This review originally appeared within iLounge’s iOS Gems series within the compilation article, iPhone Gems: Every Movie Finder + Trailer App, Reviewed. Additional details may be found in the original article
Unlike some of the fuller-featured movie applications we’ve tested, KickScreen Movie Trailers ($1) by k5Software does nothing more than display movie trailers that the developer has located online. There’s a plain, scrolling interface with a list of movie titles and posters. Clicking on any of the listings brings up the movie’s trailer, available on EDGE, 3G, or Wi-Fi data networks, while clicking on a small arrow icon opens a short page of descriptive text.
The listings include both current and future releases, but the main page is sparse in terms of information—just name, release date, and run time. Even given how simple the application is, an obvious omission is the ability to sort the alphabetical list in any way, or even to skip through it with the condensed letter bar found in the iPhone’s Contacts and iPod/Music applications. If you try other movie applications, you’ll begin to note the other omissions: there’s no option to see larger versions of the posters, buy tickets, or go out to the web to get more information on the movie. There’s also only one trailer per film, regardless of how many may have been released.
In our view, KickScreen isn’t too exciting given what you can get from similar applications—even the iPhone’s integrated YouTube browser—but unlike YouTube, you won’t get false results, and you may also find next year’s movie trailers here—such as Terminator Salvation—that don’t appear on the near-term focused lists of apps such as Movies. Then again, you might not; the upcoming Star Trek movie, which appears in the competing application Trailers, isn’t anywhere to be found in the version of KickScreen we used. Since all of these applications will depend on their developers for frequent content updates and completeness, you’ll have to decide whether to take the risk that they won’t contain some of the movies you’re interested in seeing; KickScreen currently doesn’t offer enough functionality or other frills to be worth paying for. iLounge Rating: C-.
Our Rating
Company and Price
Company: k5Software
Website: www.k5software.com
Title: KickScreen Movie Trailers
Price: $1
Compatible: iPhones, iPod touches