. Just a real-world example: Before finding out the Tagesschau (the German news program we usually watch at home in addition to the Finnish YLE programs) podcast feeds, I always had to navigate to HERE (preferably after 9PM and before midnight each day so that I can catch the main evening news program at 8PM) and click the 20:00 link to initiate playback. Then, still two clicks: to start the streaming and to maximize the player screen after the video playback has started. All in all, a lot of clicks and waiting in between – not to take into account you can’t access the programs of the previous day(s).
Diametrically opposed to the awkwardness of all the above, just subscribing to the Tagesschau podcast feed (with downloading the video podcasts (files), the so-called “enclosures“, to the local PC or Windows Mobile, Symbian or BlackBerry handset / smartphone) makes sure you’ll always have access to the main, longest (the one at 20:00) programs – and instantly. That is, you don’t have to (slowly) traverse Web pages, wait some seconds for the video streaming to start to be able to make the player fullscreen – if you are always in a podcaster program (on either a desktop PC or any of the smartphone operating systems), in general, (at least in a well-designed podcaster app like NewsBreak) a single screen tap starts the instant playback.
The same stands for, for example, the MoDaCo (Windows Mobile), All About Symbian (Symbian) or CrackBerry (BlackBerry) podcasts. If you don’t use automatized podcatcher apps to gather these podcasts and make them available offline on your handset (for mobile access; of course, you can also store it on your desktop PC, but the major focus in this article is on fully-mobile podcast/catching), then, you end up, on your desktop PC, having to do a lot of hunting, right-clicking, saving to your hard disk and manual transferring to the storage cards. There, you’ll still need to make sure your mobile media player is able to play these podcasts; this may also require a lot of additional work like starting a library refresh (see dedicated bible HERE) and waiting for it to complete. In cases, this may turn out to be just too slow and time-consuming.
Side note: Difference between podcasters and podcatchers
What’s the difference between podcaster and podcatcher applications, you may ask. The much simpler podcaster apps can only stream (play back) podcasts, but can’t save them to the file system and, consequently, don’t have any kind of scheduling, cleanup or storage usage restriction capabilities. They, nevertheless, allow for subscribing to feeds, which makes it possible to avoid having to enter their Internet address every time.
More advanced ones (in our case, Pocket Player, as opposed to the, as of the current, 1.2.5 version, simpler CorePlayer) even allow for marking podcasts that have already been listened to “read” so that the user won’t listen to them again by mistake as he or she already sees the given podcast has already been consumed. In this regard (too), they provide a far sleeker interface to podcast feeds than traditional Web browsers on mobile platforms, which are much harder to use. With the latter, it takes much more clicks to get to the next podcast; in most cases, Web browsers require podcasts to be saved to the file system first and only let them to be played by a multimedia player later, while podcatching-capable apps are capable of instant streaming etc. Nevertheless, on the BlackBerry platform, still a lot of people prefer downloading podcasts manually (linked to from HERE), via, say, Opera Mini .
The much more advanced podcatcher applications, on the other hand, in addition to being able to play back the podcasts (in several cases, with the help of an external player), are also able to store them in the local file system and can also work in scheduled mode, making it possible to run even lengthy download / synchronization processes when you surely won’t need the handset – for example, during the night.
If you, on the other hand, run a podcatcher application on your handset every night, connecting to the Internet via a Wi-Fi access point of an unlimited Internet connection to download the latest podcasts and to store them on/in your storage (card), you won’t have to waste time on anything explained above. When you wake up in the morning, the latest podcasts will already be available on your handset and you simply don’t have to be afraid of anything else.
Running direct podcatcher applications on your handset – if you do plan to listen to / watch these podcasts right on the phone – is definitely more preferable to doing the same on the desktop and manually synchronizing / copying the files to the handset:
- You don’t have to do any synchronization between your desktop and handset (or memory card swapping if you plan to make a non-high speed transfer faster)
- You don’t even need to switch on your desktop computer for the new podcasts to be downloaded (let alone having to sync it with your handset or, even worse, manually hunt for, select and transfer the new podcasts to it). This results in, among other things, a lot of saved electricity
- You don’t even need to have a desktop computer at all – all you need to get the latest podcasts is your handset itself with an unlimited Internet (or Wi-Fi) connection.
Still, if you do want to know what desktop podcatcher applications there are, you’ll want to read either Smartphone & Pocket PC Mag‘s or Engadget’s tutorials (the former being far more thorough). They both discuss Doppler (probably the best desktop client; another also very popular one is Juice) on the desktop – and synchronizing the clients to your handset. More advanced users / hackers may also want to take a look at the MortScript-based PC -> Windows Mobile syncing solution HERE.
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(Doppler on the desktop; by default, it downloads to c: \Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\My Music\My Podcasts\<feed name>).
