uTorrent 2.0 Hits Beta, Adds New Features
The development process of the Windows version of uTorrent, the free torrent client developed by BitTorrent Inc, has reached a new milestone: uTorrent 2.0 Beta. The stable version of uTorrent, the Windows version, comes with the official tag of uTorrent 1.8.3; so far we knew that the development team behind the software app was working on uTorrent 1.9 Alpha for Windows, but it seems that they packed so many features into the torrent client that its version number had to knocked up a bit as it reached the Beta milestone. Hence uTorrent 2.0 Beta instead of uTorrent 1.9 Beta.
So what are these new features that have been added to uTorrent 2.0 Beta? Here’s a detailed look:
UDP tracker support
Previous versions of uTorrent did not provide support for UDP trackers, which was a shame as these tracker communication protocols put less strain in the torrent tracker. With the implementation of UDP tracker support, torrent trackers will be able to support more users (less processing power required to support users means you can use the same hardware to provide support for more of them).
Enhanced uTP
Several bugs have been fixed since the Alpha and uTP performance has been improved – this means uTorrent is better suited to regulate its bandwidth usage so that it does not impact your internet connection in a negative way. On top of this, uTP is no longer displayed (or hidden, as the uTorrent team said) in the Advanced settings.
Setup dialog improvements
The development team behind uTorrent has overhauled the setup dialog: you can now use it easier and take advantage of a built-in speed test. These are only the first revisions of the setup dialog; work on it is not complete.
New transfer cap
In order to track bandwidth usage, a new transfer cap has been implemented. The uTorrent team explains: “The transfer cap settings were added in response to various users who have ISP-mandated caps on how much data they can download/upload in a month. Now you can track your usage in MB (with a handy graph to visualize it) and even configure µTorrent to stop torrenting once the limits are exceeded. Currently, you can configure the time interval, the data cap and whether it should stop based on only download, upload, or both combined.”
If you would like to get uTorrent 2.0 Beta, a download location is available here.
So what are these new features that have been added to uTorrent 2.0 Beta? Here’s a detailed look:
UDP tracker support
Previous versions of uTorrent did not provide support for UDP trackers, which was a shame as these tracker communication protocols put less strain in the torrent tracker. With the implementation of UDP tracker support, torrent trackers will be able to support more users (less processing power required to support users means you can use the same hardware to provide support for more of them).
Enhanced uTP
Several bugs have been fixed since the Alpha and uTP performance has been improved – this means uTorrent is better suited to regulate its bandwidth usage so that it does not impact your internet connection in a negative way. On top of this, uTP is no longer displayed (or hidden, as the uTorrent team said) in the Advanced settings.
Setup dialog improvements
The development team behind uTorrent has overhauled the setup dialog: you can now use it easier and take advantage of a built-in speed test. These are only the first revisions of the setup dialog; work on it is not complete.
New transfer cap
In order to track bandwidth usage, a new transfer cap has been implemented. The uTorrent team explains: “The transfer cap settings were added in response to various users who have ISP-mandated caps on how much data they can download/upload in a month. Now you can track your usage in MB (with a handy graph to visualize it) and even configure µTorrent to stop torrenting once the limits are exceeded. Currently, you can configure the time interval, the data cap and whether it should stop based on only download, upload, or both combined.”
If you would like to get uTorrent 2.0 Beta, a download location is available here.
