YouTube for Android updated, now precaches your favourite videos

Through the massive electronic extravaganza that was the Google I/O 2012 Keynote, many products and upgrades were revealed to us. Because of the sheer number of changes introduced by Google, some particular changes were pushed to the fringes. One such launch was the new and updated YouTube app for Android.

The new YouTube has been updated with a host of new features but the user will need to use an OS of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or above for smartphones and Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) or above for tablets to be able to experience these new changes.

With the new update, the YouTube app now preloads the videos in your subscribed Channel list when the device is using Wi-Fi network and even when it is being charged. That saves up the buffer time but obviously adds to the user cache.

On the left side in the app is present the subscribed Channel list with instant access through a swipe gesture. All you have to do is select "preload" in the settings menu and YouTube will automatically download videos from your subscriptions and your "Watch Later" queue when plugged in and on Wi-Fi.

Android users will be able to spot the downloaded videos by a small green arrow in the corner of the screen. However, to actually view them later you will still need to be online, but they will load instantly from the device's storage instead of streaming. So the app cannot be completely called "offline", unlike the updated Google Maps feature.

Another feature which has been integrated into YouTube is the remote functionality feature, which controls playback on connected TVs and other devices. This is said to be much more than just Google TV, as Google tells us to expect further updates later on as it becomes more broadly available.

The new YouTube can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store here.