Note that not even popular desktop browsers like Opera support automatic podcast downloading (that is, podcatching). Three screenshots showing this:
(podcasts shown in Opera)
(another rendering example– as you can see, Opera doesn’t download content)
(There isn’t anything you can do in Feeds / Manager Feeds / Edit (Properties) either, except for setting the interval of the auto-retrieve)
There are even fewer write-ups on the handset-based podcaster applications. The most important of them is Podcasts on a PDA..., which discusses three mobile OS'es and only few podcaster apps: WM (Egress), Palm (Quick News), Symbian (Nokia Podcasting) - as you can see, BlackBerries are not discussed.
Note that this roundup is a separate entity from my forthcoming RSS / Syndication Bible (to be published early September). I found it necessary to separate the two roundups from each other as, while, basically, they’re all RSS readers, their aim is different. In addition, some of the podcaster apps are just not recommended as an RSS reader and vice versa: some well-known RSS reader titles like Spb Insight (as of the current, 1.5.1 version) aren’t enclosure-capable at all.
Also note that because there are several high-quality and recommended podcast/catcher apps, I don’t have a definite choice. (If you really want one, I recommend NewsBreak if you are ready to pay for your podcaster and BeyondPod or HubDog if you aren’t.) Therefore, I don’t provide you a full tutorial of any of these apps either. However, in the chart, I do give you a lot of tips and tricks and describe how / where a specific feature can be found. This is why I provide the full menu path of all the, say, feature en/disabling checkboxes in the chart. I also provide several screenshots showing all this.
That is, while I don’t provide a full, 100% tutorial to any of these apps, as with all my chart-based articles, bibles and full roundups, I do provide you with hundreds (!) of tips and tricks in the chart. If you really don’t understand how you can configure a given podcaster, feel free to post a public (no private messages please) note and I answer your questions. I don’t think, however, that you wouldn’t understand them. They’re all (except for FeederReader, which does require a LOT of learning) fairly easy to learn. Just keep playing with your choice for some hours and you’ll start to know it like the palm of your hand. Then, all the puzzles will also fall into their places.
Now, let’s take a quick look at the podcast/catcher applications available for the three mobile platforms. Note that this section is in no way a full discussion and introduction of all the apps. The sole reason for this is the main chart’s having all the information you’ll ever need. That is, don’t expect this humble section to contain as much information as available in the 60 kbyte-long (!) and tabular (which eliminates the need for repeating the same info again and again) chart. Also note that all the apps are podcatchers, unless otherwise noted (with the case of CorePlayer and Pocket Player).
Let’s start with Windows Mobile, with remarks to the BlackBerry version of AudioBay and, finally, the Symbian-based Nokia Podcasting.
BeetzStream SmartRss V4.3157 - RC1
This app requires .Net CF 3.5 SP1 (while the other Compact Framework-based titles don’t need more than CF2) and MS SQL Server Compact Edition 3.5 SP1. The trial version is pretty useless: it limits you to 5 items per channel and will not save any setting changes, as opposed to the, in general, fully functional, 30-day test version of the other apps.
In a nutshell, I don’t really recommend this title - there're far better alternatives.
Kinoma Play
As of version 5.0.60, this recently-released player has excellent (streamed) podcasting features (but not podcatching at all).
It allows for directly entering RSS URL's in the main menu. It’s quite a bit buried under the different menus: it’s available at Settings / Player / Open URL:
The latest update (see THIS) has also introduced auto-pasting features (manual pasting doesn't work as the app uses nonstandard text input fields / areas).
While it doesn't allow for direct OPML input (that is, you can’t explicitly browse the file system to find the given file), if you just put the OPML file in the file system somewhere, it'll find the contents and list it under "My Media Files / Playlists" as in the following screenshot:
Note that if the OPML file also contains subfolders, they’ll be correctly rendered and the OPML file’s original name will be used as the playlist name. An example of this is (the highlighted) “BeyondPodFeeds” item in the above list.
Note that while it streams stuff, it, of course, needs to download multimedia content that it can’t play back streamed. Examples of this are the Tagesschau videos
pRSSreader
As of version 1.4.2, this, because of it being free and open-source, pretty popular generic RSS client has some limited podcatching capabilities. In no way as sophisticated as those of some of the other clients as, unfortunately, it in no way can be forced to automatically download enclosures (again, unlike most other podcatcher clients). In the top-level "Channels" view, Menu / Offline / Cache Unread Items only downloads all the articles, along with their images, and not the enclosures themselves.
