In the great Twitter live-streaming video war of 2015, it's likely only one app will be known through the ages as the victor. So which will it be: Meerkat -- the one that started it all -- or Twitter-backed Periscope? After a hands-on test of both, the answer quickly became apparent.

Meerkat vs. Periscope: To The Victor Go the Streams

Meerkat started the whole live-streaming social video craze with its breakout appearance at SxSW 2015 in Austin, Texas earlier this year. That was right around the time Twitter closed its social graph to Meerkat -- thus closing its regularly available database of available streams -- as it launched its own previously acquired competitor, Periscope.

From there, the race was on, with Meerkat striving to break out onto more platforms faster than Periscope, all while having its promising start hobbled by an angry, paranoid Twitter-god. Trying out both on Android (both apps are now available on iOS and Android), it quickly became obvious that, without access to all the streams it needs, Meerkat simply can't compete.

Meerkat allows you to find broadcasts from people you follow on Twitter, or on the flip side, start your own live-stream that will show up on your followers' Meerkat notifications. During a stream, you can see how many people are watching, and if you're the viewer, you can like or comment on the stream.

Meerkat also allows you to notify people ahead of time that you've scheduled a stream for later, which is probably the best method to use if you want to find viewers for your broadcasts. That's because with Meerkat's limited access to Twitter's social graph, live notifications aren't as reliable, and no one is going to pick up on your stream simply from browsing -- because beyond a handful of "community picks" available on the main stream, browsing is more or less nonexistent for Meerkat.