NEW Release: Showyou (Quick Review)

Showyou

FREE

Universal (iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad)

Version: 1.1

Tested on: iPad 2 & iPod Touch 4G (iOS 4.3.1)

Rating: 5 of 5

Showyou is a new application for your iOS devices (including iPhone & iPad) which offers you a new way to enjoy your social video collection, i.e. videos curated by you and your networks. By leveraging the existing Facebook, Twitter and Vodpod networks, you can watch the videos shared by your friends all in a single place, the Showyou Grid. Showyou also creates a new network for you where you can follow other Showyou users and watch what they share on Showyou. Note: YouTube and Tumblr networks will be included in the next update.

The Showyou 2D Grid is awesome. You can see up to 1,000 videos being laid out in the grid, and you can swipe thru the grid horizontally, vertically, or even diagonally. Watching a mozaic of videos passing by is an awesome experience indeed. You can immediately tap one of the videos you'd like to watch and share 'em via AirPlay too (although this requires Apple TV 2.0). Currently, the 2D Grid feature is available only for the iPad. The iPhone version does not have the 2D Grid visualization, it merely shares the standard Video Feeds display. 

Showyou is all about social networking. So, don't forget to comment on others' videos, thank them if you like the videos, or even share the videos among your own friends. You can also invite new friends to join the Showyou network. Whenever you comment or thank someone, a notification will automatically be sent to them. The iPad version also allows you to reply to a specific comment easily, whereas the iPhone version prompts you with a generic comment form. 

One more feature that I miss a lot in this version is the ability to upload video to any network (Vodpod, for example) directly from Showyou. Currently Showyou asks you to send an e-mail containing the video links, presumably using your registered e-mail address, then that video (link) would be added to your share feed. I think this is more of a hassle, and I do hope uploading videos straight from an iPad 2 or iPhone will be made easier. 

I also share some screenshots taken from my iPod Touch, so that you can get an idea of how the app would look like on the iPhone. It's nothing compared to the experience you'll get from an iPad. So, if you have one, download this app immediately. And it's free too.

Note: There is one bug which I found both on the iPad and iPhone version, i.e. the application always crashes whenever I try to use the Find Friends feature. I hope this will be addressed soon in the next version.


Check out my other reviews for iPad apps and iPhone apps.

Let's Showyou from Showyou on Vimeo.