Phenquestions
Amazon launched its Amazon Prime Video for Windows application this month officially for Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system. Windows 10 users may download the application from the Microsoft Store and use it provided that they have an Amazon Prime account.
One question that may come to the mind of Amazon Prime customers is if the application differs from using Amazon Prime Video on a PC or other device. The short answer is that there are major differences that may persuade customers to use the application.
The application installs without issues from the Microsoft Store. It prompts you to select a region and to sign-in to an Amazon Prime account to start using it.
The frontpage displays the usual assortment of shows and movies including user selected or watched content.
You can watch any show or movie with a handful of clicks, use the built-in search to find content, or browse categories or channels.
Prime Video Channels are subscription-based add-ons that you may subscribe to; these channels increase the number of videos and shows that you have access to. Categories separates the list of content by shows, movies, 4K UHD, deals and other content.
The main difference between watching Amazon Prime Video in a browser and the Amazon Prime Video app for Windows is that the latter supports downloads while the former does not. You may want to open the Settings before you start downloads as you may change the desired video quality there.
The default value is set to better and uses about 1.1 Gigabytes of storage for every hour of playback. You can improve the video quality by selecting best; doing so increases the data size to 2.4 Gigabytes. Users with slow Internet connections may also reduce the quality to good to decrease the quality and the data per hour to 0.5 Gigabytes.
There is no option currently to change the download location. The app picks the default partition for that and if you are low on space, you will not be able to download a lot using the app.
Downloads work surprisingly well. Just select the "download" option when you select a movie or TV show. Even better, for TV shows, it is possible to download an entire season from the season overview page.
The download button changes to "downloading" automatically when you activate it. It includes a pause button to pause the transfer, but there is no option to control the download in any other way. Options to change or monitor transfer rates are not provided. The pause button acts as a download status indicator as it is filled as the download progresses.
You find all downloaded content under downloads. There you may also delete downloads or search for additional episodes if available.
Pros/Cons of the Amazon Prime Video for Windows 10 app
- Pro: Easy to use
- Pro: You can download single episodes or movies, and entire seasons.
- Con: You cannot change the content's language.
- Con: You cannot change the download path.
- Con: You get just a few settings and little control over downloads or streams.
Closing Words
The Amazon Prime Video app for Windows worked well during tests. Its main advantage is that it allows you to download videos to the local device to watch them while offline. Downside is that it lacks controls and options, but it is possible that Amazon is going to add some of the missing options to the app eventually.
Now You: Do you use streaming apps on your devices?
