Babelgum review

Will Mathieson

We review Babelgum, a Youtube alternative that's great for wasting time on your iPhone

Published on Sep 3, 2009

Babelgum allows you to watch streamed video footage, including interviews, documentary footage, movie trailers and music videos.

It acts as a more personalised version of Youtube, grouping certain types of video together for easy access. You can select between categories, including music and film, with the most popular videos of each type subsequently displayed. The app also remembers your favourite clips, displaying them when you start the program.

This most recent version of Babelgum, version 0.9.1, boasts a wealth of updates and improvements on previous versions that boost its accessibility. The interface has been hugely improved - providing greater fluidity, quicker results, and faster buffering times.

For the first time on Babelgum, you can move to any point in a clip by touching the time bar. Updates for the app are now sent as alerts, automatically. The various dialogue boxes on screen are far easier to use where, in previous versions, they could be difficult to highlight. This is especially noticeable with regards the ‘invite’ box. It is now really easy to invite friends to view a clip, as your details are stored in the various boxes. You can now also write a short personal message.

Babelgum 0.9.1 automatically disables the screensaver when a video is played, ensuring that it is not interrupted at a crucial moment. You can also search for clips based on roles, or by publisher. And, finally, the upload times for each clip are now correct, unlike in previous versions.

Thanks to all these improvements, Babelgum is a pleasure to use. You can add any clips you like to your favourites, gradually building up a feature-length compendium. Although the format is very similar to Youtube, the clips seem to be categorised in a far more logical and user-friendly way.

A particularly fun feature is the ‘Shuffle’ function: you select a category, click ‘shuffle’ and have a clip selected for you at random. This means that you come across clips that you would never normally have seen.

The only major drawback to Babelgum is the quality of connection required to play videos at a normal speed. Without an excellent signal, clips tend to stutter along in an unwatchable manner.

Because Babelgum is free of charge, it should be an essential download for any iPhone user. Although similar to Youtube, it offers an enjoyable way of passing the time on the move.