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iPhlix, a Netflix management app by Brent Jensen, is available for US$2.99 at the App Store.
When Wall Street was just starting to get the spins a few months ago, I read some commentary from an analyst who firmly believed Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) would feel the recession burn away at its subscriber growth. Consumers, he thought, were looking to cut entertainment budgets, not jump into something that had them paying a monthly fee regardless of how much they use it.
So far, though, Netflix has been doing just fine. Last month, it reported a 45 percent jump in profit, and it added 718,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2008 -- twice as many as it had earlier predicted.
It seems that cutting down on the entertainment budget doesn't mean foregoing entertainment altogether. It just means cutting back on the $10-ticket/$8-soda trips to the theater and instead staying in with 50-cent microwave popcorn and a $10-per-month DVD subscription.
I recently began a Netflix membership. Immediately after using the queue manager for the first time, I figured there must be some sort of iPhone app for this. Sure enough, there were several. So I downloaded the first paid one I saw, iPhlix, as well as a few free ones for comparison.
Working the Queue
To start with iPhlix, you'll have to add your account. The app asks for your "iPhlix display name." I figured this was probably the email address I use to access my Netflix account over the Web. Turns out I was right -- after I finished entering that, I was asked permission to link iPhlix with my Netflix account. I supplied my password and the app was ready.
From there, you have access to all your Netflix queue info -- your delivery lineup, your instant queue and your saved videos. You can also add to, remove from and change the order of your movie queue, though that last action is limited to putting something at the top or moving it to the bottom. For example, you can't take a movie from third in line to fourth in line when your queue is 10 items long, unless you want to make some kind of puzzle game out of it.
Other options include Recent for your past and current rentals, and Browse to look through the Netflix catalog based on categories like New Releases, Action & Adventure and Comedy. The Search feature lets you specify whether you want to find a regular DVD, a Blu-ray disc or a video available on instant streaming (sorry, you can't watch the streaming videos on the iPhone itself). Finally, the For You feature gives you an uncategorized list of movies you might like based on the ratings you've given other movies.
Free to Decide
All in all, iPhlix does exactly what a mobile Netflix app should do. It gives you an easy way to perform basically the same account management actions that you can do on a regular Web browser. When you're away from home and you suddenly think of a movie you want to see sometime, you can have it on your Netflix list in seconds.
Still, there are other apps out there that let you manage your Netflix account for free. Instant Queue Add, for example lets you browse and select videos, but as the name implies, it only works with your Instant queue, not your list of DVDs to receive by mail. Netflix's Instant library is huge in sheer number but pretty low in quality, unless you're really into B and C movies.
Of course, you can also manage your queue directly through the Safari browser if you want a free option, though that usually requires a lot of squinting, pinching, spreading, swiping and other unpleasant words.
Then there's PhoneFlix. PhoneFlix gives you many of the same options as iPhlix -- queue management, search, recent activity, recommendations, etc. But it's free. Instead of paying $3, you see a few advertisements now and then at the top and bottom of the screen. It's also a little less decorated, and I couldn't find any options for searching out Blu-ray titles, though that might be because I don't have a Blu-ray option on my account. Unlike iPhlix, PhoneFlix lets you make specific adjustments to your delivery queue (fourth to sixth place, for instance).
Bottom Line
iPhlix is credited to Brent Jensen. PhoneFlix was created by Next Mobile Web. A search for "Netflix" on the App Store brings up nothing apparently built by the firm itself. Shouldn't Netflix have taken the Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) route here and come up with a free app of its own design to push its usability to the iPhone?
Unless and until that happens, iPhlix offers a polished, great-looking display that's a lot easier to get around than bringing up Netflix.com on Safari. I won't ding it for costing money when there's a free app that does basically the same thing. The free app has advertisements, which some will find annoying. But if you don't mind ads and an interface that's not as pretty, check out PhoneFlix. It'll save you three bucks, or two sips on that movie theater soda.
