[APP] Metro Browser [V] 1.7 - Updated 11/1/2011

[Marvin_S]

First post updated with screenshots of the upcomming release!

 

[gremmmy]

Looking good so far! Can't wait to try out the new release

 

[xflier]

I tried it for a few days. Below is my feedback. Forgive me if I am mistake with anything or something pointed already.

1. UI is little messy, it took me a while to figure out how to get the video to play.
2. search box is too small, I need to zoom it several times before starting input texts.
3. new videos works, but old videos give codec error.
4. no refresh button, sometimes it stuck, had to start from beginning.
5. no way to save the pages, there is a history which helps little, still not very convenient.
6. sometimes the web page doesn't work, mayber server was down.

by no means, I meant it is bad, actually, I like it very much, it is very promising. Just needs some polish here and there.

Good work!

 

[Marvin_S]

Thank you

1&2 is a website we used for testing. It is a browser so it just renders websites as how they are and it is by no means a video only app. If you dont like that UI, you can type in a different url.
We will release it with google or bing as default, so it can pass the MP.

3 WP7 devices can not decode that videos codec... Thats not in our hands unfortunately and by no means an issue/bug, its a platform limitation. Not all flv files use the same codec (actually flv can contain like 8 codecs) and WP7 only supports the standard codec, the others are at least a decade old and too inefficient.

All other points have been fixed in the next version! Check the screenshots hisory/favorites are implemented.

If you want a video to play just navigate to a megavideo (or one of the other supported websites) an easy website for testing is videobull.com

 

[xflier]

thanks for your reply. looking forward to the first release.

 

[swamimahesh]

Try this one

Guys try this program

http://www.windowsphone.com/it-IT/apps/ff811366-4d1b-42be-9254-d9f6f3dd3e8e

It's browser is same thing it can play flash video on megavideo, videobb etc.

 

[Marvin_S]

Guys try this program

It's browser is same thing it can play flash video on megavideo, videobb etc.

Thank you, but ours is a much better alternative! And will also enter the marketplace soon to go head to head with that app.

 

[Marvin_S]

We are nearing a release. Ill have an exam this friday, the weekend after ill try to wrap it all up for a first release and publish it in the marketplace for next week, lets hope all goes well and it will be there for all of you soon!

Here is a little teaser:

 

[xflier]

Man, can't wait for the release.

BTW, one question, does it support other video format like AVI file? I saw an error for AVI file though.

 

[Marvin_S]

Man, can't wait for the release.

BTW, one question, does it support other video format like AVI file? I saw an error for AVI file though.

It does not support avi. What file did u try to play? It might in the future, but not a priority now.

Can you please enlighten wat error you saw? The app redirects a lot so even if u see avi it does not mean it will actually attempt to play an avi

But please post what error and what link than I can investigate.

If its the unsupported codec error, than this is clear wp7 hardware does not support the videos codec. This is a problem with older files, which is a bummer of course. Avi itself is not implemented, so if u decide to play an avi it will be rerouted to ie9 mobile and ie will tell you can not play this type of file.

 

[xflier]

yes, it is codec error. One day, I tried Nikita 1st season and 1st episode, I thought it is pretty new show. Unfortunately, it threw me that error.

Later, I actually download it from the same link, it is an AVI file, and I could play it in Zune.

I saw an article from wpcentral that as long as Zune could play, WP7 should be able to play. Maybe I got it wrong.

Edit: Actually, I sync'ed it to my phone, phone could play it without any problem.

 

[Marvin_S]

yes, it is codec error. One day, I tried Nikita 1st season and 1st episode, I thought it is pretty new show. Unfortunately, it threw me that error.

Later, I actually download it from the same link, it is an AVI file, and I could play it in Zune.

I saw an article from wpcentral that as long as Zune could play, WP7 should be able to play. Maybe I got it wrong.

Edit: Actually, I sync'ed it to my phone, phone could play it without any problem.

