Netflix UK vs LoveFilm - Interface and Xbox 360, PS3 and iPad apps

LoveFilm and Netflix's user interface styles are a little different from each other. LoveFilm wants you to find a film and be able to find about it a little on the way, while Netflix UI focuses on getting the viewer to the vid as soon as possible.

On the web

On a computer, the minimal style of Netflix doesn't come across too well. It works just fine, but seems as though the folks holding the purse strings may have scrimped on their web design team. It misses out on the three Ps (which we just made up) - presentation, presence and panache. You can search by genre, or type a keyword into the search bar at the top-right of the page, but it doesn't make casual browsing for titles particularly joyful.

However, LoveFilm doesn't fare much better. The streaming section still feels as though it's tacked-onto the DVD rental part of LoveFilm's site. It offers oodles of information, including exactly how many streaming movies are available in each genre, but none of it is particularly well laid-out.

There are additions here that we miss in the Netflix UI, though. Being able to search through recently-added additions is great and deeper nav options are much easier to access. There's even a bar down the left edge that lets you filter films by their main language. Want a movie in Mandarin? It'll be much easier to find on LoveFilm than Netflix.

Xbox, PS3 and iPad

Realising that media consumption devices like consoles and tablets are the way forward for their streaming services, both LoveFilm and Netflix seem to have put a lot more effort into these apps than their browser equivalents.

The simple, DVD cover-based visual approach of Netflix feels slicker on PS3 than PC thanks to its neater scrolling transitions. There's also some differentiation in the Xbox version, which borrows some of that dashboard UI flavour.

LoveFilm on Xbox 360

The iPad app is the poor relation here. With that smooth Apple-like scrolling, Netflix for iPad still better than the desktop browser version, but it has none of the style of the Xbox and PS3 alternatives in operation. It's not a big problem as it's extremely quick to use and gets you to the content on offer in seconds, but we'd like to see it improved over the coming months.

LoveFilm's iPad app offers much greater visual flair, as well as better navigation. It doesn't have the wealth of drop-downs and sub-menus seen in the browser - probably a good thing - but it does arrange content into collections and, a particular favourite, makes much better use of audience votes. You can see how many ratings each movie has been given, giving an almost IMDb-like focus to its voting system.

LoveFilm for iPad is not as fast as the Netflix app, though, with pages taking a little while to load, but we find casually browsing its wares much more enjoyable. A sour note to all of LoveFilm's interfaces is that it shows you DVD rental listings too as standard, which can lead newbies into thinking movies are there to stream when they're not. Cue a little heart leap, followed by sinking disappointment.

The console offerings fall in line with Netflix's. The PS3 version looks rather like the browser edition while the Xbox alternative lets that dashboard styling seep in. Xbox 360 is going all Windows Phone 7, and we kinda like it, for now at least.

Reliability

The performance of both LoveFilm and Netflix is almost entirely dependant on your broadband connection. However, during our testing with a 20meg home broadband connection, we found that LoveFilm tended to be slightly more prone to slow loading of pages and delays in populating these pages with film entries. Performance during streaming was closer between the two, both offering excellent stability when powered by a solid connection.