Facebook is working on bringing a couple of significant improvements to the video features for its Android app, something which has been a known weak point of the Facebook experience for quite some time now on the Android platform.
Now, the Android users of Facebook will finally be able to upload videos in High-Definition (HD) resolutions, a feature which arrived on the iOS platform nearly two years ago.
Upload Videos in HD
While the iOS app had already offered a toggle for uploading the videos in HD resolutions since a long time, the Facebook app on the Android platform has been woefully lacking this feature. Though there were reports doing the rounds that the option has been made available for Android almost a month ago, looks like the users have started to see it relatively just recently. So now, looks like Facebook has finally acknowledged the fact that even the Android users are people who care about the quality.
It was Android Police, a technical website, which had first noticed the option in the Facebook app’s Settings menu. The users will have to head to the Settings menu to find an option reading “Upload videos in HD” right beneath the option for uploading photos in HD. It is quite surprising that Facebook took such a long time to introduce this feature of HD videos, especially since the option for HD photos was there since a long time, and Android phones have been using HD techniques to shoot videos and even 4K videos since ages.
Picture-in-Picture Video Testing
Facebook has been testing the Picture-in-picture video, which in probability should be arriving soon to the app. This System-wide PIP video feature will require the users to give permission to Facebook to draw over other apps, which is very similar to what the Facebook Messenger needs for the Chat Heads.
Offline Viewing of Downloaded Videos
Facebook seems to be following the footsteps of Netflix and YouTube, as it is working on allowing the users to enjoy watching their favorite videos without having an active internet connection. That’s right! The social networking platform will be soon letting its users download videos so that they can watch the videos later while in the offline mode, similar to the offline video download feature that was launched recently by Netflix.
Selecting Video Playback Quality
Apart from introducing the new HD videos option to the Facebook video player in the app, the social media site is also looking at launching a feature where it will offer options for choosing explicit resolutions of the playback videos. Right on the heels of YouTube, Facebook will also provide options for the users to select the desired playback quality for their videos.
Easier Notifications Browsing
The new update has been added with options which will make it easy for the users to browse through all the notifications. Two arrows have been added to the individual notifications view, using which the users can easily flip up and down through the notifications, without having to go back to the top view of the Notifications section. This feature is sure to save the users a lot of time which might get consumed while browsing through the sea of notifications, all at just a click.
Floating Video Windows
Another feature that Facebook is testing with just a small batch of users is the floating video windows, which allows the users to watch the videos on Facebook while using other apps.
The feature of uploading HD videos has already been rolled out widely, but not completely. However, the other features are still in the testing stages and might probably be server-side updates. They are also expected to spread out soon to the public.