App Review: inTube – watch Indian movies for free on an App

Pariksha Labs approached me to review their latest App in the market, and write about it on my blog. My first reaction was, while I have not been doing App Reviews on my blog, today’s smartphones are nothing without an App. So it made some sense then to add a new category under Reviews.

So what is so great about this new App huh!

inTube is a very simple, but highly effective app for its purpose. We all, at some point in time, have watched Movie Trailers and sometimes even Full Length movies on YouTube, thanks to large number of distributors cashing in digital media to increase reach and make access to Entertainment easier.

However this exponential growth is lucrative for peeves too. They upload a different movie (one which is very less popular) video with a latest movie name to decisive users. This has happened to me many a times. Some times they upload the movie in parts split by 10 to 30 mins. This is a nuisance to the overall enjoyment of watching a movie.

inTube is set to change that. And how!

Functionality and Interface

The app is designed to quickly find and view full length Indian Movies and Trailers from already huge collection of movies available on YouTube. They are facilitating an easy access to all of the Indian Movies on YouTube using YouTube’s own player, but by giving you an interface that is easy to browse through. App’s controlled listing of movies does not let other, random videos to appear which are not movies – a scenario that happens when we search for movies on YouTube.

Many a times, people upload fake movies – the movie itself will be original, however the name will be different, which causes much dissatisfaction. They filter the right movies, and then link it back to the App.

The interface is akin to a full service player like BigFlix, but much better. You will only realize that videos are being played using YouTube when you see the player. This I consider a good achievement. The movies are divided by Categories and Genres, and are easily accessible and a user can quickly browse, find and view a good collection of movies without any hassle

Competition

I personally use BigFlix to watch movies and I must say that the quality of interface is better on inTube. And since they are showing these movies from YouTube, directly uploaded by the distributors, they do not have to bear any content cost.

Experience

Movie watching experience on any other screen than the 70MM one at theaters is less satisfying. Having said that, the newer generation prefers the retina display or super AMOLED screens. InTube movie watching is comparable to any other app, only this one is little bit better.

Watching movie on 3G (or HSPDA) is satisfying, subject to network fluctuations. Watching it over the 5 Mbps speed over Wifi was much more satisfying. They do not have an iPad app yet, which is in the works right now but have app for iPhone. This app works pretty well on iPad, with 2x view reducing the quality of the app interface. However fullscreen video from YouTube fares better than the app interface. So if you have an iPad, you can still download the iPhone version and watch movies in decent quality.

Good Bits

• There is no cost for usage of any content – everything is free since it is coming from YouTube. However your data service provider will charge you for data usage.
• There is no account – no sign ups or logins
• No Adverts while watching movies – Watching movies on YouTube without “YouTube Adverts”
• Active language and genre filtering of movies makes finding movies easier
• Sort movie list by Actor/Actress – See the movie list of your favorite actor/actress and watch movies.
• Movie Summary available in the app itself.
• Filter fake / short videos movies out and lists only genuine full length movies.

Bad Bits

• Advertisements – Till the time you start watching movies, you are bugged with pop-in ads. This is a pain. Also, on iPhone, there is an advert constant at the bottom and some times hinder access to the last item on the list. You cannot click on the item because of the advertisement. This is something that Pariksha Labs should re-solve.
• No Sharing – You cannot share movies like you can do on YouTube. And since these are streamed content, there is no movie downloads. Good for copyrights holder…
• No English movies are supported at the moment but I hear they are planning to work on that as well.
• No new movies available – Of course goes without saying. The App’s functional model relies on content from YouTube and since no new movies are posted on YouTube, you cannot see it on the app as well. But there are still really good titles to watch, albeit old.

Actually, I feel that you should try this app to get the feel of how easier it is to watch movies now on YouTube.

Verdict

InTube offers the best way to find Indian movies on YouTube. You do not have to face the hassle of searching through complicated search results, and offers more information about the movie than the YouTube link itself. The option of searching for movies based on actor / actress is an added advantage. Only if the ads were less annoying.

Rating: 4.5 out of a possible 5 points

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