Unfortunately, there's no way to initiate anything like "play all" from inside the app either. Fortunately, as pRSSreader stores the individual podcasts using their original name in feed-specific subdirectories (the subdirs having been named after the URL of the
It also has a cache manager (accessible via Menu / Cache Manager); unfortunately, it doesn't allow mass playback either (only mass deletion):
Initiating the in-app download of an enclosure involves several taps: after entering the article (two subsequent taps in the article title list), Menu / Enclosure / Download:
If, on the other hand, you want Internet Explorer Mobile to open the file, you can just click the name of the enclosure at the bottom (which has the same effect as Menu / Enclosure / Open).
Viigo 3.0.18
This is a multiplatform application: has Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and generic (also Symbian-compliant) Java MIDlet ports.
Even the most advanced Windows Mobile version is way less powerful than any of the other podcatchers. In addition, the BlackBerry version, as of current (3.0.224, released on Sept. 12) version has absolutely no podcast support (also see THIS for more info) and neither does the generic Java MIDlet version. Podcatching support is only promised for later. However, as I seriously doubt the podcatching support of it will be any better than the current (very weak) podcatching support of the Windows Mobile version, I wouldn’t be holding my breath either – it’s just too weak, even if you take into account the currently only real podcatcher on the BlackBerry, AudioBay, isn’t top-notch either.
Some WM screenshots:
(main view)
(podcast list view with menu)
(Properties of a feed – as can be seen, except for providing a login/password, absolutely nothing can be set)
(the player. Note that it couldn’t play back m4a (AAC) files; this is just a demo of how it looks like)
(the only setting capabilities Viigo has – see why I don’t recommend it?)
BlackBerry screenshots:
(Main: the feed list. No upper-level menus!)
(the menu in the feed list)
(the above two screenshots (an individual article view and the menu in there) show there aren’t even links for download using the built-in BB browser, Web)
CorePlayer 1.2.5 (also applies to Symbian / Palm OS / iPhone & other, supported OS’es!)
This is a strictly podcasting-capable application you should already have if you’re seriously(!) into multimedia. While it’s no doubt the best all-in-one player for Windows Mobile, Symbian and Palm OS, its podcasting capabilities are pretty limited. Hope this changes with the imminent release of the 1.3 platform with its downloading capabilities.
Incidentally, speaking of the iPhone, the situation seems to be otherwise pretty dire. This will, on the other hand, surely change in the future.
Conduits Pocket Player 3.7
It’s another strictly podcasting-capable application with somewhat better podcasting capabilities & compliance than those of CorePlayer. That is, if you also need podcatching capabilities, you’ll still end up having to get a separate podcatcher app.
A quick intro to accessing feeds: you can add a feed in Browse / Podcasts / Add Podcast Feed:
Double-click the new podcast to see the available enclosures:
Note that this screenshot has been taken with the MoDaCo feed, which Pocket Player has severe problems with. As can be seen, they’re in no way descriptive – unlike with other podcast downloading-capable apps compatible with the MoDaCo feed (that is, not for example CorePlayer). It’s only when actually starting to stream them by, for example, a left-right swipe that more info becomes available on a given MoDaCo podcast:
Note that I haven’t encountered similar problems with the other, tested (and working) feeds.
Hubdog 2.0
This podcatcher client is very famous for its Web & community capabilities. They aside, it’s still a very capable an decent client, albeit, in my opinion, can’t really match the speed and the easiness and intuitiveness of NewsBreak.
BeyondPod 2.8.0
This free app is probably the most featureful catcher of all. Highly recommended unless the speed problem introduced by its slow rendering engine really annoys you.
FeederReader 1.10.0
This is another featureful podcatcher with some really unique capabilities.
Too bad using it is like rocket science. You’ll want to start with the manual and also make you read the tutorials: THIS, THIS and THIS, in this order.
AudioBay 4.0/e0 (Windows Mobile) and 3.4/e0 (BlackBerry 8800);
Note that it also used to have a Symbian S60 version but has been discontinued in the meantime because of Nokia’s Podcasting. The Windows Mobile and the BlackBerry versions, on the other hand, are still developed.
The former (the Windows Mobile) version is pretty much average: not among the best titles but not the worst ones either. The BlackBerry version, on the other hand, is THE way to go. Note that, however,
1. AudioBay has no trial version (this should be fixed by the developer!)
2. Some people have found it to be unreliable, particularly on Verizon
(WM)
(BB)
NewsBreak 2.1
While this certainly isn’t the most featureful application, it’s by far the easiest to use. It has large, nice download icons associated with each podcast easily pressable. As soon as the download is over (which is the fastest of the bunch), the icon (which, after queuing the podcast for download, changes to a “Cancel” icon) changes to a “Play” icon. All this makes it possible to really easily queue, possibly cancel and, then, play back a given podcast. In this regard, NewsBreak is clearly the best of the bunch.
Top-level feed view
Channel view
Article view
Egress 4.0.1
Egress is another very strong title. iPhone(-alike) fans may prefer it to the other apps because of its iPhone-like interface. In my opinion, NewsBreak is better mostly because it takes fewer taps to queue something and is generally faster / easier to use. However, Egress is still a recommended title.
