In this mobile app review we take a peak at the Netflix application. Will movie fans delight at its offerings or give it two thumbs down?

Netflix Mobile App

 
Subscribing to any of the monthly Netflix packages, which start at $7.99, The Netflix app for iPhone gives users access to Netflix's instant streaming queue anywhere, even on a 3G connection (though a wi-fi connection provides a better experience). It's an ideal app for commuters or parents who want to keep their kids entertained on the go.

First off, know that your device has to be running iOS version 3.13 or later. Media can be streamed over both Wi-Fi and 3G networks. Immediately, you’ll get a bunch of new releases pop up on your Home screen to look through, which you can literally watch instantly right there. I was astounded by how amazing the video quality is.  The smaller-sized screen plus the “retina” display technology surely help, but I never had to squint my eyes. The movie loaded up nearly instantly, and users can choose to toggle between fitted and widescreen display.

If you choose to stop watching a film, it will still appear on the Home screen for a period of time next to a “Resume” button. Interestingly, this option will also be available with the same film within your Netflix account when logged in and turned to the Watch Instantly page on other mediums (i.e. a computer) as well.
The other bottom menu options, Genres and Search, are both fairly straight-forward. Finally, there’s the Instant Queue listing, which doesn’t actually show the subscriber’s entire queue but rather just the ones that are supported by the Watch Instantly feature. I would have liked to have seen a feature allowing users to edit their entire wish lists, but this isn’t a bad start.

Besides “home,” you’ll find three other icons lining the bottom of the screen: genres, search and instant queue. Genres acts like a “browse” feature – a rarity missing from many other Netflix implementations – but it still has some major crippling that prevented us from using it much to find movies. It offers only the main Netflix categories with none of the useful subdivisions. You can click on dramas, for instance, but then you get one massive, unorganized list, rather than getting to choose among indie dramas, biographies, crime dramas, and so on. Likewise, after you choose a movie of interest, the app lacks to ability to recommend similar films, as you can online. Unless you care to sift through 300 movies to find one that interests you, you’re better off simply adding films to your instant queue from the Web.

I had no problem either when scrolling to another point in the video. Getting to an exact spot in the film was a little difficult as I couldn’t seem to be precise as I wanted on the touchscreen. The app is free and available in iTunes for downloading now. If you’re a Netflix user with one of these compatible devices, there isn’t a reason not to get it and at least try it out for yourself. While it’s not the ideal option for watching movies all the time, it could be a fantastic travel companion and useful way to kill time.

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