Recording and publishing video has become incredibly easy in the last couple of years. Services like YouTube and Vimeo provide great places to share our professional and amateur videos alike. High definition video capture is built into many smartphones (iPhone 4 included) so we have a high quality camera with us all the time ready to capture whenever the moment calls.
Vimeo is a fantastic platform for sharing video and they have recently released an accompanying iPhone application. The app aims to be a full companion to the website while offering some services which utilize the hardware of the iPhone itself. It seems like a perfect place for Vimeo to be, but does their app do everything we hope it does? Let’s find out.
Design and Interface
Vimeo is known for it’s beautifully designed website. Their style is one of class, simplicity and functionality and it is quite apparent in their iPhone application as well. You definitely feel like you are working with Vimeo while using the application.
The application is capable of quite a lot with almost no functionality lost from their website. It would be easy to end up with a cluttered, difficult-to-use app while trying to offer this amount of functionality in such a small package, but Vimeo has done a great job avoiding this.
Vimeo design and interface
The interface combines the classic Vimeo style with the expected iPhone application functionality. The core areas of the app can be found in a navigation bar at the bottom of the display. Context-specific navigation appears where it makes sense at the top of the display. In short, the application is intuitive and is very simple to use.
Functionality
As I mentioned, Vimeo was able to pack in nearly all of the functionality you’d find on their website into this application. The camera and touch interface of the iPhone has provided some new functionality as well. You’re able to see your own Vimeo videos along with browsing and watching those of others. You can also “like” videos or mark to watch later along with commenting on them. The new features allow you to record video and edit video right within the application.
Browse & Watch
A big part of the Vimeo service is browsing and exploring their huge video library. I’ll admit, I’m not much of a film maker so I primarily use Vimeo to find and watch interesting films. Browsing on the website is a great experience, and though not exactly the same, the experience on the iPhone application is still excellent.
Under the section My Stuff you’ll find your Inbox as you would on the website along with subscriptions to your Watch Later and My Likes channels. The videos are displayed in a list with each entry showing a thumbnail of the film, the title and creator along with the channel in which it lives and how long ago it was uploaded. All lists of videos are shown like this throughout the application and are easy to quickly flip through.
My Stuff – showing the Inbox and Watch Later lists
The Browse section will show you a list of eleven (at the time of this review) categories to browse through. I’m not positive where these categories come from, but it appears that they may be chosen and curated by the Vimeo staff and may change over time. Whatever the case, it is a simple way to discover new films within the application and it would carry much of the same function as Discover on the Vimeo website.
I was expecting the film discovery functionality to be really cumbersome in such a small form factor. While you don’t have access to the entire film library and you won’t be able to do any serious searching, it is a really nice way to discover some really fantastic films. For casual browsing, which is what you’ll most likely be doing on your phone, it works very well.
Browse to a video and view its details
Viewing videos is obviously an important part of the Vimeo application and the experience is great. After choosing a video to watch you’ll see a large screenshot of the video with options to add to your watch later list or your like list and of course the option to play it. You’ll also see the details of the video and can also post a comment if you would like.
Watching a video in portrait mode with controls showing
When you play a video you’ll be taken to full screen mode. The video will adjust depending on the orientation of the phone. Video controls will disappear after a few sections and will reappear when you touch. Watching videos in full screen landscape view on the retina display of an iPhone 4 is just fantastic.
Watching a video in landscape mode
Shoot & Edit
The Vimeo application adds some new features and functionality to the product by taking advantage of the iPhone hardware. You are able to shoot video from within the application itself. Under the Recordings menu, you’ll see an option to record a new video. Selecting the camera icon will take you to the video camera, which is similar to the camera app. Record your video and it it will be saved within the application.
It’s possible to then quickly upload your video to your Vimeo account. You may, however, want to take advantage of the video editing functionality to make some quick adjustments before you upload. All of your videos and video projects will be shown in thumbnail view. Selecting one will take you the details page and from here you’re able to hop into the video editor.
View all your recordings and projects (press and hold to delete)
The video editor is basic and pretty simple to use. You can make some quick cuts, add titles and transitions and things of that nature. The touch interface is really great for working with video. While you won’t be making any major edits, it will allow you to do some basic video production and upload straight to Vimeo. It seems like a perfect fit for working on some vacation video while you’re still on the road.
Video editor
Once you have your video ready, it’s simple to upload it to Vimeo. You’ll be able to see a listing of all of your videos under the My Videos section. It looks just like other listings. It is also possible to download your videos to the device so you can use the application editor if you’d like. It is also possible to upload videos from your cameral roll from here as well.
My Videos showing video details and options on what you can do with it
Conclusion
Vimeo is a wonderful video sharing service and this iPhone application is a fantastic complement to it. The mere act of sharing and browsing would have been enough to make this a useful application, but the addition of creating and editing video on top of that really makes this a must have app for Vimeo users. I did have some random crashes while using the app, but it wasn’t enough to be of any real issue and I’m guessing something that will be addressed in an upcoming update.
The application is free so if you are a regular Vimeo user this app is a no-brainer. Even if you are not, I would recommend checking it out if you have any interest in video. Creating, editing and producing video all from your pocket is something that will appeal to a lot of people and Vimeo has done an excellent job of creating this package.