ESPN ScoreCenter gets much needed update on HTC EVO
This guest article was written by Sam Sarsten.
One of my favorite apps on my iPod touch is ESPN ScoreCenter. I can check my favorite teams’ scores, easily swipe between sports, rearrange teams with no problem, and access news and standings within a particular sports’ card.
Cut to the Android version of the app that I've been using on my HTC EVO 4G for nearly a year, and it's a very different experience.
Up until recently, I had use some awkwardly placed tiny buttons to change sports. There was no way to rearrange my favorite teams without deleting every team and re-adding them in my preferred order. And if I wanted to check how my team was doing in the standings (especially useful during playoff races), I had to click on a recent game, then the team (which loads ESPN’s Mobile Web), then the standings. I always loved the fact that there was a widget, but the other lacking features left me disappointed in the Android product ESPN gave me.
Thankfully, most of my previous problems have been fixed.
Last week, I noticed an update for ScoreCenter in the Android Market. I thought it was simply another stability update, but then I realized that the version got bumped to 2.0.0. And after downloading and using it for the past week, I have to tip my hat and say "Bravo, ESPN."
There is a now new card called "The Lead," where you can find top news and videos that actually play well – even over 3G. Under each sport card is a new tiny button that allows the user to easily switch from scores to news or standings. On top of that, swiping between cards and rearranging sports/teams easily are now part of the app.
Looking at the reviews on the Market, I see that most devices are having issues with the update. But I can’t complain; my OG EVO loves the new version.
There is a bug in the widget that causes it to not update as it should (it's been showing scores from the day before), but a few simple clicks (switching to a different team and then switching back) seem to fix it. This should be addressed by ESPN soon, hopefully along with the issues others are having too.
There are many other scoreboard apps out there. Yahoo!'s Live Scores and ScoreMobile for Android are a few of the alternatives people seem to like. But I'm sticking with ScoreCenter and hope that ESPN realizes that Android users don't like being a year behind their iOS counterparts. What do you guys think of ScoreCenter? Which scoreboard app do you use?
Links: Market (EVO) | Market (web)
This guest article was written by Sam Sarsten.
