Die-hard Olympic fans can use apps to track their favorite events, from table tennis to the 50-yard dash
PERHAPS YOU'VE HEARD: The Olympics are here. We know, there are you grumps out there who couldn't care less. You can stop reading now. Still here? That means you're like me: completely psyched. The bite-size back stories of hometown heroes, the long-odds underdogs, the track and field events, and yes, even the synchronized swimming—how could you not have a little bit of Olympic fever? (click below to read more)
TV has always been the key ingredient of the long-distance Olympic fan experience, but with these Games, it just isn't complete without a few apps. There seem to be more apps than opening-ceremony acrobats. Many of the apps are disappointing, however—including, oddly enough, the two official releases from the London Olympics' organizing committee and countless indie versions not worth your 99 cents or the space on your iPhone. The apps from the two biggest Olympics players are stellar enough that they're all you'll really need.
BBC Olympics (free, iOS and Android) funnels content from the BBC's dedicated mobile website. Whether it's evidence of good journalism or an outpouring of national pride—these are the London 2012 Olympics, after all—the BBC has done a jolly good job of it, with in-depth analyses of the history of each sport, as well as profiles of its rising stars and recent news. Though videos at press time were limited, they ran smoothly. Expect a wide variety of events to be viewable—thousands of hours in all—once the Games get under way July 27.
NBC Olympics Live Extra
Not surprisingly, the BBC's app skews slightly toward the U.K., with outsize coverage of local athletes and the sports they might medal in. For the American side of that coin, there's the NBC Olympics Live Extra app (free, iOS and Android), where the multimedia content focuses less on soccer and more on Michael Phelps. The standout feature is its calendar. For those bewildered by Olympic diversity or interested only in, say, table tennis and dressage (it happens, I'm sure), there's an orderly, scrollable timetable of every event, with the ability to set an alarm in advance of each live broadcast so you can put down whatever you're doing and hit the couch with a sports drink. (If you miss anything, it offers full replays of events.) The iPad version of the app is better at unpacking these cluttered schedules, and should provide a better viewing experience. You can watch events live on this app, but there's a catch: you have to be a cable or satellite TV subscriber to view most of them. Nonsubscribers should use the NBC Olympics app, which gives you access to a more limited selection of videos.
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