Socialcam

CNET Editors' review

by: Jaymar Cabebe on May 07, 2012

While Socialcam appears to be one of the better video-sharing apps on iOS, I certainly can't say the same about its sibling on the Android platform. After taking some time to review Socialcam for Android, I realized that the app is fraught with problems and in need of some major attention from its developers.

The first problem I encountered was that Socialcam on Android only offers you the option to log in using Facebook, and much of the time even that doesn't work. I tried logging in using two different accounts on two different devices and found this most basic of actions to be hit-or-miss, with the app force-closing or freezing on several occasions. This was not a good start, to say the least.

Once I was finally able to get into Socialcam, the problems continued. The app failed to load any user videos, except for a single promo piece published by Socialcam staff, which means I wasn't able to browse other users' content or find anyone interesting to follow. In other words, I wasn't able to interact with the community...at all. And from what I know, that is supposed to be a major part of the Socialcam experience.

Fortunately, Socialcam for Android was capable of shooting and sharing video -- but that's not saying much, considering that's the very minimum of what it should be able to do. Nevertheless, after all the problems, I was pleased that I could tap the camera icon, record video, and post to Socialcam fairly easily. The app also let me add a title, tag friends, and share on Facebook, Twitter, and other networks. Sure, it worked, but if that's the extent of Socialcam's capabilities on Android, then that's not a very compelling proposition. I can shoot and share video with tons of other apps, including my device's default camera.

Considering the app hasn't been updated since summer of last year, it's no wonder Socialcam for Android looks like such a bust. In fact, there isn't even a link to the Android app on Socialcam's site, which to me, suggests that it is nothing more than an afterthought to its developers.