NewsGator Go! for Mobiles (current version as of late August 2008; internal filedates: 03/28/2008)
NewsGator, which has recently made been free, has a very strong Web-based interface. If you look for something like Opera’s Opera Link but with a generic subscription & already-read-flag synchronization, this should be the podcatcher to check out. Otherwise, I would stay away from it: it’s certainly lacking in features and, what is worst, is very-very slow in everyday use – even for normal (podcast-less) RSS use.
Skookum 2.0.0.0
Skookum is an abdandoned, free podcaster app. It has nothing to write home about; albeit, it’s certainly not the worst one either.
The developer is no longer in business (see for example THIS and THIS for more info). Sites like PocketGear only seem to have the commercial, initial and, therefore, in no way recommended, 1.0 version
Note that you will need to use CF1SP3 (or, of course, CF2+) to run it; it crashed on me, along with throwing a FileNotFoundException, right at the beginning with an older version.
Note that, while some of the errors (see see THIS and THIS for additional info) may show you you need to manually install System_SR_enu.cab (linked from HERE) , you won’t need to do this.
Much as the developer’s long been out of business, I haven’t disqualified the app as it’s free.
Symbian
With AudioBay’s Symbian S60 version discontinued (because of Nokia’s app’s release), Nokia Podcasting has become THE podcasting app for all S60 v3 phones. It’s generally very well done, fast at downloading and only lacking in some advanced features like channel image view.
It offers pretty nice, pre-configured choices, parallel downloading (of course, it allows for multiple selection with the Key button + the up/down arrow):
, automatic scheduling. However, it isn’t capable of parsing generic URL’s like that of MoDaCo for feeds. In these cases, you must enter the URL directly in Podcasts / Options / Go to Podcasting / Podcasts / Options / New Podcast:
Don’t forget to set your storage card as the download target at Podcasts / Options / Go to Podcasting / Options / Settings / Download:
The chart
As with most of my generic bible / roundup articles, the focal point of this bible is the feature chart, which makes it possible to pack in as much information in an article as possible, also allowing for direct, easy comparison between the different solutions. As usual, you’ll want to maximize it and, on smaller-resolution screens, zoom out to avoid (excess) scrolling. Sorry for the size: as usual, I wanted to present a full roundup; hence the gigantic size. The chart is here.
Explanation
Today / home plug-in showing the number of new podcasts etc. (NOT just a start / stop / pause control, with the song title, of the currently playing track!): some podcatchers also display the number / title(s) of newly downloaded podcasts (or simple articles).
Does it allow for user-def’d podcast categories?: more advanced catchers allow for organizing podcast feeds into user-defined categories. If you have more than a handful of feeds, this capability can prove VERY useful.
Feed login/password?: there are some private feeds requiring a login/password pair to only allow authenticated users to access their content. Almost all podcast/catchers support this.
Terminology used: particularly if you test more than one app, you may run into terminology inconsistency problems. For example, feeds are referred to as “Channels” by many. Feed contents are generally referred to as “items”, “headlines” or “episodes”. In this row, I’ve collected the terminology used by all apps so that you can avoid any confusion.
Support for non-supported (in general, non-MM) stuff?: here, I’ve listed non-multimedia stuff. Some feeds (for example, the C&L feed) not only have multimedia audio / video content, but also other stuff like YouTube links, Flash (.swf) and Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files etc. In this group, I’ve tested whether these kinds of files can be (manually – automatic download, in general, won’t work, except for very few titles like FeederReader) downloaded.
Download benchmarks (~20M mixed content over 512 kbps ADSL): in this test, I’ve tested how fast the app downloads to a 8GB Class 4 Sandisk card over a lower-end (512 kbps) ADSL connection. High-speed connections, of course, may have resulted in a much more pronounced difference. Just an example: over a very fast connection, NewsBreak is flying, while Viigo remains abysmal, certainly showing its file buffering / flushing algorithm is very weak.
Auto download / fetching: Supported? Refresh intervals / timestamp to execute?: Automatic podcast download / fetching is very important. In this row, I elaborate on which (or both) of the two updating timing is used: interval-based or a given, pre-set time of the day. I’ve also elaborated on the freedom of settings these parameters – that is, the granularity of the timestamp / interval setting. (Can you configure it to refresh the contents every, say, 5 minutes? Or, are you only allowed to do an update, say, at most once an hour?)
Download restrictions settable separately for each feed, as opposed to one, global setting?: Especially with sizable podcasts, it may be very important to be able to set completely different for example auto-deletion / retention parameters for individual feeds.
