Native YouTube playback gets updated for Windows Phone

News
By Daniel Rubino
published

Looks like those cats at YouTube are doing some background changes to their player. Although the "player" aka browser app for Windows Phone is still at a paltry v1.0, the actual streaming handled via HTML5 seems to be now more robust.

Take a gander at our screenshot above and you can now see the "HQ" option now shows up. As a result, the quality has dramatically improved to the point that we could actually, you know, use it. Sure, it's no YouTube Pro but for the occasional use, we're happier with this level of playback than the previous version. Anyone else noticing the changes?

Thanks, parthp90, for the tip

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.