BBC Olympics – follow the London 2012 Olympics via this Android app!
by Paul Wilks
Jul 17, 2012 6:18 AM –
Install
BBC Olympics is the official app of the UK broadcaster of the Olympic games, which, at the time of writing, starts in just a few days. The app comes in two versions; one for the UK and an international version. From what I can see the only real difference is that the UK version is able to offer live streaming of events. So, if you’re gearing up for this years games, it’s a great app to follow the action and staying up to date with medals, events, athletes and news.
Price: Free
Tested on: HTC One X
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Slick user interface!
- Easy to navigate!
- Lot’s of information!
- 24 Live streams of action (for UK users)
Cons
- No tablet support.
- No HD videos.
Features:
With the Olympic games just a few days away, this is the first real opportunity to follow the event on your Android device. There a couple of official London 2012 apps available: London 2012 Results App and London 2012 Join In App but as the BBC are the official broadcaster and news source in the UK, they will arguably have more resources to deliver news as it happens.
The app features a superb user interface that has a very smooth and user-friendly feel to it. It is extremely simple to navigate too- a menu button lists all areas of the app itself for quick access: Home, Schedule, Live (UK), All sports, Medals, Team GB (UK), BBC Coverage (UK), Athletes, and Countries. While many of these are quite self explanatory, I was most impressed with the Athletes section. Here you can find an athlete, follow their results, find out more about them and their events- even follow their Twitter-stream, all in-app. There are also biographies, videos and news results for that specific athlete.
There is loads of information contained within the app and it will be updated regularly throughout the games. If you follow a particular sport there’s a dedicated section for all the events, news stories and videos related to that sport. So if you want to monitor the synchronised swimming event or are more interested in beach volleyball, you can select and follow whatever you like.
The app is especially cool if you live in the UK yourself. Featuring 24 live streams of action, you’ll be able to pretty much follow any sport throughout it’s competition, as well as picking up highlight videos and BBC’s own live coverage. What would have been awesome to see, but seems to be sadly missing from the app thus far, is the option to view the action with HD videos. However, even the promo adverts in-app (which are actually quite good) are very low resolution and look poor. I hope that when the games start for real, UK users will be able to choose to view HD vids (even if just over WiFi) otherwise all the live streaming coverage will be quite a waste. The other element missing is tablet support. Crisp HD videos, available to watch on an Android tablet would have been fantastic, so I think the BBC have missed a trick as people may as well just use the BBC iPlayer app.
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BBC Olympics – In-app promo vids are disappointingly low resolution
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BBC Olympics – In-app promo video
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BBC Olympics – Menu
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BBC Olympics – Front page
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BBC Olympics – Schedule calendar
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BBC Olympics – Live coverage coming soon
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BBC Olympics – Story page
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BBC Olympics – Find a sport
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BBC Olympics – Basketball
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BBC Olympics – Fencing
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BBC Olympics – Athlete profiles
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BBC Olympics – Athlete profile
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BBC Olympics – Athlete Twitter feeds
Usefulness:
For keeping up with the games as they progress; all the news, rumours, information, schedule and event stories as they develop, the app is a brilliant resource. It lacks a couple of features that would have made the app outstanding- HD videos and tablet support, but when the games start properly I really hope they at least have an option for viewing live events in a higher resolution.
Ease of Use:
The app is very easy to use and navigate. There are clear and easily accessed menus that help guide you around the wealth of information the app contains.
Frequently Used:
Right now probably not that much. There’s lots of current news being published as athletes arrive into London from all over the world, but the app will be used far more frequently once the games themselves start.
Interface:
The interface is very polished and slick. BBC does have a habit of making really good apps- their official news application has been incredibly well received- and this is reflected in this lush and beautifully designed Olympics app.