The storage requirements of different feeds can vary a lot. For example, there can be a feed with podcasts only taking up some 2-3 Mbytes at most (an example of these is Heart of Space, which only offers 30-second-long podcasts taking up only some hundreds of kilobytes), while other podcast episodes can easily be 50-100 Mbyte long (an example is X-Play’s lengthier movies). This means if you have little storage space but would like to keep as many podcasts as possible on your handset, you may opt for only letting for the retention of, say, 1-2 episodes of feeds generally having huge files, while not having so strict restrictions on feeds with small podcasts. In these cases, feed-level configurability (as opposed to one, global setting) can really pay off.
Distinction between allowed / blocked connection types to avoid using (expensive) cellular data?: some podcatchers allow for restricting the type of connection for downloading to avoid high data bills. The majority offering this capability has the ActiveSync vs. cellular distinction.
Can you define whether to force to open a connection if it isn’t available: some (unfortunately, VERY few) apps allow for very advanced functionality like enabling Wi-Fi / BT / the cellular radio (if any) before starting the update (and, when needed, disabling them after the update). In this row, I explained this (and similar) capabilities.
Storage usage restrictable / automatic deletion of listened-to / expired enclosures?: in percentage of free / remaining storage?: this subgroup has detailed information on whether you can fine-tune the storage usage by not letting the podcatcher download stuff that would result in the storage fill up. This is a basic setting and should be supported by all podcatching applications.
Permanent storage in the file system: can the home directory be set?: better apps, in addition to storing the podcasts on a storage card (or a, size-wise, comparable entity), may also allow for setting their home directory to anything, not just a wired-in directory name like \Podcasts.
Settable maximal number of enclosures kept?: Better catchers striving for efficient storage usage may employ a deletion strategy stating the following: whenever the pre-set maximal number of enclosures becomes too small to download the newest podcast(s), the oldest one (or an already-consumed one) is deleted.
Auto-deletion of podcasts older than X days?: storage saving may also be enhanced by allowing for (unconditional – that is, not depending on whether it has been consumed or not; see on this the next row) automatic deletion of podcasts older than X days.
Flags: Already listened to? What functionalities (not listing, deletion etc.) are based on this flag?: A decent podcaster application should at least flag already-consumed media as “read”. Based on this flag (and the visual presentation), the user would have the chance of not listening to the same podcast twice.
Podcasters behave differently when it comes to the read flag. For example, NewsBreak makes sure articles already read are put at the of the headlines, should you still need them. That is, at the beginning of the headlines list, you will only see unread articles. Some other casters “only” unbold read articles. Also, some of them have the “Hide read articles” functionality.
Better podcaster applications also have even more advanced functionality based on the “read” flag. The most important of this is (mass) auto-deletion of such articles. Too bad this really basic functionality is missing from most of them.
Not listened to, but old enough to be deleted (expired)?: in addition to the pretty basic “read” flag, some casters also employ other flags like “expired”, which, in a decent caster, would allow for deleting old, but not (necessarily) listened-to podcasts.
Note that some apps do support this functionality by just offering the “Delete all podcasts older than X days” functionality.
Downloads: Multiple downloading threads at the same time to make performance better?:
This row shows whether enqueued podcasts can be downloaded in parallel. The point in parallel downloading is as follows:
- Some servers serve podcasts considerably slower than your local Internet connection. Say you have a 2 Mbps connection, while the server you’re currently downloading podcasts is only capable of serving a podcast at 500 kbps. This means 1.5 Mbps of your Internet connection remains unused.
- You may want to quickly download something while another download is in progress. For example, let’s assume you’re downloading a huge podcast when you notice there’s another, interesting one you’d like to listen to as soon as possible. In a single-threaded (simple) app, you would either need to cancel the current download(s) to quickly queue the new clip as the first one to download. In a more advanced multithreaded app, you just start the download and it downloads (albeit a bit slower because the bandwidth available may be divided up between the current downloads), without further ado.
Progress bar (or any way to see what has already been downloaded): better apps have some kind of a visual feedback showing how many bytes (and/or percent) of a given podcast (and, preferably, all the queued podcasts) have already been downloaded.
Streaming (playback without downloading the entire enclosure (first)) Supported? : better players allow for streaming – that is, playback without downloading the entire enclosure first. Note that the built-in WMP doesn’t support this; CorePlayer does.
If streamed, random positioning supported?: there are two approaches to streaming – one that allows for quickly fast forwarding into still not downloaded parts of the podcast (that is, allows for really free random access, independent of what has already been downloaded) and the simpler one that doesn’t. Naturally, the former is preferred.
Here, n/a, naturally, shows the given app isn’t at all able to stream.
Feed input (in addition to direct address entering, which is supported by all): OPML import / sync?: There are several ways of making podcast/catcher apps aware of the feeds you’d like to subscribe to. In addition to by directly entering their URL’s, one-by-one, the most important way of importing them is via OPML files.
