Crackle, Sony Entertainment's multi-platform streaming video entertainment network, has made the leap to the iPad in the form of a free, ad-supported app that streams well-known Hollywood television shows and uncut movies (as well as original content) from Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Classic, and TriStar Pictures over 3G or Wi-Fi connections. There's a nice variety of classic and contemporary content here—and certainly surpasses the $7.99 Hulu Plus ($7.99 per month, 3.5 stars) service in terms of recognizable film content— making it an excellent app for anyone who would like to kick back with their iPads and watch a program without making needing to open their wallets. It has some flaws—there are no currently-running TV programs and the back-season catalog is thin comparison to Hulu Plus'—but it's still very much worth a download.
Design and Interface
Crackle presents you a slideshow of featured movies and show when you launch the app. At the time of this review, some of the highlighted content included a trailer for Battlefield 3 (a videogame from Electronic Arts, the lone sponsor), The Da Vinci Code, Seinfeld, and a handful of other shows. Tapping a program opens a window that lets you view a star rating, MPAA rating, plot synopsis, and "Why It Crackles," a short commentary on why the show or movie is worth a view. From this window you can watch the program, or opt to purchase it from iTunes. Bringing a finger to the More icon lets you create a Crackle account—or you can sign in with your Facebook credentials—so you can create and manage a video queue and pull up your viewing history. Overall, I found the interface simple, uncluttered, and easy to use.
Tapping Movies or Shows opens a grid of thumbnail art; tapping Browse lists those thumbnails in alphabetical order. You can scroll down to view the list of movies or key a term into search box. Across the top of the display are three tabs that highlight content: Crackle's Featured, Most Popular, and Recently Added programming.
Crackle Content
Crackle contains a mix of well-known mainstream films such as Dr. Strangelove, Easy Rider, Snatch, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There's a nice variety of TV shows, too, ranging from classics like Betwitched to News Radio. Crackle lacks many currently playing shows such as 30 Rock, The Daily Show, and House—you'll need to fire up Hulu Plus to check out those shows on your iPad. As such, Crackle is best used a window to view movies and old school TV.
Tapping a thumbnail caused Crackle to shift to a different screen that had a main content area on the right, and a thinner, vertical column on the left. This vertical column let me view a list of full episodes, minisodes (condensed episodes), and recommended content. I found the recommended content very random. It's understandable that Seinfeld could be related to the News Radio episode that I just finished watching, but I was uncertain how The Dark Hand, The Tick, and Spider-Man were connected to News Radio. In addition, related shows aren't listed by series title, but by episode names instead, which can leave you scratching your head if the thumbnail image doesn't ring familiar. When you launch a movie, recommendation are also displayed, as well as trailers and selected clips.
The Crackle Viewing Experience
Video playback was exceptionally smooth over both my office and home networks, even after I double-tapped the playback windows to watch News Radio, Seinfeld, and Ghostbusters in full screen. Video quality is roughly that of over-the-air standard-definition broadcasts, and I found quite acceptable considering how smoothly the videos played back. Tapping the playback window brought up options that let me share the video via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter, or add it to my queue.
Ads are displayed at the beginning of a video and interspersed throughout, which I thought was a fair trade-off for the free content. At the time of this writing, there was just one sponsor, so the same Electronic Arts Battlefield 3 ad played over and over again. That got old fast.
Another gripe—Crackle's television content pales in comparison to Hulu Plus', which not only has currently running series, but their entire back seasons as well. Crackle TV selection is mostly comprised of shows that are no longer on the air; The Young & The Restless was the only currently-running show I found—and it didn't have full episodes, only minisodes. If Sony wants to compete with Hulu Plus in the tablet space, it will need to bolster its TV offerings. Still, users should think of the two apps as complimentary as both have strength in the area where the other flounders.
Should You Download Crackle (for iPad)
If you're looking to catch up on currently-running TV show, you'd be better served by the $7.99 Hulu Plus service, which has The Community, The Office, and other popular programming. Still, Crackle is a well-designed, entertaining (and free!) app that will scratch your iPad movie itch.
‧?? Crackle (for iPad)
‧?? FileMaker Go (for iPad)
‧?? Notability (for iPad)
‧?? TuneIn Radio Pro (for iPad)
‧?? Adobe Eazel (for iPad)
‧? more
No comments:
Post a Comment