Finally a good TV guide application

I’ve been waiting for this since June 29, 2007; a good, useful, TV application for iPhone! It seems that i.TV [iTunes Link] made my wish come true, and even more…

Before i.TV (pronounce “i dot tv”), I used the mobile version of TVGuide.com and although it served its purpose, it was a very unpractical web app. Then came What’s On, for which I had big hopes. My hopes just remained hopes as What’s On wouldn’t have some basic features such as setting channels as “Favorites”.

All my past frustrations are now long gone thanks to i.TV. I downloaded this FREE app this morning from the App Store and instantly fell in love with it. According to the company’s website:

i.TV is a TV and movie guide for the iPhone and iPod touch.

i.TV helps users discover entertainment options by providing up-to-date information on television shows and movies. Users also benefit from feedback and information provided by other i.TV users who utilize i.TV’s community-focused features. These features enable customers to write reviews and give star ratings to visual media. In addition to this, i.TV allows users to directly access entertainment such as television previews and movie trailers through their iPhone or iPod Touch.

Let’s see how it works…

When launching i.TV, it will ask you if you want to create an account. You don’t have to create an account but doing so will give you access to more features. After giving some basic information about you, it will automatically detect your location, and provide you a list of TV programs available in your area. The Zip Code detected by i.TV was not correct for me (it gave 92116 instead of 92106) and it wouldn’t show my Cable provider. So I manually edited my Zip Code and i.TV automatically refreshed the list of providers. Cox Communications was now showing up! Sweet! I chose my provider and it then loaded the TV listings of programs that were playing now.

I was overwhelmed by the amount of channels listings available so I went directly to the “settings” to create my list of favorite channels. I have about 100 channels but I only watch maybe 10 of them… I used the “hide channel” feature to hide the channels I didn’t want (goodbye MTV and other VH1 crap) and went back to the TV listing screen and here were my favorites.

I have to say that’s all I expect from a good TV listing application. I don’t need more than being able to set up my favorite channels but i.TV does much more than that. I’ve explored the app for a few minutes and found out about other cool features. You can rate and recommend shows and channels, write reviews, create email alerts and more.

As if that wasn’t enough, i.TV also allows you to browse through movies that are currently playing in theaters around you. You can search by movie title or by theater and even watch movie trailers

Although this first version offers more than I could expect, future developments in the work will bring even more with remote DVR programming, DVD rentals, movie ticket purchases and even the ability to watch full TV shows streamed directly from the source.

Alright, why are you still reading this? Go the App Store and download i.TV for free!