14 DAY TRIAL // Google isn't in the phone-making business, but it's not leaving anything to chance with the latest and greatest handset to sport the brand-new Android 2.0, the Motorola Droid. By all accounts, it's a great phone, and it's clear that Google has put all of its muscles behind the product. A couple of weeks ago, it launched a great turn-by-turn navigation app for Android 2.0 and now it's boasting some of the capabilities available to YouTube users on the Droid.
And, despite the obvious ties between the products, the new phone really does have some very clear advantages over its competitors when it comes to mobile video sharing and uploading. Of course, some of these features will eventually make their way to other phones using the new Android 2.0, but, for now, they are exclusive to the Motorola Droid.
“It is now possible to shoot DVD-quality videos and upload them to YouTube with a single flick of a finger... In addition, the new YouTube widget gives single-tap access to recording and sharing capabilities right from the home screen,” Jonathan Matus, Android lead product marketing manager, wrote about the recording capabilities of the device.
The real interesting feature here is the simplicity with which the videos can be shared on YouTube as soon as you record them. And, judging by the number of videos that started popping up on YouTube after Apple introduced video-recording capabilities to the iPhone, it's pretty clear that posting videos on YouTube from mobile phones is very popular with many users.
“The controls on the new YouTube application on Android 2.0 now have a look and feel that's much more like the YouTube desktop experience. We've also added the ability to manage personal subscriptions in 'My Account,' and so now, with the ability to search, share, rate, comment and of course view videos, the on-the-go YouTube experience is closer to the one you're used to on your computer,” Matus also added.
He then went on to boast the viewing quality of the videos given the Droid's large screen and high resolution. While there are obvious advantages to using YouTube on the new phone, the thing to take away from all of this is just how committed is Google in making its mobile operating system the most popular smartphone OS on the market. And there are many reasons why Google would want that, in fact, there are probably billions of them, as the revenue from the mobile space is bound to hit the seven figures for the company in the not-so-distant future.