Yes our app does not play AVI indeed, I told you we use some redirections. So we are not taking the AVI, we find other files instead (this happens in the background). So idk why you ask about AVI, but ill explain why it will not work:

The wpcentral's statement is only partly true, but in this context wrong. Zune on the pc will CONVERT the AVI to a file your phone can play (I believe h264 mp4). Your phone can not natively play AVI (try f/e downloading it straight trough ie9 mobile it will not work, you will get the error message... can not play this video format). Zune runs on a pc with many more codecs so it can decode these files (and it still takes an hour to convert a film....) ours does everything real time, on the device, so we can only use supported codecs of the phone. Converting video's real time to a different codec is out of the question (if that is what you are wondering) thats pretty much impossible, if not, too slow to be actually watchable.

Unfortunately the codecs wp7 hardware can decode is not in our hands. You will have to complain to Microsoft for not supporting it. Or to that website for using a crappy codec

Whether this show is new or not does not really matter also, it depends solely on when the video has been uploaded and when the host switched to a newer codec variant. I have found I could play videos from 2007/2008 (don't remember exactly), if you send me the link I can check it out for you and give you the exact specifications of the file Metro Browser attempts to play, so you can reference it against the WP7 supported codecs. But I'm afraid there is nothing we can do about it... thats why the error is there, it is just unsupported because your phone does not support it.

We can not guarantee that this will change anytime soon; still the majority is watchable and all new video's are encoded with the proper codecs, so there are plenty of video's and shows out there to watch still and all new episodes will be supported. However we have some ideas which we might try but they are not of a priority right now.

The main priority is getting the app out and this will happen really soon

I hope to have answered your questions regarding the limitations (we've already addressed this before), if you have any futher questions feel free to ask. Thank you for taking the time of testing our app!

Regards

 

[xflier]

Thank you so much answer my question. Really appreciate your time. I was just curious. I am really looking forward your first release!

Thanks again!

 

[boki_thegame]

i would like to test it.

Thanks

 

[es_bih]

I would like to get your beta as well and test it out please. Looks great.

 

[NoMercyWWE]

i would like to test it! thank you very much!

 

[mautz001]

hey .)

I would also like to test it on my HTC HD2

Thanks

Robin

 

[Marvin_S]

As been said,

Sorry all, no more testers are needed. We understand you all would like to test the app and we appreciate all the demand
However to make things go as smoothly as possible we would like to have te latest version available to all of you, instead of releasing old beta's.

We are nearing the completion of our first stable release...

Some major improvements have been made:
- Youtube support (!); unfortunately the mobile website will not work only the full site works, because the mobile site is too hard to rerender for us. We will try to fix this in a later build. However embedded videos will work as well as the full desktop version.
- Lots of features and usability improvements (tap and hold to save images etc.)
- Several bugs have been fixed


On the to do list for the version after this release:
- Tabs
- Some more video websites
- Improving overall stability
- Find on Page.


We expect the release to be ready in a couple of days and than hopefully it will pass the marketplace several days later. We hope to send it in before monday, testing will take a day or 2/3 in general so if all goes well it should arrive somewhere next week.

Sorry to keep you all waiting, but it will be worth the wait!

Thank you all.

Regards,

Marvin

 

[Marvin_S]

YES!

We have submitted Metro Browser for certification!

The first version is officially ready and submitted, and with a good bit of luck it will reach the Market Place soon.

The first post is updated with some more info.

Pretty much everything you can think of has been improved!



Youtube is now fully supported (even VeVo and **** we dont care!)
Tap and hold context menu is implemented, as well as embedded youtube vids.
Some 18 plus websites are supported as well (p***hub and megap***).
Desktop view is improved (which is not natively supported by wp7, thus still a hacky implementation).
Search directly from the addressbar on Google, Bing and YouTube!

Slide to reveal addressbar behaviour has been improved, Logo's has been designed etc. A lot of good stuff in this release! We hope you all will be able to enjoy it asap! The app will be free with ad's and 1.99 euro/dollars for the Pro (ad free) version, which in the future will get extra features.

 

[Ttblondey]

can i try your beta?