Post by szuniverse on Nov 2, 2015 18:43:33 GMT -6
Hey everyone this is Sam here giving my first impressions on the Toonami app. So why an impression and not a review? Well I feel like a review would mean I would have to talk about the entire package and with an IOS and Android app there are constant updates. So to me that means a review of the currently released app could be updated making that review obsolete overtime.
So I feel a first impressions is much better since the thoughts I currently have could be updated in time and since this is only a first thoughts my opinion on it may change. Anyway onto the app itself and it's been interesting to say the least. Ever since the Toonami app has been announced at Momocon this year I was very interested in it. I couldn’t say I was excited per say since what was shown seemed like a concept to me that still needed to be fully developed. I liked what was shown, but I wanted to see more or have my hands on it to think if the app delivers.
Well the app is out now and I can say there are things I like, there are somethings that need improvement, and other features that needed to be expanded upon. First up, let me say the things I like about the Toonami app. The interface I absolutely love it’s clean and very well designed. After the introduction video with TOM and SARA explaining what the app does. You're welcomed with the core the power source of the Absolution along with show hashtags and the Toonami hashtag.
The menu interface outside of the core is also placed very well it's easy to pick out what’s what and going from one application to another is very easy. Aside from the design, the touches on the app are very responsive and work very well. There isn’t a delay in terms of tapping an icon all you need is one tap and it’ll direct you to a different section of the app. Of course the main draw that some may spend time with is strengthening the core of the absolution.
By tapping the middle of the core or using the hashtags in the center you can level up and strengthen the signal of the absolution. While I find the idea cool the execution of it is rather sloppy. I don’t feel like I’m doing much, but tapping rapidly on my phone which after spending ten minutes with it I got bored. Its an alright idea yet one thing I think would improve the experience is seeing how much the signal of the Absolution is increasing by what I’m doing. Leveling up seems superfluous I don’t feel like I gained anything, but a higher number.
At best it’s an okay distraction, but it didn’t keep my attention for long. Of course there are other features with the app like an autopilot feature. Which basically tells you what shows are airing Saturday night. Once again that's cool, but if you're like me who enjoys going on the Toonami Tumblr or Facebook page they usually announce what's coming up in terms of shows and marathons so once again this feature should have something to make it more interesting. Maybe if they have it so they announce on the app certain marathons that are airing on there first and then make a post on Tumblr later.
Of course that won’t work considering other fan sites will report the marathon before them. Still I see potential in the autopilot, but it needs work. So those are two features that I find rather uninteresting. However, one feature that was announced that I was generally interested in was the ringtones and wallpaper downloads. This feature allows just that ringtones and wallpaper, sadly it's nothing to write home about. The multiple voice clips of Tom and Sara are pretty dull and once again leave a lot to be desired. There small voice clips of just one line sentences such as, “We won’t be intimidated by criminal threats.” or, “Space is the place.”
Personally to me this is beyond dull I think it would’ve been cool to have TOM and SARA having a conversation be one alarm option or TOM making a smartass comment. I would love to hear Steve Blum tell me to get my lazy ass up as a ringtone or as an alarm. Or hearing TOM and SARA discussing about the Absolution seeing how the ship itself is running. These are only idea’s I have for this, but I think this would be more interesting ringtones or alarms than what's currently offered.
Secondly with the ringtones and wallpaper the music selection is from the adult swim vaults. Understandable that getting Ninja Tunes music as downloads is part of another deal and would be impossible to a sense, but it's kind of sad that there’s not much in term of music to get as ringtones. The sound effects are also alright, but once again nothing amazing. As for the wallpapers most of them are just reused ones that you can find on the Toonami website. Which is incredibly disappointing.
I know I can’t complain about a lot considering this is a free app, but it's a disappointment that I can’t get anything new in terms of wallpaper for my phone. Also all of it is for the TOM 5 era only. I like TOM 5, but what if a Toonami fan wants older TOM models or SARA models as backgrounds on their phones. I don’t know if that’s an issue with getting old files or if they are gone completely, but I would’ve love to have older TOM models as a background for my phone. Yes I understand that’s what the web browser is for yet I feel like it's a missed opportunity to have something like that in the app itself.
So now on to the final two apps the clock and the morse code. I will say this right now I will never use these features period. One of these are a basic function on a regular smartphone which makes the idea of this pointless. I don’t find them stimulating as an application and more of something that is tact on. If I can say one nice thing about them the layout for both look nice, but I don’t think that really means much at least to me.
