| Web portal / app: | YTPocket Web site | vTAP | MobiTubia v1.80 build 2 | Official YouTube for Mobile | Full version: In-browser playback (Symbian: Flash Lite 3; WM: Opera Mobile / IEM + Flash 7) | TCPMP IEM plug-in (WM): flashvideobundle 1.4.4 | CorePlayer 1.2.3 (WM); Symbian soon | m.youtube.com Mobile version together with an RTSP-capable client | Milesmowbray’s youtubeplay v 16/4/08 |
| Compatibility | WM: everything (it uses system-level association, NOT plug-ins). As it’s FLV-based, might also be compatible with Symbian (haven’t checked). Incompatible with BB. | WM (WM5+; no plans for WM2003(SE)); Symbian; BB 4.3+ | Symbian | Currently, only Symbian (Nokia N73, E65, N95, 6120c, 6110n and S-E k800i, w880i) | Symbian: N95, N82, N81, (N96, N78); WM: IEM, Opera Mobile; WM2003+ | WM (WM2003+): IEM only; integrates to IEM and intercepts links to YT pages | WM (WM2003+): everything; Symbian: in a few days (weeks?) | WM (WM5+) with HTC Streaming Client: everything; Symbian with built-in RealOne player; BB: -? (on the BB 4.5.0.9, it tries to invoke the built-in media players and, at the same time, resets the handset; might be different on other models / OS versions) | WM (WM5+): everything |
| Streaming mode | HTTP file download – no streaming (might be, therefore, too slow to be acceptable) | WM (native client): HTTP streaming; (Web client:) RTSP / 3GP; BB: 3GP | HTTP streaming | RTSP | HTTP streaming | HTTP streaming | RTSP, HTTP streaming (depending on the quality setting) | RTSP | HTTP streaming |
| Playback quality? | Excellent | WM: Excellent; BB: tolerable | Excellent (MUCH better than with Flash Lite 3 + Nokia Web or YT’s own Java client) | Tolerable (because of the bandwidth-limited 3GP) | Symbian: good; WM: very poor (WM: very high CPU usage (YT.com main page even crashes; so do most pages after playback; OM 8.65 and 9.33b are a BIT better in this respect) and very slow framerate; Symbian: somewhat choppy but still much better than on WM and offers dedicated full screen) | Excellent | Excellent with H.264, tolerable with 3GP | Tolerable (3GP only) | Excellent |
| Speed, CPU usage | Good (TCPMP) | WM: Good (TCPMP-based); BB: OK | Excellent | Tolerable | Symbian: good; WM: very bad CPU usage, slow-to-respond (practically: useless). | Good | Excellent | Excellent (but RTSP only) | Good |
| HE-AACv2 support (stereo with high-quality H.264 video – as opposed to 3GP?) | + (TCPMP) | + | + | n/a | + (WM) / + (Symbian) | + | - (but will be added REALLY soon) | n/a | + |
| Upload? | - | - | - | + | + | + (make sure you select “Linked page” to go have access to the original page) | - (promised to be added soon, as with almost everything below) | + | - |
| Search list / history saved? | - | - | - (only the last one is saved) | + | + | + | - | - | - |
| Related videos? | - | + | - | + | + | + | - | + | - |
| Account support? | - | + | - | + | + | + | - | + | - |
| See comments? | - | n/t | - | - | + | + | - | + | - |
| Add comments? | - | n/t | - | - | + | + | - | + | - |
| Flagging? | - | + | - | + | + | + | - | + | - |
| Save file? | + (default: it downloads and saves the FLV file anywhere) | + (saves by default) | - | - | - | + (“Save file” from the context menu) | - | - | - |