Some of the changes to the new YouTube App are great, but others just baffle me.
They made totally unnecessary changes just making the app more difficult to use.
The keyboard changed from the default device keyboard (QWERTY on my nVidia Shield) to ABCDEF. Not only this, but you need to go to a different screen for numbers. Typing something like "4K" into the search bar used to be so easy, now it's more time consuming ten fold. There is plenty of space for the numbers on the same screen too, and that's what gets me the most. It wouldn't be as bad if they used the space.
I get that having ABCDEF allows you to have the same keyboard across different locations, but just use the default device keyboard!
The video controls irk me even more... They removed the FF/REW buttons and replaced them with Next Video buttons. I've already skipped ahead quickly without wanting to. They moved the control to the video bar, which I can get used to... but left a TON of empty space below, and that bothers me. They removal of like/dislike adds a bunch of work. I usually like videos as it helps support the content creators, and now it's more difficult for no reason. It was two clicks to like a video before. Now, it's 7 or 8.
May not seem like a big deal, but it's just baffling. They cleaned it up and I'll admit it looks nice, but you can keep the like buttons, FF/REW buttons, and stock keyboard, and still have a clean design. In today's world simplicity is key and this seems like an unnecessary complication.
I do like the inclusion of the top bar in the home page. It's nice to be able to explore more of YouTube as opposed to staying in my own little corner, he bar itself to control the video isn't that bad once you get used to it, and the inclusion of a 4K icon is really nice as well. There was some issue with audio on 4K videos for me. This went away quickly so I attribute it to some weird network hiccup. I think if that keeps happening I'll roll it back because that's a big issue for me. I watch a lot of LTT videos in 4K, and another change they made was quality controls are MUCH more difficult to get to. I'm not even sure you can to be honest.
I really hope a future update brings back the default keyboard and changes the video control bar to include more buttons. This would make the app nearly perfect.
Let's not forget removing the ability to change channels. My default login has nothing on it. The update essentially wiped my system clean of everything. I reverted back to the old version almost immediately. I've been waiting years for a live streaming bug to be fixed with an update and when it finally is I have to immediately go back to the buggy version and continue to stream live video from my phone instead. Thanks google, what an update!