After Knocking Live Video was rejected for inclusion in the Apple iTunes App Store because of its use of a private API, developer Brian Meechan appealed to Steve Jobs himself. And it worked. Jobs, or someone with enough overruling power anyway, ordered the app to be released for download.
With such a story and the potential to be an extremely innovative, game-changing piece of software I came into this review ready to love and embrace Knocking Live Video iPhone app (free), which is the first app of its kind to allow users to share live video instantly between iPhones (and second generation iPod Touches) using 3G or Wi-Fi.
Sadly, Knocking Live Video’s servers are getting absolutely hammered, and in my few days with the iPhone app, I was not able to stream video even once. To use the iPhone app, you need to register for an account. This is done in-app and was relatively painless for me. My recruited test friend (Knocking only streams video to other Knocking users), however, was unable to ever get past the register/login screen, instead getting a host of errors including already registered (yeah, by her) and login failed.
Adding friends and family to your Knocking list is an exercise in futility right now. Names can be added to your list only through the search function, instead of say, manually which would make much more sense. In addition to my friend’s registered name and my own, I tried searching for a few test accounts I had created. I found none. In theory, once you have users on your Knocking list, you can transmit video back and forth. If a user wants to send you a video, you’ll receive a push notification that they are knocking on your phone.
Version 1.1 is already in the works, and many of the app’s one-star iTunes App Store rating are due to vast traffic Knocking Live Video was clearly not ready to handle. Once the developer behind Knocking Live Video works out its kinks, the app’s rating will be worthy of revaluation, but how much it will improve remains to be seen.
