Google announced its all new video app ‘YouTube Go’ for data conscious users in September last year. The decision behind the launch of this new lightweight video streaming app was taken considering the sluggish network range in remote areas of the country. Starting from today, the YouTube GO app has been launched for Android Beta testers to try and provide feedback.
The app provides users with a variety of options to save data while viewing and downloading the videos. The highlight feature of the app is that it allows users to download the video in low-quality mode for offline preview. It even displays mobile data that will be consumed while streaming and downloading the video and limits the video quality to 640p and does not support 720p or higher.
YouTube Go app is only beneficial for data saviors and does not have much to offer to Wi-Fi friendly users. The home page for the app displays a curated list of videos available for download; mostly consuming moderate data. The feed shown here is much different from that of a standard YouTube home page.
One of the surprising features of the GO app is the data saving video sharing mode. Using the said feature, a user can send videos to nearby YouTube Go users over a local ad-hoc Wi-Fi hotspot. The hotspot connection so formed will not consume data from any of the parties involved in the transmission. Hence, it provides a data-free video sharing bonus to users.
It is further expected thag Google might preload the app on its future budget phones, keeping in mind the needs of consumers. The YouTube GO app can be tested in India at the moment, after it has been downloaded for the Play Store.
Apart from it, Google is now planning to merge its music streaming apps – Google Play Music and YouTube Music. Both the developments will lift up the Android popularity for Google’s video platforms.
