Major apps are flooding their way onto the Windows 10 platform. Last week we went hands-on with the new Facebook Messenger app. This week, we welcome the official Vine app for Windows 10 PCs and tablets.
The app’s layout at first seems straightforward and typical Universal app, with distinct menu icons on the left, and a content section on the right. However, one thing you have to be mindful of is the button on the top right, which alternates between a Grid button, which gives you access to all the videos in the given category, and the TV button, which focuses on the video itself, and shows all the information on the right, with buttons to like, discuss, and share the video found on the bottom of the right pane.
Regardless of which view you’re currently in, hovering your mouse cursor over the video will play the video. However, the way this app handles video looping is quite delicate.
In the TV view, when you have the mouse hovering over the video itself, or on one of the action buttons on the bottom right, you’ll see a looping indicator on the bottom of the video, indicating the 6 second clip is looping. The moment your cursor does a prison break however, and the video will skip to the next one. And the next one. And the next one. Too quickly for you to enjoy.
Where you position your mouse is extremely important, because it plays a pivotal role in deciding the fate of the universe. If a video you want to watch skips itself, the button to back to the previous video is found not on the right or left of the video pain, but on the top and bottom.
Now, by clicking on the video you can pause the video, but that kind of kills the experience.
On the left, you can find buttons for your own profile page, your activity wall, and a search button which gives you a very limited search capabilities. You can also upload videos from the app as well.
It’s great that Windows 10 is getting the official Vine app, and from what I can tell, it seems to be bug-free unlike many of the other new big player apps coming to the platform, but it’s also kind of pain to use. On the desktop, the behavior is extremely delicate, exacerbated by the fact that you have to jump from one side of the app to the other just to enjoy video looping correctly.
No matter what though, the circle is complete, with official Vine apps on both Windows 10, and Windows 10 Mobile.
