So while trying to think of what I wanted to review this week I’ve come to the conclusion that a great standby application that I’ve used almost as long as I’ve used Android has managed to slip through the cracks and avoid being reviewed. Mobile Queue Manager from SilentSmuggler is not one of the more complicated or convoluted apps out there, but it does one simple thing – manage Netflix queues – and does an excellent job doing it.
The Home Screen
How many times during the average week (day?) do you think of a movie or television series and wonder if it’s available on Netflix? For myself, it can be at least once a day if not more. Usually, that feeling is followed by an immediate let down as I come to find that the cool flick I have a desire to see is not available on the Netflix Instant Queue. Ah well, such is life. Either way, most usually the way that I find that out is by using Mobile Queue Manager – hereafter to be referred to by MQM as I’m lazy. Upon first installing and opening MQM you will be prompted to log in to your Netflix account by way of a redirect, then when that is done you can complete the sign on process and can begin managing your mobile queues.
MQM has a nice clean appearance with very few options to be set (auto refresh, disc format, whether to use gestures to remove items from the queue, and box art size) in fact it’s possible to just ignore the settings screen entirely and just use the application as well. The main screen of MQM presents you with five separate areas of the app: DVD Queue, Instant Queue, Suggestions, @Home and History. All of which are fairly easy to ascertain what they are going to do. Also available is the Spyglass icon in the upper right corner of the screen, which allows for searching the Netflix inventory. That is also quite possibly going to be the most used feature of the app.
The Instant Queue Screen
Bringing up either the DVD Queue or the Instant Queue presents you with a list of movies/shows/discs that are in the respectable queues. You can change the size of the box art via the settings menu and rearrange the order of the shows by grabbing icon at the left edge of each entry. I’ve found that it’s very easy to accidentally grab that icon and resort my listings when I actually meant to scroll up or down the list. It’s a little frustrating, but honestly I don’t really use this app to view my queue seeing as how it doesn’t support streaming video.
Selecting the Suggestions link from the home screen brings up the Netflix Suggested titles based on what you’ve watched and rated in the past. No surprises here. At any time you can click on an entry to view more information about that particular title: a synopsis of the entry, similar titles and the genre information. Format icons on both the overall list and the single entry tell you at a glance how the movie or show is available – either via DVD, BluRay or Streaming. I have found that the Streaming icon does not always show as available, although it will show up as an option when you go to add the movie to a queue.
The Suggestions Screen
Speaking of adding an entry to a queue, it’s as easy as going to the detail screen of whatever you are interested in and either clicking the ‘+’ icon at the top right of the screen or selecting “Add Title” from the menu. You will be prompted to select which queue you would like to add to, either Disc or Instant, as well as have the option to add your new selection to a certain position in the queue. Default is at the bottom.
If you have a Netflix account, and if you have an Android device (which, seeing as you are reading this you most likely do) then I would highly recommend this excellent utility. Apart from a couple of social networking apps and my laucher (which doesn’t really count) I probably use this more than any other application that I’ve installed. Until Netflix gets their act together and includes queue management in their own application, then Mobile Queue Manager will most definitely have a home on my devices. There are two versions available on the Android Market, a free Ad supported version and an Ad-free for only 99 cents. I highly recommend trying it out.
Thanks go out to Derek for the video!
 |
Mobile Queue - Ad Supported SilentSmuggler Gratis  
|
 
|
Leave Your Response