Now Playing vs Fandago: ‘Cause I like to sit in the dark
By Ronald O Carlson
The world’s a beautiful place when chomping buttery (preferably not too stale) popcorn while ensconced in the fourth seat of the seventh row, the spots on either side empty, of my local cineplex during the afternoon dollar showing—preferably being dazzled by the latest George Lucas or Gene Roddenberry inspired epic.
If you are an iPhone or iPod touch owner, there are more than a couple ways of getting to the right theatre on time. Today, we’re going to look at one of the newest, Fandango (free), and one of the most popular and longest running, Now Playing
(free).
Fandango, though freshly arrived on the iTunes App Store, has been the go to website for theater and movie information, including tickets, for years and features links to more than 16,000 screens around the US, which is a lot. Still right out of the gate with this app there’s a problem—when setting location one can’t specify a search radius. This is a problem in a provincial city like Erie, PA—where I live—as getting listings for more than two theaters requires casting a wider net than the default unalterable setting (whatever it is) in Fandango. Now Playing allows you to set a search radius of up to 50 miles tweakable in five mile increments—point!
A mature app for mature viewers
Next up, both applications have clearly designed user interfaces that are easy to move around in. That said, both apps list films by release date, but Now Playing (point) breaks them up with headings, ie last Friday, 1 week ago, etc, and you can also view titles alphabetically (extra half point). Fandango makes you squint for dates with any visual aids to break up the view.
Moving along, Fandango and Now Playing display theaters, movies + show times and upcoming movies (a point for each) clearly and pleasingly enough. Further, both applications link to trailers, which load reasonably well on my iPod touch. However, Now Playing (two points) takes it all a bit further in offering reviews (RottenTomatoes, MetaCritic), film website links and the ability email listings.
Their goal is commerce…
Whereas Fandango sells movie tickets (half point for convenience), Now Playing provides ways to browse and purchase movies on disc (half point for something do). Both of these features are about paying the bills and that’s something everyone needs to do.
That said, Fandango is the dominant online player in its niche and Now Playing is the creation Cyrus Najmabadi (ie some guy that apparently wrangles code at Google). That in mind, I see movies at the dollar theater, so I don’t worry about not getting seats, and I don’t buy DVDs. But, if I were forced into a corner and told buy from one or the other, call me flawed, I’d choose “some guy” (aka Now Playing) over name brand movie ticket selling service.
Also, Fandango’s purchasing function includes what looks like majorly scary flaw—if someone steals my iPod touch, they can purchase all the movie tickets they want. Although Fandango obscures full credit card information, it also doesn’t require any sort of verification before use that I saw (see also: TUAW).
Conclusion
Now Playing is a much more mature application in almost every respect—tweakable search radius, user interface design and features. Again, the one advantage Fandango does offer is the ability to purchase tickets, though this feature needs more thought put into how credit card information is stored and used.
Score: Now Playing (6.0 points); Fandango (2.5 points). Now Playing keeps its spot on my iPod touch’s second screen and Fandango, better luck next time, earns a spot in the circular file.
Got a favorite iPhone app? Share your G-rated impressions and opinions in the comments below…
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March 17th, 2009
I completely agree.
The option to purchase tickets tempted me to download Fandango, but Now Playing has been an amazing companion from the start. It’s my all-in-one movie clearinghouse. Especially once they added dvds, blu-rays and Netflix… I trashed all the Netflix queue apps and use Now Playing for everything. I do wish they’d change their design palette on the Netflix section though… so usable, but oh so ugly.
March 17th, 2009
I’d like to hear your thoughts comparing Now Playing to Flixster.