Although I’ll watch the occasional television show on my iPad, it’s rare that I sit down and actually view more than the odd video clip. That will change now that I have Squrl Video Discovery, a universal app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Yes, it’s that good.
Squrl is a powerfully fast video aggregator, pulling content across multiple categories from a variety of sites. Although you can set up an account, Squrl doesn’t require credentials to use the app, which, of course, makes me like it even more. Squrl works equally well on iPhone and iPad, but I prefer the latter simply for screen real estate. Squrl also supports both landscape and portrait viewing.
Once you’re in the app—it provides a helpful tutorial at startup—you can browse through available channels and add them to your favorites. There is a vast selection of content providers within each category. This includes sites you might not readily think of when it comes to video content, such as Elle magazine. You can also view the fresh and what’s hot channels for new and popular content.
Squrl makes great use of iOS gestures such as a tapping a clip for more options, such as liking or sharing, and pinch-pulling a clip into full screen. Overall, the user interface is top notch. In addition to its integrated channels, you can also connect the app with social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Netflix, and view this content in-app as well. Bookmarklet support means you can add videos to the Squrl queue directly from your browser.
I think Squrl’s vast marketplace of free content makes it a game changer for the way people watch video. It’s ease of use—and its free price tag—makes this download a no-brainer.
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