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How to View YouTube in High Quality with the Motorola Droid

I noticed in tech blogger Robert Scoble’s recent review of the Motorola Droid that many people are unaware that YouTube videos are set to a low quality setting by default on Verizon’s newest Android-powered phone.  I can’t say exactly why Motorola decided to do this (I’m sure the guy in charge of Verizon’s bandwidth was happy about it) – but it makes YouTube videos look really terrible.

Enabling high quality YouTube playback is very easy, but the option to enable it is hidden in a few menus.  It is mentioned in the “Getting Started” guide provided with the phone, but who reads those things, anyway?

Enabling High Quality YouTube

Step One: Touch the Menu button (it’s the touch-sensitive button with the series of parallel lines).  Then select the ‘More’ button.

droid-youtube-hq-op1Step Two: Select the ‘Watch in high quality’ option.  Your video will now reload in beautiful, high quality.

droid-youtube-hq-opt2It’s a bit of a surprise that high quality playback isn’t available by default, especially since one of the Droid’s biggest selling points is its 3.7″ high resolution screen.  Check out the comparison below:

Low Quality

Low Quality

High quality.

High quality



Related posts:

  1. How To: Automatically View YouTube Videos in HD and Resized to 720p
  2. Comparison: Motorola Droid vs. iPod Touch
  3. How to Remove Duplicate Facebook Entries from Motorola Droid Contacts
  4. First 48 Hours with the Motorla Droid
  5. How to Take Screenshots of an Android-based Phone

About the Author

Evan Wondrasek is the founding editor of Techerator and is currently studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of North Dakota. He enjoys web design, vanilla lattes, and all things tech.

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