Review: i.TV

i.TV has quietly entered the app world but needs a larger screen because it has the potential to be a blockbuster among viewer addicts. This app can help you keep track of TV shows in your area - whether you have cable, satellite or still use rabbit ears. It also helps you stay up-to-date with the latest movies and gives you viewing times for your local theater.

Functionality

After you setup an i.TV account, the next thing you'll need to do with i.TV is plug in your zip code to the preferences, or allow the app to find you. After it does that, it will walk you through setup. If you want to change your viewing preferences, you can tap on the "More" button and change them in the Settings panel. (see below) The i.TV folks have packed a ton of options into this app, ranging from a Ratings Filter to screening your list by Pay Per View, Music, Infomercials, Non-English, etc. You can also lock the settings.

Just setting things up gives you all kinds of different features and options. It will show you TV feeds by satellite, cable or over-the-air. After selecting your choice, it will take a few moments to download the latest viewing list. Even on WIFI, this sometimes takes a little over a minute. After you do this, you'll be given a list of shows for your service. You can scroll through the list to see what's on at a given time, or advance forward or backwards (in 30 minute increments) to see other times. Another nice feature is the Search function, which finds shows for you and displays their upcoming times and channels. A quick search for "Smallville" brought up an interactive screen, which allowed me to save the show to My Favorites, Watch or Share it. Unfortunately, tapping "Watch" doesn't actually allow you to watch the show, but it pulls up a pre-written email dialogue which sends you a reminder to watch the show. This is a very nice feature when you see the preview for a show you'd like to watch, and your TiVo doesn't search far enough in advance to find it. Just use i.TV to remind you to watch it. Tapping on "Share" sends an email to friends with a pre-written recommendation to watch the show from you.

The Theaters button on the bottom of the main screen is a nice feature for this app. You can either see all the movies that are currently playing everywhere or see what's playing in your local theater. In addition, you can watch trailers and get movie information.

Review

i.TV is a little misnamed since it also has the movie feature as part of the app. I wonder if i.Screen wouldn't have been better? Or maybe it's already taken. Who knows? But the point is, you get more than you pay for with this nice little app! (Oh wait, it's free!)

And that's generally my review... why wouldn't you want i.TV on your iPhone? If you watch any amount of TV and have favorite shows in which you'd like to keep track of episodes, reruns, or schedule upcoming specials to watch, this app is fantastic.

The interface is gorgeous, and apart from some slow loading times when you advance forward in the TV time list (in only 30 minute increments), it's simply a great resource. I wish there was a "Go To" option in the viewing screen so that you could plug in the time you want to view. (i.e., If you want to see what shows are on at 8:00 p.m., it would be really nice to be able to go directly to 8 p.m. rather than advance forward in 30 minute cumbersome increments).

I just found that if you tap the time on top of the viewing button, a dialog-scroll box appears, which allows you to do just that. It's not obvious that the time itself is a button. In any movie or TV episode dialog box, you also have the option of writing a show review or an episode review. You can also view upcoming episodes, both new and old.

I found that if you think to yourself, "I wish that tapping this would do that..." and then tap on an icon, then surprisingly the feature is already there! This app is incredibly well done.

Summary

I'm thinking this is one of those apps that every screen connoisseur - TV and theater - will want to have. It's well-designed, but has so many channels/options that you'll think you've stolen the neighbor's cable. Apart from slow data downloads (which is excusable, considering the amount of data it's fetching) and pauses, while advancing forward in time, it's an app without any noticeable detriments. Set the microwave and pop some corn. It's show time!

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