Hyper review: a video magazine for people with busy lives

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I could literally spend hours on the Internet looking at funny, educational, and inspirational videos. However, I don’t have the luxury of spending hours on the Internet. I often miss a lot of the great content that comes out regularly.

Hyper is a video magazine for the iPad that pulls together a few of the top videos every day so you won’t end up going down the rabbit hole that is the Worldwide Web, unless you want to. We’ve got a hands-on app review of Hyper for you today.

Concept

The idea here is that less is more. And, it works. Sometimes, when browsing through dozens of websites, or scrolling through Reddit, a person can feel overwhelmed by the exacerbating amount of content. This app picks between six and 12 videos per day that the content team feels is the cream of the crop.

Design

Hyper is designed to look like a video magazine. Each day’s videos are displayed in thumbnails with five-second clips running. The name of the video, its running time, a small summary, and the original channels are all listed with each video. Tap one to watch it.

There is also a settings menu where you can access all previous Hyper editions. As of this writing, the company has 31 editions dating back to July 20.

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App Use

When you open Hyper, the newest edition will load up. Tap the tab to access today’s content. Then, pick a video and start watching. Videos range from one minute clips to engrossing 20 minute documentaries.

When it is over, you will be given the option to share the video on social networking sites, or directly through email and iMessage. You can also access more information about the video.

When you check out more about a video, you’ll read a blurb from Hyper’s team about it, plus a quick summary from the original upload and links to the channel’s other videos and other related websites. So, if you find something you really like, you can go directly to the channel to see more or even subscribe.

You can watch the video in either HD or SD. The videos default to auto, which determines your device’s specs and displays the content accordingly.

You can also scrub the video by dragging your finger anywhere across the screen left or right.

There is a recommendations feature, but from what I can tell, the content is limited enough and there isn’t a section that only shows videos based on your activities within the app.

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The Good

My favorite part about this app is its simplicity. I love having a limited number of videos available everyday. I don’t feel overwhelmed by too much content. Because there are so few videos available, I find myself watching every single one, instead of skipping over something that may not appeal to me at first glance. Multiple times, I’ve watched a video that didn’t seem very interesting at first, only to find out I really liked it.

The Bad

This app isn’t for everyone. If you already spend a lot of time digesting content regularly, many of these videos will seem outdated. They are picked by a group of people that simply watch videos all day and find the best ones for the next edition, which may be two days later.

Value

Hyper is free. There are no advertisements, and there doesn’t even seem to be any way to donate money to the company. Frankly, I don’t know how they plan to keep the app alive. That being said, the only cost is your personal time, which is minimal because there are never more than a dozen new videos each day.

Conclusion

I love how freeing Hyper is. I don’t feel bogged down by the vast content that the Internet pushes out every second of the day. If you tend to feel the same way, but still want to find a handful of quality videos every day, you’ll appreciate Hyper, too. This app is available on the iPad. Download it in the App Store today.

Related Apps

Hyper kind of reminds me of Flipboard, only exclusively for videos and with a minimalist aesthetic.

What do you think of this video magazine? Let us know in the comments below.