I love Youtube. I also love my Nokia N95. So when I realized that there’s a Youtube mobile site ((http://m.youtube.com), I had to test it out on my N95 to see how the usage experience is. In the end, I think accessing the mobile site is better than going to the Video Centre application, but having a good experience also requires good broadband connection. Read the rest of my review.

To watch Youtube videos on your Nokia phone, you can either go to the Video Center application, or go to the Youtube mobile site on your browser. My review compares the two methods.

m.YouTube.com versus YouTube on Video Centre

Video Centre vs. m.Youtube.com

Content. Compared to Video Centre, the Youtube mobile site offers a lot more videos. Main menu lets you navigate to the same videos on the regular site that are featured, recently added, most viewed, top rated, or top favorites. other categories include People, Entertainment, and Grab Bag. I’m not sure how they determine what videos go in the last three categories. I think Grab Bag might stand for random videos, but don’t quote me on that.

Descriptions. What I like about the mobile site is that you can read the descriptions of the videos before you watch it. In Video Centre, you can only view the titles. Sometimes the titles are even too long, you have to wait for it to scroll left.

Video descriptions lets you know what you are going to watch.

Watching the Youtube Videos

To watch the videos, you can click on the video thumbnail in Video Centre or click “Watch Video” in the mobile site. Both results in the RealPlayer application to play the video. If you are connected through a fast connection such as Wi-Fi, video plays instantaneously. I don’t even want to try watching a video with my slow Edge connection on T-mobile. For those with AT&T US 3G, the Nokia N95 8GB will yield better results away from a WiFi connection.

Media Keys. With the Nokia N95, slide over the phone to reveal the dedicated media keys so you can fast forward or rewind the videos. Pretty cool!

Dedicated media keys lets you go forward or back with videos.

Complaints

My problem with the m.Youtube.com mobile site, is that not all videos in the Youtube catalog is available to the mobile site. For example, the Nokia blog YouTube videos are not accessible in the mobile site.

Another annoying problem is after closing the videos, I get a message asking me to save the videos. The point of YouTube is not having to save videos, but if you decide to save the video, it tells you that it is added to the Gallery. The videos I saved are nowhere to be found in the Gallery.

Conclusion

I think m.Youtube.com is a better way to watch YouTube videos on my Nokia N95 than using the Video Centre application, but it is still not perfect.

• Pros: More videos than Video Centre. Includes descriptions.
• Cons: Not all Youtube videos are available. Annoying “save me” question when closing videos.