by Philip Michaels , Macworld.com Cable sports giant ESPN offers a mobile app that lets you watch live sports and shows onyour iPhone or iPad no matter where you happen to be. The app iscalled WatchESPN . And I would certainly love to, if I could get the app todependably stream video. WatchESPN has been available on the App Store for more than a year now , though the app originally was limited to select cable providers.When ESPN added Comcast to the ESPNWatch fold earlier this year, I finally got the chance to sample the app andits streaming options not just the ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU cablechannels but also sports being shown on the company s ESPN3 onlinechannel. (An updated list of cable providers that support WatchESPNis available on the app s App Store page .) Simple Sign-In: It s easy enough to get started with WatchESPN;Comcast subscribers, for example, can sign in from within the appitself. Getting started with WatchESPN is an uncomplicated process. Youchoose your cable provider from the list displayed in the app. Thesign-in procedure may vary from there, but if you re a Comcastcustomer like me, you sign in using your Comcast ID from within theapp. I was even able to retrieve my forgotten password from withinWatchESPN. And I can remain logged in, so that I only have to signin initially. From there, you jump to a screen listing all the programs currentlyavailable for live streaming. Both the iPad and iPhone versions ofWatchESPN have a carousel displaying featured programing, alongwith a scrollable list; the iPad uses its extra screen real estateto offer some different views of content. Picture Quality: When you ve got a strong signal, it s a joy toview live sports on WatchESPN.. It s once you tap on an event or show in the list that themagic or disappointment begins. After a short wait, the stream ofyour program begins playing. Whether or not it will continueplaying, however, can be a hit or miss affair. I ve put the appthrough its paces for the past week, and I can t claim to havegotten a consistent experience. At its best, WatchESPN willcontinuously pipe live sports action to your iPhone or iPad, withthe occasional buffering hiccup. And at its worst? The app willlose the stream entirely, bouncing you back to the list ofavailable programs. Sometimes in my testing, the picture wouldfreeze and then speed up to catch up with the live stream; othertimes, I d lose the video entirely (though the audio wouldcontinue to play), with no apparent way to bring it back. This isn t necessarily ESPN s fault. Its app is at the mercy ofwhatever network you happen to be connected to, and if you re outand about, that can change as rapidly as the momentum in a StanleyCup playoff game. ...but you re at the mercy of whatever network you re connectedto. I had my best success with the app when I stayed in one place witha strong Wi-Fi or 3G signal I was able to watch a France-Serbiasoccer friendly or the latest episode of SportsCenter without any show-stopping problems. Unfortunately, that doesn treally mirror the most likely use case for WatchESPN: You relikely to use the app when you re on the go. I tried watching abaseball game on my evening commute ride home on public transit,for example, and would lose the feed anytime my ride hit an areawhere AT&T s network coverage was less than optimal. Again,ESPN can t do much about that, but when all I want to do is checkin on a baseball game and I can t, I don t really care whetherthe app or my wireless carrier is at fault. To ESPN s credit, it does a good job with the things that are inits control. Besides the smooth login process, WatchESPN does makeit very easy to find programming to watch, whether it s liveevents or replays of already-completed games. The app also offersmultiple ways to search for upcoming events by sport or channel.That said, the app only offers a list of upcoming events it wouldbe nice if I could set a reminder that the app will be streamingnext week s Poland-Greece European Championships opener ratherthan having to rely on my dodgy memory. An app like WatchESPN exists so that rabid sports fans like myselfcan take comfort in the knowledge that a must-see game is only justa few taps away. For that app to be a success, I need to know thatif I happen to be away from my TV when some athlete somewhere isdoing something amazing, all I have to do is take out my iPhone,fire up WatchESPN, and enjoy the sweet relief of live video. Theapp can t do that dependably not at this point, at any rate.It s worth having on your iOS device as an option for viewing livesports, but you need to be ready to live with WatchESPN s currentlimitations. [ Philip Michaels is Macworld.com s editor. He enjoys watchingsports because of his dull interior life. ]. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Micro Stereo Speakers Manufacturer , Mono Bluetooth Headset Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Wireless Indoor Outdoor Speaker today!
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