3GP Player 2011 1.1 Editor's review

Overview

Most of us know that functional video players that work and boast impressive features are hard to find. Will 3GP Player fulfill our needs? 3GP Player is certainly a choice you can make if you’re looking for a video player that supports formats such as 3GP, 3GPP2 MP4, MOV and AVI. Let’s see how it performs and analyze some of its features that allow smooth playback of your favorite videos. Moreover, it is a free software product!

Installation

The installation is very fast and the size of the setup kit is small (around 12 MB). As far as special requirements go, 3GP Player only works on the Windows XP, Vista and 7 operating systems, so keep this in mind! In terms of bundled programs, 3GP Player comes with a toolbar. As a result, you can opt to install the Reganam toolbar for Internet Explorer and FireFox.

Interface

The interface of 3GP Player is easy to use and intuitive. It is designed for beginners and you shouldn’t have any problems when you’re playing your videos. You have access to three widely-space icons that are located in the tool’s main windows. One icon is for loading your videos, one for Help and the third one contains 3GP links. It is a very simple to use program and a variety of video formats can be played with relative ease. A minus of the interface are the ads though.

Pros

The advantages of 3GP Player are very clear. Its main strength is the fact that it is a lightweight video player capable of playing a lot of the popular video formats on the PC. The video playback works great and the user experience feels very smooth. And the process is very simple as you merely drag and drop a video to the main window or use “Browse” and navigate to its location. We can’t deny the fact that it’s free probably adds to its merits.

Cons

Although its main goal is achieved without any functionality problems, 3GP Player has a few things that work against it. Firstly, the program’s sound effects are pretty irritating and the fact that these can’t be turned off is a grave mistake. Secondly, it’s a little bit annoying when a new window needs to be opened each time to display a new video. Moreover, if you drag the window around your desktop screen, the video hangs a bit. And the last bit that prevents 3GP Player to be truly great is the disappointing Help menu which comes with only a few sentences in it.

Alternatives 

There are definitely better alternatives than the 3GP Player out there. This list includes , , Real Time Player and many more. These programs are better than the 3GP Player because they support even more video formats and have better functionality on the whole. Of course, they are not all free as compared with the 3GP Player.

Conclusion

3GP Player is a rather mediocre video player that’s aimed at users who don’t have much knowledge about video playback and just want a fast, hustle free product. The ease of use is its main selling point and unfortunately, the only real strength of this tool.

Editor's rating:    Good

Requirements: Pentium