One of the greatest things about the burgeoning smartphone app market is all the apps, tools and games for movie lovers. Beyond just finding movie times and getting actor or director information, these apps can actually enhance the moviegoing experience itself by making it easier to manage your personal collections, rent movies online and even find out when it’s safe to skip out for a restroom break.With several hundred thousand apps in the App StoreApp Store
and Android MarketAndroid Market, it’s pretty tough to cover every app out there for movie fans. That’s why we’ve taken the time to try out and recommend 10 apps for movie addicts who want to get the most out of the movie watching experience.We tried to stay as platform neutral as possible, picking apps (or alternatives) for iPhoneiPhone
, AndroidAndroid
and BlackBerryBlackBerry Rocks! users. Feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments below.1. Movies/Movies HD – iPhone and iPad, Movie Collection for Android
-ray/downloaded movie collection? If you’re anything like me, it’s pretty massive. My problem is, I often forget which movies or TV shows I actually own. This leads to me rebuying stuff I already have. I know, I know, First World Problem. Fortunately, with smartphones, there is a First World Solution, too. A number of apps help you manage and keep track of your personal library and access those libraries on the go.Movies for iPhone [iTunes link] is $3.99 and it is as a great way to view your movie collection, plus it can use the iPhone camera to scan the UPC code from your DVD or Blu-ray discs. This will remind many Mac users of the fantastic Delicious Library app. You can even import your existing databases from movie collecting apps like Delicious Library, Collectorz or DVD Profiler.
At $4.99, Movies HD [iTunes link] is the iPad version of the app, which brings the feature set to a bigger device (sans UPC scanning, of course, due to the iPad’s lack of a camera) and makes it easy to add details or search your collection.
For Android owners, the $1.99 Movie Collection doesn’t have all the bells and whistles or database support types, but it’s a good start for movie collectors on the go.
2. Movies by Flixster – Android, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry
movie community has apps for iPhone, Android, Palm Pre, BlackBerry and mobile web enabled phones.If you’re not familiar with Flixster, it’s a great community for rating movies, getting showtimes, watching trailers, seeing what your friends think of movies, seeing the Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
score and, on the iPhone and Android apps, managing your Netflix queue.3. IMDb – Android, iPhone, iPad
Last December, IMDbimdb
finally managed to release an official mobile app for iPhone, making the mobile browsing experience of finding “who was the guy in this episode of CSI: Miami” a little less painful.When the iPad was released, IMDb made its iOS app universal [iTunes link], taking advantage of the new screen real estate on the iPad. This summer, IMDb for Android was released, completing the trifecta, so to speak.
The mobile apps offer a superior browsing experience while on a mobile device and also make it easy to get information about showtimes for movies or TV shows.
4. Turner Classic Movies – Android, iPhone, BlackBerry App World
In the ensuing months, TCM has managed to release the app for Android Market and BlackBerry App World as well. The app is $2.99 on each platform but offers the same solid experience of schedules, photos, trivia, movie history, photos and more. If you love classic movies, definitely add this one to your collection.
5. Get Glue – iPhone, iPad, Android
For movie fans, the great thing about the GetGlue apps is that you can get recommendations from the service based on your likes, see what your friends like and also earn points and stickers toward upcoming movies.
It’s a great way to augment the movie-watching experience.
6. LOVEFiLM UK for iPhone, droids LOVEFiLM for Android
is the movie rental service of movie rental services.If you’re looking for a way to manage your LOVEFiLM queue on an iPhone or Android phone, you’re in luck.
The iPhone has an official LOVEFiLM app [iTunes link] that lets you manage your queue, rate titles and watch trailers. The unofficial droids LOVEFiLM isn’t as pretty and it doesn’t let you manage your rentals unless you buy the paid version, but it still does the job.
7. iPhlix for iPhone, iPhlix HD for iPad, NetQ or PhoneFlicks for Android
Fortunately, there are tons of Netflix queue management mobile apps on the market. I’ve tried most of them for iPhone and my favorite continues to be iPhlix [iTunes link]. At $2.99, this is just the most consistent app, in my experience, and it makes it easy to manage your discs or Instant Queue, while also letting you rate movies, see new releases and more.
The iPad version is $4.99 and really takes advantage of the larger screen size by making it easier to rate movies, view rating and add various films to your queue.
On the Android side, again, there are lots of options. PhoneFlicks (free) is pretty similar to its iOS counterpart and isn’t a bad app for basic management. NetQ is $0.99 for the ad-free version and it also lets you search YouTubeYouTube
for a movie trailer, which is a nice touch.8. Redbox for iPhone, RedBoxer for Android
The official iPhone app [iTunes link] is free and actually quite awesome. You can see which movies are available in your area and where, and you can reserve a movie and access maps to nearby Redbox locations near you.
RedBoxer for Android is $1.99 but it lets you bookmark movies, locate kiosks on Google MapsGoogle Maps
and reserve movies from the app.9. Scene it? Series for iPhone and iPad
If you are familiar with the Scene it? board game, you’ll know how this game works. Get a question based on a movie clip and race to give the right answer. On the iPad especially, this is a great party game.
10. RunPee for iPhone and Android
I’m usually not a fan of leaving the movie theater during a movie, but sometimes the alternative can be equally unpleasant. You could wind up having to use the men’s room after seeing SexSEX
and the City: The Movie (the first one, not the sequel) because the line for the ladies was around the corner. True story.RunPee is frequently updated and is a free app for both iPhone [iTunes link] and Android. You can get alerts when it’s safe to run and when you need to be back, but be aware, the break descriptions can sometimes spoil elements of the movie, so try not to read too much in advance. Additionally, be a good movie goer and keep the iPhone or Droid time to a minimum so that your seatmates don’t get distracted.
Your Picks
What are some of your favorite apps to enhance the movie watching experience? Let us know in the comments!
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