Note that several of the apps also support exporting into OPML files of your current subscriptions, which makes it easier to transfer your current subscriptions to another (OPML import-capable) podcatcher/caster.
M3U / PLS support?: some apps also allow for mass-importing feed URL’s via the well-known M3U and/or PLS playlist files. (See for example THIS for more info on these formats.)
Pre-defined, built-in library?: many of these apps have some kind of access to predefined, online libraries already offering feeds you can subscribe to.
Online search?: there are several services allowing for feed lookup based on their names. Some of the handset apps have interfaces to directly access these services.
Generic HTML page parsing if unsure about the exact feed URL?: (very) few apps allow for parsing generic HTML pages to find feed URL’s in them. (This is how most desktop browsers and Opera Mini work when they display a “This page has RSS feeds in it” type of message.)
Online, web-based, synchronizable and/or readable account?: one of the best capabilities some of these apps offer is an online account allowing for either account management (importing / deleting etc. feeds, sharing them with your friends, the community etc.) or on-line article reading via any Web browser – or both.
The former greatly simplifies subscribing to feeds (and deploying the same set of feeds to other, OPML importing-capable podcasters later).
Built-in player (if any): AVRCP: while the majority of these apps rely on external players to play even the most basic and widely used podcasting file formats like MP3, some of them have a built-in player to play them back. It’s the limitations, capabilities, CPU (and, consequently, battery) usage of these built-in players that this group is all about.
The first test in this group, AVRCP, discusses whether Bluetooth remote control, AVRCP, is supported by the player (if any). Naturally, as with most of the entries in this group, n/a means there’s no built-in player in the app at all.
CPU usage?: The CPU usage of multimedia players is of extreme importance when it comes to maximizing battery life. This is why I’ve made some extensive tests to find out how these apps behave in this regard. Please also see THIS for more info on the well-established players.
Remembers last position (resume-capable)? And, even better, auto bookmark-capable?: with sometimes lengthy podcasts, it’s essential for a player to be able to resume playback after restarting (simple resume) or even switching to another and, then, returning to the same podcast (more advanced bookmarking capability; now, storing a “last playback position” associated with each podcast file, not just globally for the last played one).
Positioning (with already-local playback); + stands for external players with podcatcher apps without a built-in player: it’s also essential for a podcast playback application to be able to randomly position inside the already-local podcast. Note that this has nothing to do with the positioning capabilities of still-downloading and/or streamed apps, which was elaborated upon earlier.
If it does have a player, can you still use an external one?: almost all the built-in players are definitely inferior (buth CPU usage- and capabilities-wise) to those offered by other, third-party players. Therefore, particularly with podcaster applications having a low-quality player, it’s essential to be able to configure it to be able to invoke an external multimedia player to play back any multimedia content.
Channel / individual song image support: Generic channel image displayed?: This group elaborates on whether generic (non-podcast-specific) channel images and podcast-specific, inline images are supported.
The first test, “Generic channel image displayed?”, shows the podcaster app is able to display the generic image associated with a channel. This is in no way essential, just cool to have and makes it easier to easily spot a feed, particularly if there are more than a handful of them.
Album art / article display? :
Note that, with external players, this will only players that do support embedded artwork in individual podcasts; that is, NOT the built-in Windows Media Player Mobile in Windows Mobile. See the first chart HERE for more info on this question and the compatible apps.
Mass playback / delete operations: Mass playback in a given channel?: this mass operation-specific group elaborates on operations best done in one step instead of doing the same separately for each and every headline / podcast – that is, using mass operations.
The first of the tests, “Mass playback in a given channel?”, elaborates on whether the podcasts of a given channel (feed) can be played back in order without having to manually intervene (that is, start the next one when the previous is finished). This is of extreme importance with shorter clips you’d like to see. Just a real-world example: during my last 10-hour-long bus trip, I’ve watched almost all the episodes of X-Play. These podcasts are, in general, some 2…5 minutes long. As the client (the otherwise great NewsBreak) doesn’t support mass playback, it was quite a nuisance to always having to switch back to NewsBreak (from CorePlayer playing the video) and tap (with my finger) on the next feed’s “Play” icon.
With podcaster apps capable of mass playback (either in a given channel/feed or globally, with all available podcasts), you don’t need to constantly switch back to the podcaster app to start the playback of the next podcast.
Incidentally, behind the scenes, mass playback is accomplished by using playback (m3u / pls / asx files). This is how podcaster apps instruct external players to be aware of more than one playlist items. Also, this is why some of the podcaster apps (for example, Egress) explicitly refer to creating playlist files upon downloading.
Mass playback globally (not just in one channel, but all the new enclosures)?: while the previous row discussed in-feed mass playback (without human intervention), this one refers to playing back all the clips globally, originating from all feeds, not just one. Unfortunately, as with the feed-only playback, very few podcasters support this.