Sadly I have more complaints to bring up with the Toonami app. I can’t speak for every IOS user, but when I downloaded it this morning off the app store after the intro booted up there was no sound after that. Once I quit out of the app and turned it on again sound was in the background. Also one other bug that I found was with the question mark whenever I would touch that the app would freeze and start making a loud screeching noise.
I would have to quit out of the app restarted it the noise would still be there so I would have to quit out of it again and after doing all that the app works fine. Before people start blaming my phone I recently got the Iphone 6S about a week ago and I take good care of it. Other apps I have work fine on it and seeing this thing bug out on me constantly is very disheartening. Hopefully these are updated with patches and it makes me wonder if the Android versions work better than IOS. If it does I find it very perplexing they would release something like this on the app store that has these issues.
Unfortunately, I have more minor nitpicks to grab at as I mentioned at the beginning the core has show hashtags. However, the shows are limited to DBZ Kai, Akame Ga Kill, and Parasyte. To me that's pretty stupid what if a Toonami fan wants to tweet about Michiko and Hatchin or One Piece. Maybe that will change with Saturday night's broadcast, but that should be an option available at the start. Certain shows shouldn’t be restricted by a certain day of the week.
Also the Twitter feature feels incredibly underused I can’t see what Toonami shows are trending or see what others post about Toonami related tweets about. I know that's what the Twitter app is for, but it kind of feels like another missed opportunity not to have a feature like this intergrated in the app. This also may seem to be a weird thought to bring up, but I would’ve like to have some connectivity with the Toonami stream and the Toonami app. I know they stated at Momocon streaming shows would bring up rights issues, but I think it would’ve been cool to have some sort of link function with the Adult Swim app, something like a feature that can direct you to the adult swim app and take you to the Toonami stream. I know not everyone would want the AS app, but it’s another cool feature that would’ve been cool to have.
Lastly, there are features to direct you to the Toonami Tumblr, Facebook, and to Daylight Curfew to get some sweet Toonami swag. Unfortunately, these are found in the options menu. To me having all of those in the options make it very inconvenient and make it cumbersome to get to these specific websites. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind dropping the morse code feature for a Toonami button that can show you the Tumblr, Facebook, and Daylight Curfew pages. Or adding another slot for that to be integrated in the app.
So in the end, I guess the biggest question is should you get the Toonami app. Well it depends are all the issues I mentioned not that big of a deal to you. Then go right ahead the app certainly isn’t the worst it just has a lot of kinks in the armor. I still see potential for a great app however, currently it's just a good app, but to me it’s slightly disappointing. It’s not a killer app Toonami fans must have, but something I can somewhat recommend just wait until an update is available.
So I feel a first impressions is much better since the thoughts I currently have could be updated in time and since this is only a first thoughts my opinion on it may change. Anyway onto the app itself and it's been interesting to say the least. Ever since the Toonami app has been announced at Momocon this year I was very interested in it. I couldn’t say I was excited per say since what was shown seemed like a concept to me that still needed to be fully developed. I liked what was shown, but I wanted to see more or have my hands on it to think if the app delivers.
Well the app is out now and I can say there are things I like, there are somethings that need improvement, and other features that needed to be expanded upon. First up, let me say the things I like about the Toonami app. The interface I absolutely love it’s clean and very well designed. After the introduction video with TOM and SARA explaining what the app does. You're welcomed with the core the power source of the Absolution along with show hashtags and the Toonami hashtag.
The menu interface outside of the core is also placed very well it's easy to pick out what’s what and going from one application to another is very easy. Aside from the design, the touches on the app are very responsive and work very well. There isn’t a delay in terms of tapping an icon all you need is one tap and it’ll direct you to a different section of the app. Of course the main draw that some may spend time with is strengthening the core of the absolution.
By tapping the middle of the core or using the hashtags in the center you can level up and strengthen the signal of the absolution. While I find the idea cool the execution of it is rather sloppy. I don’t feel like I’m doing much, but tapping rapidly on my phone which after spending ten minutes with it I got bored. Its an alright idea yet one thing I think would improve the experience is seeing how much the signal of the Absolution is increasing by what I’m doing. Leveling up seems superfluous I don’t feel like I gained anything, but a higher number.
At best it’s an okay distraction, but it didn’t keep my attention for long. Of course there are other features with the app like an autopilot feature. Which basically tells you what shows are airing Saturday night. Once again that's cool, but if you're like me who enjoys going on the Toonami Tumblr or Facebook page they usually announce what's coming up in terms of shows and marathons so once again this feature should have something to make it more interesting. Maybe if they have it so they announce on the app certain marathons that are airing on there first and then make a post on Tumblr later.
