Avot mV is a free application and service that makes it easier to find, view and bookmark video clips on your mobile phone. The service aggregates video from several sources, including MySpace Video, ESPN, Youtube, DailyMotion, ABC and 5min.com, and optimizes them for mobile phone viewing. I tested the Avot Media on my iPhone and Samsung BlackJack and had very mixed results.
Getting video on your mobile device can be a frustrating process. Wireless carriers restrict what content makes it onto their networks and streaming web videos directly from video sharing web sites is impossible on many popular devices, including the iPhone. With Avot mV, users can find videos from across the web and bookmark them.
Avot Media sponsored this review to get our feedback on its mobile video application. Unfortunately, we are unable to get the Avot mV application to function on our Samsung BlackJack, even though it’s in the company’s list of compatible mobile devices. I downloaded the Avot mV application for Windows Mobile 5.0 for the Samsung Blackjack and it appeared to install correctly. After launching the Avot mV app I got several database errors, rendering it useless. I’m not sure if this problem is limited to the BlackJack, but it was a frustrating first encounter with the service.
I then tried to use te Avot mV service on my iPhone and had a much better experience. Instead of downloading anything, Avot mV runs as a web application on the iPhone and was instantly accessible. I connected to my WiFi network and used Safari to get to the Avot Mobile Site. I was greeted by a menu bar and 24 video thumbnails. The search function is particularly useful and searches while you type.
I found a music video of Eric Clapton’s Tears from Heaven under the popular channel. A press on the play button started loading the video in portrait mode. Rotating the screen made the video appear full screen, with all of the usual iPhone video controls. The video loaded quickly and looked great on the screen and the audio was as good as can be expected from streaming video sharing sites.
When I disabled WiFi on my iPhone things didn’t work out as well. Loading videos was dreadfully slow on the iPhone’s EDGE data connection. After waiting for a video to load for several minutes I gave up. Avot says users should be able to view videos over EDGE, but it’s a very frustrating experience and iPhone users are better off using the built-in YouTube app, which is much more functional than Avot mV over EDGE.
The service is promising, but the Avot mV is still in beta and needs improvement. The channels are very sparse and Avot really needs to add more relevant content to them. The business channel for example only has 15 videos in it and were off topic- including a one-second long clip of what looked like a personal-injury lawyer ad. The company also needs to improve its Popular page, which now only has a few music videos and nothing from any other category.
Check out the below video demos.
Pros: Multiple Video Sites on Your Phone, Free, Video Looks Great on the iPhone
Cons: EDGE is too Slow, Installation of Client on Windows Mobile Samsung BlackJack didn’t work, channels and favorites need improvement.
Demo Videos:
via Avot Blog