Post by szuniverse on Mar 8, 2016 12:28:54 GMT -6
Back in January Funimation went through major changes the first was changing their company logo; then announcing that they will be upgrading the then current Funimation app with Funimation Now. Something they stated would be a much better user experience than the previous iteration. The app originally was supposed to come out in February, but they wanted the app to be in the best shape possible before it releases so they delayed it to March. It was recently released yesterday. So does it work? Well yes and no.
It is also much easier to find what Broadcast dubs that are airing thanks to it being on the front page; not to mention Simulcasts are also on the front page as well. So finding a show subbed that is currently airing this season will be as simple as tapping what series to watch. They also added a featured section at the very top advertising the top shows of the season. Another feature that was upgraded was the my queue feature. Before it was very cumbersome to get a show onto it. Requiring to tap onto the show and tap add to my queue.
It was a tedious process that thankfully has been simplified down to just tap the plus button on each show listed and your good. When discussing how the system operates the menus are a tad bit laggy when scrolling up or down and while it isn’t awful it’s very noticeable. This could be updated in a future patch and unless you're very picky on stuff like that it won’t be an issue. Finally, and this is very minor, but some shows are in the wrong place. One Piece was placed in both Fan Service and Slice of Life. While that is funny it is however, incredibly distracting and misleading.
Now let’s move onto the stream how is it? It’s solid but does have a few problems. The quality of it hasn’t changed that much although it was noticeable that there wasn’t much lag or delay with the stream which was somewhat prevalent with the previous version. The shows still look nice either watching on an Iphone/Android device or an Ipad running at a nice 1080/720p.
However, quitting a show or pausing it there is a weird delay of it resuming where it left off. This was a common occurrence with the original app, but the fact that it’s still here is bothersome. However, that’s not the only negative with the app. With previous versions at least with the free app anyone could watch a few episodes of an anime for free, but with Funimation Now it’s not an option. The app requires people to sign up for a thirty day free trial. For subscribers this won’t matter too much but, for those who don’t have that will probably be very miffed at the fact there isn’t a choice; considering the Crunchyroll app doesn’t have that restriction.
Technical Aspects
The first thing to note is the layout of the app is cleaner than the previous version. Which was very cluttered and unfocused. This is more streamlined and easy to find your favorite shows, rather than having to go to shows and typing in what anime to watch. The more noteable feature is that they broke down each series into specific defining genres. Wanna watch One Piece? Well it is easy to find under the action category. It is also much easier to find what Broadcast dubs that are airing thanks to it being on the front page; not to mention Simulcasts are also on the front page as well. So finding a show subbed that is currently airing this season will be as simple as tapping what series to watch. They also added a featured section at the very top advertising the top shows of the season. Another feature that was upgraded was the my queue feature. Before it was very cumbersome to get a show onto it. Requiring to tap onto the show and tap add to my queue.
It was a tedious process that thankfully has been simplified down to just tap the plus button on each show listed and your good. When discussing how the system operates the menus are a tad bit laggy when scrolling up or down and while it isn’t awful it’s very noticeable. This could be updated in a future patch and unless you're very picky on stuff like that it won’t be an issue. Finally, and this is very minor, but some shows are in the wrong place. One Piece was placed in both Fan Service and Slice of Life. While that is funny it is however, incredibly distracting and misleading.
(Here are a couple screen shots)
Now let’s move onto the stream how is it? It’s solid but does have a few problems. The quality of it hasn’t changed that much although it was noticeable that there wasn’t much lag or delay with the stream which was somewhat prevalent with the previous version. The shows still look nice either watching on an Iphone/Android device or an Ipad running at a nice 1080/720p.
(A few images taken from streaming on the app)
However, quitting a show or pausing it there is a weird delay of it resuming where it left off. This was a common occurrence with the original app, but the fact that it’s still here is bothersome. However, that’s not the only negative with the app. With previous versions at least with the free app anyone could watch a few episodes of an anime for free, but with Funimation Now it’s not an option. The app requires people to sign up for a thirty day free trial. For subscribers this won’t matter too much but, for those who don’t have that will probably be very miffed at the fact there isn’t a choice; considering the Crunchyroll app doesn’t have that restriction.
Verdict
So is the Funimation Now app worth getting? Well it depends the only thing stopping you from picking it up is if you don’t want to try the thirty day free trial. If that isn’t an issue then yes the Funimation Now app is definitely worth getting. The improvements made from the previous version are major ones that manage to streamline the experience and make things more clean to look at. If the first Funimation app was made for the sake of having an app then Funimation Now manages to be the best way to experience all the best shows Funimation has to offer.