Of course that won’t work considering other fan sites will report the marathon before them. Still I see potential in the autopilot, but it needs work. So those are two features that I find rather uninteresting. However, one feature that was announced that I was generally interested in was the ringtones and wallpaper downloads. This feature allows just that ringtones and wallpaper, sadly it's nothing to write home about. The multiple voice clips of Tom and Sara are pretty dull and once again leave a lot to be desired. There small voice clips of just one line sentences such as, “We won’t be intimidated by criminal threats.” or, “Space is the place.”
Personally to me this is beyond dull I think it would’ve been cool to have TOM and SARA having a conversation be one alarm option or TOM making a smartass comment. I would love to hear Steve Blum tell me to get my lazy ass up as a ringtone or as an alarm. Or hearing TOM and SARA discussing about the Absolution seeing how the ship itself is running. These are only idea’s I have for this, but I think this would be more interesting ringtones or alarms than what's currently offered.
Secondly with the ringtones and wallpaper the music selection is from the adult swim vaults. Understandable that getting Ninja Tunes music as downloads is part of another deal and would be impossible to a sense, but it's kind of sad that there’s not much in term of music to get as ringtones. The sound effects are also alright, but once again nothing amazing. As for the wallpapers most of them are just reused ones that you can find on the Toonami website. Which is incredibly disappointing.
I know I can’t complain about a lot considering this is a free app, but it's a disappointment that I can’t get anything new in terms of wallpaper for my phone. Also all of it is for the TOM 5 era only. I like TOM 5, but what if a Toonami fan wants older TOM models or SARA models as backgrounds on their phones. I don’t know if that’s an issue with getting old files or if they are gone completely, but I would’ve love to have older TOM models as a background for my phone. Yes I understand that’s what the web browser is for yet I feel like it's a missed opportunity to have something like that in the app itself.
So now on to the final two apps the clock and the morse code. I will say this right now I will never use these features period. One of these are a basic function on a regular smartphone which makes the idea of this pointless. I don’t find them stimulating as an application and more of something that is tact on. If I can say one nice thing about them the layout for both look nice, but I don’t think that really means much at least to me.
Sadly I have more complaints to bring up with the Toonami app. I can’t speak for every IOS user, but when I downloaded it this morning off the app store after the intro booted up there was no sound after that. Once I quit out of the app and turned it on again sound was in the background. Also one other bug that I found was with the question mark whenever I would touch that the app would freeze and start making a loud screeching noise.
I would have to quit out of the app restarted it the noise would still be there so I would have to quit out of it again and after doing all that the app works fine. Before people start blaming my phone I recently got the Iphone 6S about a week ago and I take good care of it. Other apps I have work fine on it and seeing this thing bug out on me constantly is very disheartening. Hopefully these are updated with patches and it makes me wonder if the Android versions work better than IOS. If it does I find it very perplexing they would release something like this on the app store that has these issues.
Unfortunately, I have more minor nitpicks to grab at as I mentioned at the beginning the core has show hashtags. However, the shows are limited to DBZ Kai, Akame Ga Kill, and Parasyte. To me that's pretty stupid what if a Toonami fan wants to tweet about Michiko and Hatchin or One Piece. Maybe that will change with Saturday night's broadcast, but that should be an option available at the start. Certain shows shouldn’t be restricted by a certain day of the week.
Also the Twitter feature feels incredibly underused I can’t see what Toonami shows are trending or see what others post about Toonami related tweets about. I know that's what the Twitter app is for, but it kind of feels like another missed opportunity not to have a feature like this intergrated in the app. This also may seem to be a weird thought to bring up, but I would’ve like to have some connectivity with the Toonami stream and the Toonami app. I know they stated at Momocon streaming shows would bring up rights issues, but I think it would’ve been cool to have some sort of link function with the Adult Swim app, something like a feature that can direct you to the adult swim app and take you to the Toonami stream. I know not everyone would want the AS app, but it’s another cool feature that would’ve been cool to have.
Lastly, there are features to direct you to the Toonami Tumblr, Facebook, and to Daylight Curfew to get some sweet Toonami swag. Unfortunately, these are found in the options menu. To me having all of those in the options make it very inconvenient and make it cumbersome to get to these specific websites. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind dropping the morse code feature for a Toonami button that can show you the Tumblr, Facebook, and Daylight Curfew pages. Or adding another slot for that to be integrated in the app.
So in the end, I guess the biggest question is should you get the Toonami app. Well it depends are all the issues I mentioned not that big of a deal to you. Then go right ahead the app certainly isn’t the worst it just has a lot of kinks in the armor. I still see potential for a great app however, currently it's just a good app, but to me it’s slightly disappointing. It’s not a killer app Toonami fans must have, but something I can somewhat recommend just wait until an update is available.