Crappy App Hall of Fame: First Member: Best Buy Movie Mode

Ok, I think it is time that we admit it.  There are a lot of horrible apps out there.  I think we need to not only admit it but enshrine the crappy apps and promotions in a historical setting.  So it is with great pride and only a little irritation that I nominate the first member into the Crappy Apps Hall of Fame:  (drumroll please) Best Buy Movie Mode. 

This android phone app was promoted with a fanfare on almost every media outlet a few months back.   We downloaded it for our HTC Incredible phone and went to see Despicable Me last Friday.  Here’s what the NYTimes reported http://nyti.ms/cpYRDP   that the app was supposed to do: 

“The marquee feature of the app is called the Minionator, which translates the gibberish of Gru’s little yellow henchmen called Minions. In theaters, the Minionator will work only during the closing credits, but when watching a Blu-ray disc, users can translate lines throughout the movie.” 

Well I’m pretty sure that this was all hype.  At the movie, we forgot to turn on the app at the beginning of the movie.  We turned it on at the end, before the credits and guess what?  No translation at all.  My son was furiously pushing buttons as the app did nothing at all except tell us not to use our phone during the movie – which we already had not been doing.  

I’m guessing that the app is just based on a timer.  And that instead of translating what the Minion characters were saying, the app simply was programmed to run audio at approximately the right time after the movie started, or after the app was turned on.  So the whole idea of “translation” was a fake, just a timed app that will play audio or video when the timer says to do so. 

What’s your least favorite app?  Let me know who else belongs in the Crappy App Hall of Fame.

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