by For sports aficionados on the go, ESPN’s long-available ScoreCenter app is a handy resource for up-to-the-minute scores, game breakdowns, news updates, and video highlights. Essentially, it’s the ESPN web package wrapped up in a solid mobile app. So how does the sports juggernaut’s new ESPN SportsCenter Feed app vary in execution or otherwise supplement its existing option?
Compared to the more robust (and obviously score-centric) ScoreCenter, ESPN SportsCenter Feed makes news its primary focus, serving up a simple listing of story links divided however you see fit. Logging in with an ESPN.com account, you can pick favorite teams and access related stories for each on the fly, or read a single feed that encompasses all of your favorites. Additionally, the app features built-in feeds for all ESPN.com stories, top and most popular stories, and video-centric pieces, along with a feed for each major sports league.
Tapped stories load quickly enough on a plain white screen, with customizable font size options and the ability to favorite or share stories through social means. The feeds themselves aren’t much to look at, however, and they’re frequently cluttered; due to ESPN’s myriad blogs and dedicated city sites, you’ll sometimes see a few variations of the same story in succession on the feed. Some sort of threaded option for each major story would be a huge help in that regard. Add in low-resolution banner ads and occasional unrelated story hits (like X-Games pieces in a Chicago Bears feed) and it doesn’t seem like a lot of care is put into what shows up in each feed.
The bottom line. With ScoreCenter providing news alongside many other features, making room for yet another ESPN app hardly seems essential with SportsCenter Feed.
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