Updated: Poptiq 2.0
by Eric March on December 6, 2008 at 1:41 pm
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App Name: | Poptiq |
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| Developer: | Metranome |
Version: | 2.0 | |
| Publisher: | Metranome |
Size: | 8.9 MB |
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| Category: | Entertainment |
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I don’t normally do updates, but I already covered the first release of Poptiq on Touch Podium back in the beginning of september when Metranome’s David Kruis got in touch with me and bade me check it out with a nice preview copy — only to have it show up on the App Store pretty much just when I’d finished the sneak peek article. Nevertheless I liked it. Applying the genetic Pandora approach to video viewing was an interesting idea, and is a way to separate the wheat from the chaff when all you want to do is browse interesting videos, but don’t want to have to sift through a ton of stuff you’re not particularly interested in.
It wasn’t totally perfect; there were some performance issues with the 3D handling the carousel, and one of the larger complaints was the inability to search. Metranome have listened to user feedback and have released a rather large whole-version update that addresses many concerns and adds some new features.
The biggest addition to Poptiq 2.0 is the new search function. While the original Poptiq was intended to be more like Pandora in that you watch whatever it downloads based on your media preferences, there is an important difference between Pandora and Poptiq: Music is a passive experience. You can listen to it while you go off and do other things, so it can exist in the periphery of your consciousness and as long as the music is generally of the sort you like to listen to, you don’t have to attend to it. Poptiq though is both video and audio, and requires active participation. You can’t just stick on a video and go on to other things, you have to sit there and watch. That’s sort of the point. Thus, having only a handful of videos available at once with no direct choice in what it downloaded made the experience a bit hit-or-miss. Poptiq’s new search function aims to solve that problem by letting you choose either the original method of video download, or search for stuff you’re interested in.
What’s more, you can E-Mail interesting videos to friends, and if they happen to check their E-Mail on their iPhone or Touch and are a Poptiq user, the video can be automatically added to their carousel.
Other changes include a bit of a revamped UI, better 3D performance for the carousels (main and vault), and faster downloads. The app has also been made smaller thanks to the removal of most of the introductory videos, and as such has been brought below the magic 10MB barrier, so it can be downloaded over-the-air. And of course, all of the original features, such as saving videos locally, are all there.
The new version also adds ad-support, which persists even if you sign up for an account — though signing up for an account has the benefit of being able to learn from your viewing history so that it can better serve you videos you’re more inclined to like. At the moment the volume of ads is pretty low, but they’re there to help support the project, since it’s otherwise free and all.
Overall, a good solid update from Metranome that makes a good and rather unique video browser even better. Naturally, it’s still free, too. Check out the gallery below for more screenies.
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