My Week 1 NFL 13 app review

[pc747]

Less than a month ago, the NFL 13 app was getting pounded on the boards and in reviews in the Google play store for blocking out root users. Just like with everything involving football, once the ball is kicked off and the season is underway everything before that is forgotten and now it is time to play ball. Well I used the app to its fullest last night and I want to talk about it. So stay tuned after the break to hear my thoughts on this app.

 

[mountainbikermark]

Verizon phones also updated to the same app, which took away being able to hear the radio announcement of the games being played, which made it totally useless for me now. It also, on all my devices, kept sending push notifications even though I had them set to off.
"Frozen on the phone, deleted on the rest of my repertoire" would be my review.

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[pc747]

My all time favorite app has always been the nfl mobile app. When I had my phone on verizon I would not run a rom unless that app would work on it and when I left verizon I was trying to figure out how I was going to be able to listen to the the games via the app. Thankfully you do not have to be a Verizon subscriber to listen to live nfl games via the app. You do however have to be on verizon to use the live features like NFL Network, Sunday Night Football, and Monday Night Football. But for what I needed it for yesterday I was all set and ready to go thanks to me subscribing to the audio pass feature.
Now before the game I must admit I was sweating bullets as you can tell the techs were working overtime to get the audio pass services up and keep it going in fact that is the one area I had issue with. With 4 weeks of pre season why haven't all the bugs been worked out and everything ready by kick off week. For the NFL kick off Sunday and Superbowl Sunday are probably the highest rated days for the entire nfl season. Week 1 people are glad that football is back and the Superbowl is the granddaddy of them all. So you would think someone up there would have set a time table to make sure everything was set to go by kickoff especially since people have to pay $30 for subscription services (referring to nfl audio pass).

But I have to say once the game kicked off the app audio pass feature on my tablet looked and performed much better than on my computer. I was able to go the entire game without a hiccup as far as the audio pass feature went. So overall I was really impressed with the app and the audio pass feature. As a user you want an app to work and allow you to enjoy the game. Early on when I was trying to listen to it via my computer on the nfl website I spent more time dealing with it auto logging you out every 5 mins and not allowing you to log in (thankfully that was more doing the pre-game talk). Because of that I was prepared to give the app a grade of F but once I pulled it up on my tablet it performed flawless for the duration of the game and that is what I expect as a subscriber. So overall I have to say the app looks really good, especially on a tablet (ie my Nexus 7). They probably should have done a better job explaining to users that the audio pass feature will not be available until game time as I spent too much time trying to find the tab only to get frustrated then once the game was 10 mins from starting up you was able to access it from the game center. Also I have to note the play by play graphics looked awesome for a tablet and looked identical to the experience you would get on your computer. So they did a good job making the tablet the go to source for nfl content on sundays.

Overall grade: B-

I feel the app still have areas that needs improvement as I said earlier they should make it clear that the audio pass feature will be made available at around kickoff of the game you are trying to follow. I also felt they could have done a better job with how they organized the content. As an At&t subscriber they should keep all verizon premium features on one tab and the features for every one else on another. I also felt that for what they are charging for the audio pass feature they should have done a better job with bandwidth management so the user could experience a smooth experience without having it stop or having issues with the site crashing early on. But as the day went on the experience improved. I would recommend this app and the audio pass feature to fans who want to follow their team who do not have directv. Personally I prefer listening to the radio commentators over the tv commentators, yesterday when the game was played on our local station I muted the tv and listened to the radio commentators. The radio commentators do a much better job of keeping the content and the information strictly to the game on the field while tv commentators at times seem to get distracted by celebrities in the crowd and what is going on elsewhere. For those who used the app I want to get your experience. I will post the app link and audio pass subscription link below. And I will periodically do reviews of this app so users can keep track of whether the developers are improving the app over time or just satisfied with being above average. If the developers continue to improve this app and the content it could easily be one of the best apps on the play store hands down.


https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gotv.nflgamecenter.us.lite&hl=en

https://audiopass.nfl.com/nflap/sec...ampaign=Prod_AP_Nav&cvsorc=Homepage.AP.GP_Nav

 

[johnomaz]

Verizon phones also updated to the same app, which took away being able to hear the radio announcement of the games being played, which made it totally useless for me now. It also, on all my devices, kept sending push notifications even though I had them set to off.
"Frozen on the phone, deleted on the rest of my repertoire" would be my review.

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Pretty much same thing happened with the NHL GameCenter app. Used to have free audio streaming, not anymore. The new app is pure junk. I just put a URL shortcut on my home screen to go to the mobile website. Why must they kill apps that are so good with ones that are so bad.

 

[pc747]

I personally do not mind paying for content like audio pass or other online features. They are making money off of their content. The directvs and comcast pays for it and charge you for it so I expect the NFL to charge for its content. What I like is that I do not have to be subscribed to a particular carrier to do so with listening to the game. The only issue I will have to subscribing to that content would be if it kept crashing then I am calling wanting my money back.

I know this may be one of those things where some may not feel they should have to pay... I understand that opinion as well but I also understand why they charge for it.

 

[mountainbikermark]

Pretty much same thing happened with the NHL GameCenter app. Used to have free audio streaming, not anymore. The new app is pure junk. I just put a URL shortcut on my home screen to go to the mobile website. Why must they kill apps that are so good with ones that are so bad.

Thanks for the tip

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[johnomaz]

Not sure if there are any hockey fans on DF.net, but I bought this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=hockeyradio.activities It has all the web audio streams for all the NHL teams. The streams are free on the web via the respective radio station broadcasts, but the app puts them all in an easy spot to get to them. I quit using NHL GameCenter because even getting the scores and schedule was a bad process. The app got so slow and clunky. Maybe the NFL one does more then the NHL one does, but still, making the user experience worse is the wrong direction IMO. They have one for football too https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=radio.activities YMMV.

 

[dgstorm]

Thanks for the writeup pc747. Very informative!

 

[pc747]

Screenshot of the app on my n7

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4