If (any kind of) mass playback is supported, audio / video distinction (unattended “Commute mode“ as referred to by FeederReader?): when you, for example, jog and, therefore, can’t watch the screen of your handset, in a mass playback mode, distinction between audio-only and video content can be highly useful. This way, you can be sure no video will be played back while in mass playback mode; only audio.
Mass deletion of all enclosures? If possible, can you do this on both globally and just in an individual channel?: in addition to mass playback, mass deletion can also be highly useful. Here, I elaborate on both global and in-one-feed mass deletion capabilities.
Filename naming conventions (for quick file system-level lookup, mass playback queuing from external players, deletion etc.): there are two approaches podcatcher applications use when downloading streams (one of them, BeyondPod, also supports both): either keep their original names (in some cases, adding a unique, machine-generated trailer/header to make sure no accidental overwriting will occur) or use a fully machine-generated name, mostly consisting of running indexes.
Both approaches have advantages. If you keep the original podcast filenames (particularly if you do this in separate, feed-specific subdirectories in the file system), you won’t need to do any lookup to find out what a given podcast really is. Also, queuing podcasts for mass playback (particularly if they’re in a separate subdirectory) becomes far easier. However, it’s prone to the overwriting problem, which may be particularly an issue with, in this regard, not very well written applications like
If you only have index-based and/generated random indexes, accidental overwriting won’t even occur. However, you may have a hard time identifying the podcasts in the file system, should you want to access them in an external media player without firing up the podcatch/caster application.
Of course, there are combined solutions as well; for example, Egress uses both a unique, random leading string to make sure no overwriting will take place and, after this, the original filename follows.
Compatibility with some real feeds: MoDaCo: in this pretty large group, I’ve presented some real-world test results on whether these podcast/catcher applications are compliant with some real-world, popular podcasts. The first of the test is MoDaCo’s, which causes some problems to, for example, Pocket Player (the fix is promised for the next version). It’s, otherwise, a pretty usual MP3 podcast. CorePlayer, which, as of version 1.2.5, has still pretty bad RSS feed parsing capabilities, is fully incompatible with this feed.
1Src Palm-powered Podcast (MP3): another usual MP3 podcast, no real catches here, except for Skookum, which can’t download more than one podcast a time, as it erroneously assumes the filename being “redirect.mp3”, which results in downloading subsequent episodes overwriting previous downloads.
Heart of Space (Mp3): another pretty usual feed. The only podcaster not compatible with it is NewsGator Go! for Mobiles: while it can download it, it can’t invoke an external app to play it back. This is a pretty common issue with NewsGator Go! for Mobiles, several other feeds are also suffering from this problem.
SpaceMusic Archive (MP3) and (Current) SpaceMusic : no problems at all with any of the apps.
Radio 538 (AAC-LC) : now, this is a problematic feed causing issues with many apps. For example, CorePlayer has problems with the 080804 issue, while the other episodes (for example, 080811) work just fine.
Also note that it isn’t an MP3 podcast but an AAC-LC one. Therefore, many podcasting/catching apps are simply unable to play it back – or, for that matter, even retrieve it.
Classic Animation (H.264 Baseline video): switching to videos, Classic Animation is a great source of old cartoons. They have their stuff in H.264 baseline format, which means great compatibility with a lot of multimedia players (as opposed to more advanced H.264 formats).
It worked with most podcasters, except for NewsGator Go! for Mobiles, which exhibited the same trailing bug as with a lot of other feeds.
X’Play’s Daily Video Podcast : these videos are high-res (VGA, 640*480) and use a more advanced, non-baseline H.264 format meaning very few players (most importantly, CorePlayer on all mobile platforms except BlackBerry) will be able to play them back.
Tagesschau Podcast (MP3): these MP3 files are the plain audio tracks of the Tagesschau video programs. They’re different from the previous titles (but not the original “video” versions) in that they have a much more complicated feed URL. Probably this is what makes these feeds inaccessible for several podcatcher/caster apps (CorePlayer, Hubdog and the BlackBerry version of AudioBay).
Tagesschau Video Podcast (MP4 / H.264 baseline): the situation is pretty similar with the original video versions of these programmes.
Other sources of information
A REALLY cool post on desktop podcasting
VoiceIndigo for BlackBerry
What are you using to “podcatch”?
A german list
Another quick news item on the PPCMag article
A 2006 thread: RSS reader with podcast support for TyTn, any suggestions?
Mostly a FeederReader-specific thread
Note that, while some feeds (for example, C&L) offers the capability of accessing two videos from one article, physically, they only hold one enclosure, not two (they only link to two videos). An example screenshot series:
No longer existing or plain weak applications
SmartFeed, an old, still widely known, popular app, has been incorporated into NewsGator in the meantime.
