|
|
Movie Showtimes |
There are many services that let you get current movie showtimes on your cell phone. The fastest of which
is to use SMS or text messaging. It's as simple as sending a quick message and getting a
response within seconds. Of course, you can also use web-based access if you're paying
for the service, but we've found that web-based access can be slow at times so we recommend sticking with SMS. The companies
providing movie showtime information don't charge anything for the service, although carriers will charge you with a per use or plan
fee for using SMS or web-based access. To save on messages, a lot of the services do try to reduce the number of messages
that they send you by only displaying future showtimes.
The following is a list of sites that offer SMS and web-based access to movie
showtimes:
|
| |
|
|
4INFO offers local movie showtimes through SMS or internet-based access (from your phone, go to
http://wap.4INFO.net). When using SMS, 4INFO provides easy shortcuts for movie showtimes. Try sending the message:
"mov 94104" to 44636 or "4INFO" on your phone's keypad to get movie showtimes of all theaatres in your area. Alternatively,
type "star wars san francisco" for theatres and times showing star wars.
|
| |
|
Google offers free acces to movie showtimes using SMS. Google provides some greater flexibility in the type
of information that you can receive compared with other SMS-based services, but their shortcuts are not so short. With
Google you can get general movie details, find the top movies playing near you and their theater location,
get showtimes and theaters for a particular movie, and find the theaters near you and their movie showtimes
of the top movies.
|
| |
|
Synfonic offers the roughly the same SMS movie showtimes functionality as other services, but without
the easy to remember phone number. To reach Synfonic, you've got send your message to 16504307183. Another drawback is
that the service is only available to registered Synfonic users, which is free. Finally, the input requires that you
enter the name of the movie theatre as part of your request. Some may view this as a hassle and others a benefit, since
it's possible to constrain your movie showtime results to a specific theatre. On the plus side, the company lets you create a customize dictionary
through their website for frequently used shorthand. |
| |
|
Vindigo offers an internet-based solution for accessing movie
information. Vindigo's
comprehensive film guide has up-to-date movie listings and showtimes for all locations as well as reviews from
nationally-known critics. The service even provides driving directions to the theatre.
The vindigo service is distributed through all major wireless carriers. Each carrier
sets their own pricing. The vindigo website gives you step-by-step instructions on how to access the service from
your phone. |
| |
|
Yahoo does offer movie showtime lookup capability, but only through its
Mobile Web product.
As with all web-based access via the cell phone there are some phone and carrier restrictions.
|
| |
|
|
