IMDB for Android: Daily App Pick
BreakingModern — Have you ever sat around watching a movie or a TV show and suddenly had the urge to look up that sort-of-familiar person’s name? This happens to my friends and me all the time, and every time it does, the first thing I do is yell “OK GOOGLE” at my phone. When that doesn’t work (it usually doesn’t), I grab my phone and open the IMDB app.
If you’re a movie fan like I am, this is pretty much a must-have app. The IMDB was launched back in 1990. Do you remember 1990? Even I was young back then. Eight years later Amazon picked the site up and, for the most part, it has remained the same.
According to Wikipedia, as of this writing the IMDB has over 3.3 million titles, including episodes, and over 6.5 million personalities in its database. That’s a lot of information that is instantly accessible on our devices.
Open It Up
When you first open the app you’ll be shown trailers for the movies they want you to see, or if it’s near the end of the year, the IMDB Countdown. Swipe through there and you’ll see the rest of the trailers for new movies and TV shows.
You’ll also notice an annoying little ad at the bottom of the screen. I can understand putting ads in an app if you’re an indie developer trying to make ends meet, but this is Amazon we’re talking about! The IMDB app should be ad-free. But alas, it’s not, so just click the X and that ad goes away for a bit.
If you tap the IMDB logo the menu will pop out. Here you can sign in to IMDB (if you have an account) and navigate around the site. If you’re logged in, you can also access your personalized IMDB stuff, like your Watchlist, Ratings and History.
Tap the three dots in the upper right and you’ll find the settings. Here you can change video quality, your location for movie times and set notification settings.
Ever since Google Now made movie times an easy built-in experience, I use this app to look up movie information. I go to IMDB to check ratings (and maybe watch a trailer or two), then back to Google Now to see when shows are playing in my area. I could just as easily do this on the IMDB app, but my preference is Google Now.
When you hit the magnifying glass and search, in this example for Trey Parker, the second you type the first few letters IMDB knows exactly who you’re looking for. Just tap his name and you’ll bring up his IMDB page. Pictures and information, more than you could ever need, are right there.
Searching for movies and TV shows also pulls up the same helpful information – pretty much every search leads to endless answers about actors, shows and movies.
The IMDB experience on a tablet is a little nicer than the phone, although for the amount of information IMDB shows you, I think it works just as well on a smaller screen. You’ll definitely want a decent Internet connection, especially if you want to see trailers in 720p.
Check out the IMDB app on Google Play for Android and Apple iOS and start filling your head with more useless trivial information. They even have an app Windows Phone! I know right?
All Screenshots: Mat Lee
Featured/Header Image: Film Project by Pedro Ribeiro Simões via Flickr