The Windows Mobile version (as of beta3) of the otherwise very nice and famous Doppler is pretty much useless and far inferior to any of the products in the chart. Still, a quick elaboration, should you still want to know why I don’t recommend it.
First, unless you have a lot of built-in storage, in Menu / Options / Settings, you’ll want to change the default podcast download path, \My Documents\My Podcasts. Finally, after a double-click on the feed, select Menu / Download podcast. Trying to update feeds / podcasts has always resulted in constant problems; then, also Aborting download… has stalled and required a manual, forced task kill. Therefore, it seems the only way to download the podcasts is via the built-in Internet Explorer (that is, fully manually – which is in no way recommended; after all, podcatchers exist just in order to avoid doing this), you can manually tap the link after double-tapping an article.
PiP (also see for example THIS) has been discontinued in the meantime.
Pocket Podcasts 1.0 is also pretty weak and requires a desktop-side server; this is why (on purpose) I’ve left it out.
Appendix: the Microsoft Zune
The desktop client of the Microsoft Zune allows for podcatching and synchronizing – just like Doppler, Juice and iTunes (and unlike WMP 11). I found it useful to include this section in this guide as
1. after all, the Zune is a portable device
2. Microsoft promises "Zune store integration", which is quite a bit similar to that of Nokia’s on-device music store solution. One can only hope Microsoft also makes the podcatching and synchronizing capabilities of the desktop Zune version 2+ available for Windows Mobile clients as well – even if "only" on the desktop side, and not natively on the Windows Mobile clients (unlike, say, the way Nokia implemented their Podcasting app).
The desktop podcatcher component of Zune has no timing capabilities (it starts downloading new episodes as soon as you connect or wirelessly sync your Zune, which also starts the Zune app on the desktop), which may be a bit disappointing, particularly if you have a lot to download (which may also greatly slow down the desktop) and/or have a slow connection and, therefore, need to wait a lot for all the new episodes to download. Nevertheless, it has a very simple and logical interface, which is really easy to use, while still offering advanced capabilities like feed-specific retention and synchronization settings (the ability to set the number of episodes to store on the desktop / on the Zune, from 1 to 10 and including all).
It also has a built-in search, should you want to avoid having to directly paste the feed URL's to Zune. All you need to do is just entering the name of the podcast feed (like "modaco") to the search input field. It found most the English and German test podcasts. It, however, didn't contain anything Finnish from THIS list, not even English-language ones like Radio Free Finland. I needed to add these feeds, then, one by one.
Unfortunately, it doesn't support OPML import – not even in the current, just-released, 3.0 milestone version. It didn't have problems with parsing any of the directly entered URL's, unlike some of the tested apps.
Some screenshots (of version 2.X; the latest, 3.0 version isn't at all different when it comes to podcatching):
http://www.winmobiletech.com/082008Podcasting/zune20podcast.jpg
(General settings)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/082008Podcasting/zune20podcastseriesstting.jpg
(Feed-specific settings)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/082008Podcasting/zune20podcastmain.jpg
(Main podcasts screen, showing all the subscribed feeds on the left and the episodes in the middle; the state of the current download etc.)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/082008Podcasting/zune20syncgroups.jpg
(sync group-view, also showing the total space)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/082008Podcasting/zune20justsyncing.jpg
(Just Syncing-view)
Unfortunately, the Zune client does have its share of problems. For example, it entirely lacks MP4 (m4a) chapter support (like the ones in the enhanced MoDaCo podcast feeds or the Tiesto feed). Not even the just-released 3.0 desktop/device software fixed this.
Also note that Zunes can't update traditional podcasts over the air (only the newly (in version 3) added channels, but these channels can't be manually created) without the need for syncing with the desktop Zune software. Yeah, I know podcatching (with everything involved: incompatible feeds, incompatible formats can't be natively played back on the Zune etc.) isn't at all trivial; still, I would really welcome full podcasting client support as opposed to the pre-made, no-user-channels-possible channel syncing currently supported. Microsoft could, for example, just port the podcatching code from the desktop software to the device firmware. It's pretty solid and dependable; again, it was able to sync to all the feeds I've thrown at it not necessarily present in Microsoft's library.
(Some other, Zune & podcatching-related articles:
How to manage podcasts in the Zune software: this is the current one; also applies to 3.0.
Some examples of old, outdated, pre-version 2 tutorials:
How to Manage Podcast Content With Your Zune and HOWTO: Podcasting with a Zune. These are, again, outdated; now, there is absolutely no need to use an additional podcatcher in addition to the desktop-side Zune app. (This is also reflected by ExtremeTech's initial article Zune: iPod Killer or Half-Baked Flop?). Note that it was with the release of Zune 2 a year ago that podcatching has been added to the desktop software.)