Getting decent video content on to your smartphone has always been a bit of a chore. These days, thankfully, there's less of a need to trans-code (i.e. convert) video files as the range of formats and bit rates supported by the latest phones has become increasingly comprehensive. Symbian^3 is especially good in this regard, in our tests, we have found devices like the N8 and C6-01 are able to playback the majority of videos your throw at them.
However, this still leaves the problems of finding suitable video in the first place. You can, of course, side load content downloaded on a PC, but that's an extra step, and a lot of people don't connect their Symbian device to a PC very often. So what about downloading on the phone itself? Steve recently reviewed YouTube Downloader, which offers one possible solution. Another solution, concentrating on film trailers, is the recently released Nokia Trailers.
Nokia Trailers offers an easy way to download or stream the latest movie trailers. It's a slickly put together application, with a simple and intuitive interface. On opening the application you are presented with a carousel of film posters, with a cover flow like interaction and scrolling.
Currently, 29 different films are listed in Nokia Trailers. This is not a comprehensive listing, and there's no way of accessing older trailers. However, the majority of the latest big releases are available, and the application checks for updates every time it starts. That means the listings should stay up to date
In addition to the carousel view, there's more traditional list view, with accompanying film poster images, as shown below. It might not look quite so attractive, but it's more practical to use. In this view, it's faster to scan and scroll through the available trailers. For both views, it is possible to filter the listed movies by: recommended, in theatres, coming soon, recent additions, and all movies. This isn't really necessary given the number of trailers available, but does help narrow down what's likely to be on at the local multiplex, but the schedule seems to be based on US release dates
Touching a film poster or title takes you into a dedicated page for that film. There, you'll find a summary, basic cast and director listings, release dates and download information. Some films have multiple download options; e.g. Trailer 1, Trailer 2, etc. Each trailer can be streamed (play icon), shared (share icon) or downloaded. The streaming option is a nice extra, but in most cases it makes sense to download the trailer as you'll get a higher quality of video, and can watch it any time you like.
Most trailers offer two download options - standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD). If you've got an N8 or E7 the HD downloads gives you the option to playback the trailers in full HD resolution using the HDMI out cable, but in most cases SD resolution should be more than sufficient
The application includes a basic download manager. Here you can see which trailers you're currently downloading, as well as previously downloaded trailers. The application will only let you download one trailer at a time (download options are blanked out), which is a bit frustrating if you're looking to quickly grab a batch of content. The trailers themselves have been optimised for mobile usage - the file sizes are generally quite small (e.g. 40 MB for a 2:27 Transformers Trailer in HD) - which means that download times are short over a 3G or WiFi connection.
The download manager is always the easiest way to play back previsouly downloaded trailers; it launches the phone's built in video player. You also find all the videos listed in the built-in Videos application, under 'Other video clips
In one sense, Nokia Trailers is a limited application - after all, it only allows the download of a limited subset of content. However, this simplicity is its strength. Rather than overload you with options and content, it concentrates on one thing and executes it very well indeed. Ultimately, Nokia Trailers doesn't do anything that can't be achieved through side loading or a bit of mobile web browsing, but it does offer a much simpler way of doing it; getting mobile optimised movie trailers on your smartphone has never been easier.
Together with the clean design and intuitive interface, this makes it a recommended download for any movie buff, or those who want easy access to a few videos to show off to their friends when a 'compare your phone' session gets started next time you're down at the pub...
Nokia Trailers is compatible with Nokia N8, C7, C6-01, E7, X7 and E6
Click below to download
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