youtube phone app double tap to skip or rewind by 10 seconds

As someone who often watches videos on youtube before falling asleep, I recently discovered the new feature Youtube had added which allows user to easily navigate through videos. Now, if you double tap on the right side or the left side of the screen it would fast forward by 10 seconds or rewind by 10 seconds respectively. 

Apparently, according to on of the sources, there was evidence of this feature in late 2015 where it was originally designed to be shown as double-arrow buttons. But it was removed and it was not available to every user. Only, recently had it been release to every platform. 

In my opinion, this feature really helps navigation in the videos, since I often watch videos and i often impatiently skip the parts i don't find interesting. With the double tap in effect, I dont have to scroll manually with my finger and be afraid that i scrolled to far or not far enough. Also because it is only 10 seconds, I feel like it is a very appropriate length to skip by for the average youtube video which is often 10-20 minutes long. However, according to some sources, there are a certain amount of users who found it annoying, reporting that it slowed down the interface and made it difficult to go in and out of full screen mode. 

As i mentioned earlier, i really do like this add on, however i do think that there is this slight limitations in which it is only usable when the video is on full screen mode. However it is not a big deal because not many people watch videos not on fullscreen especially on their smart phones. This could possibly prevent people from accidentally fast forwarding the video or rewinding it instead of going to the next video on the playlist. 

In conclusion, as a frequent user of the Youtube app on the smart phone. I really rate this new add on. It did very much improve the convenience of navigating through the videos. Being slight impatient, this add on had been very useful to me. Hopefully, this function could be added on to different video players as well in the near future. 


Bibliography:

• http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/02/06/youtube-officially-enables-double-tap-gesture-to-jump-10-seconds-forward-or-backward/
• https://thenextweb.com/google/2017/02/03/youtube-fast-forward-backward-double-tap/#.tnw_Q4uY9Oh9
• http://www.techtimes.com/articles/195905/20170203/youtube-rolls-out-double-tap-function-fast-forward-rewind-videos.htm
• https://www.xda-developers.com/psa-double-tap-to-fast-forward-rolling-out-to-youtube-app-on-android/

Annoying Whatsapp links to phone number

For someone like me who travels back and forth from Canada and Hong Kong, Whatsapp is extremely inconvenient. The reason why Whatsapp is so inconvenient and frustrating to use is because you have to verify your account with your phone number. So let's say i have an account registered under my Hong Kong phone number, whenever i change back to my Toronto phone number or change my phone it prompts me for a verification code that is sent via sms text to my Hong Kong Number. Without roaming, I am unable to access that code using my Hong Kong sim card in Canada. The worst thing is, there isn't much of a way around this. I've seen people using apps that generate fake numbers and have to go through countless and complicated step just to receive the text in order to verify their account and use it.

Personally, I used to use Whatsapp a lot. It was my primary way of communication to friends and family. Ever since i couldn't get my verification code and had to create another account I stopped using this app on an often basis. This app is not created for people who travels a lot or lives in multiple countries through the year. Unfortunately, I appear to be one of them and unfortunately for them, many are on the same boat as I am.

After being frustrated from Whatsapp, I realised there are many alternatives to it. And I mean better alternatives. An app which really surprised me on how good it is would be Wechat. Another messenger app with a lot more functions. Unlike Whatsapp, Wechat does not use your phone number to verify your account. It is a lot more convenient to use for someone who travels and it is significantly superior to Whatsapp in my opinion. There are a couple of features which make wechat better for me as a user and i will talk about these features later on in my blogs. So stay tuned!