Top 5 Android Apps - FIFA World Cup 2010

Top 5 Android Apps - FIFA World Cup 2010

While the iPhone packs a great number of excellent apps for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Android holds its own and offers a plethora of choices for users who want to follow the competition. The hype is only continuing to grow as now we are less than 24 hours away from what many call the most exciting tournament on earth. 

These five apps all bring something slightly different to the table, and diehard fans may consider downloading all five of them to stay informed. Even if you are just a casual follower of the World Cup, there is an Android app out there suited for you.

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1. World DroidCup

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This app is currently the highest downloaded for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and that comes as no surprise considering the number of features that it includes. A user can see the group listings, a competition tree and a fixtures (matches) table. In addition, there is a category within the app that allows a user to track real-time scores which obviously aren’t updated yet, but will be utilized when the games start.

The competition tree lays every qualified team out in an easy-to-read format, similar to a March Madness bracket. Next to each matchup is a blue “i,” which provides information on the venue, time, and round of the fixture.

One of the best features is the stadium map. The app uses Google Maps to pinpoint the locations where the games will be played. By selecting one of the map points, a user can learn the name of the stadium, the city, the capacity, and the number of matches that will be played at that location.

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2. 2010 World Cup

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While the name of the app isn’t anything spiffy, the 2010 World Cup app is one of the most detailed currently available on the Android market. Upon opening the app, a user can see a countdown with the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds until the first match.

The calendar is very detailed, and features flags under each date, allowing the user to know exactly who is playing without scrolling from day-to-day. From the calendar, a user can click on any day to get a detailed overview of its fixtures, including the time and location.

One caveat for the casual fans, though — the app uses three letter abbreviations for the countries, so if a user is unable to identify a country, he/she must click through to the scoring page for that fixture to identify it.

This app has an easy to digest news panel as well, allowing for the user to keep up with the latest updates throughout the tournament.

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3. World Cup 2010

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WC 2010 is yet another solid app that any football fan should consider downloading. The top navigation bar allows users to access the fixtures, the group standings, live updates and more options. There is also plenty of news available under the navigation.

The fixtures are set up differently than the other apps. A user can browse through each of the dates and see how many matchups are set to be played on that day. A user can expand and collapse the game days as he/she sees fit.

While it may not pack as many features as the previous two apps, it is worth downloading for the sheer amount of news content available.

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4. World Cup Essentials

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Any diehard World Cup fan will appreciate that World Cup Essentials packs not one, not two, but three separate countdowns for three major events in the competition: The opening concert, the kick off, and the finals. Timing aside, this app includes a plethora of information on each of the individual teams, including interesting historical information, such as a country’s biggest win(s), defeat(s) and a general background that reads like a biography.

The matches panel is also set up differently than the other apps, showing all of the fixtures by group. If you are a fan of a team in Group G or Group H, be prepared to scroll down a bit to find the fixtures list.

The one downside to this app is the awkward navigation at the top. To switch to different parts, a user must click on the tab name and then select from a list. If navigation isn’t something that bothers the Android user, this is a great download for any World Cup enthusiast.

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5. Goal.com Mobile

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Goal.com introduces another viable app choice for World Cup fans to consider. Upon opening the app, the user is presented with a news feed and can easily scroll across the secondary navigation bar to access live scores, teams, fixture lists, and stage standings/results. News junkies will want to check out the “Breaking” tab in the main navigation, which lists the latest stories and how long ago they were published.

Aside from World Cup content, club news is posted for the U.S. National Team, England, Mexico, Italy and Spain. Live scores are provided for each of the major football leagues around the world, and the user can access league standings under the “More” tab. While the app provides a great deal of World Cup information and updates, it is a recommended download for users who want to continue tracking world football well after the competition has ended.

Top 5 BlackBerry Applications - FIFA World Cup 2010

Top 5 BlackBerry Applications - FIFA World Cup 2010

BlackBerry fans aren’t quite as spoiled for choice as iPhone or Android owners when it comes to apps or the World Cup, but there some football-themed widgets worth a look. 

Here we offer four great World Cup apps (and one bonus), available direct from the BlackBerry App World store. Check them out and stay up to date with the proceedings in South Africa. The very best part? — they are all free!

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1. AP 2010 World Cup Coverage

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The Associated Press’s mobile offering is actually available across all major mobile platforms, with the BlackBerry version working like a Flash-based microsite.

The app is supported by VISA (see the banner across the top?), while the homepage gives you one top news story and what it deems “recent matches.” The fact that this section includes yet-to-be-played matches (with appropriately nil-nil scores) might confuse some not familiar with South Africa’s different time zone.
With the option to customize for the team you support, as well as select your preferred language, the app offers news, photos, teams and venues.

The photos and teams sections are basic, and the “previous” and “next” navigation buttons in the gallery don’t work at all (at time of review). The venues section offers a fairly decent summary of the 10 different South African stadiums, although we can’t imagine anyone lingering for long on this option.

Where the app shines is in the news arena, with decent, lengthy, full-fat news stories from the AP on all aspects of the tournament.

Cost: Free
Best for: News

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2. WC2010

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This colorful app offers a simple interface with a homepage, scores, stats and standings. The homepage gives you a big banner announcing the day’s matches and editorial covering all the news angles you’d expect from the tournament.

Although the score on the matches banner appears to take time to update, the news comes in fairly fast, so you may find yourself looking at a nil-nil score, while the top news story has a half-time update including goals scored.

The standings offer a nice group grid showing the various teams, rank, games played, won, drawn, lost, goals for and against, the goal difference and points.

Stats is where this app comes into its own with a table providing info on goals, yellows cards and red cards, all organized by player and team. The detailed data is there if you need it, and we know that there are those of you out there that do.

Cost: Free
Best for: Stats

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3. Goal Mobile

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Goal Mobile from Goal.com has the most comprehensive football app here, which is a mixed blessing if you’re just a casual footie fan.

You have to hand over your email address before you can get going, but once you do you’ve got a plethora of options to chose from with a dual layer, tightly packed tab interface.

Unless you are interested in Football Leagues from around the world (there are many covered by this app), then keep yourself on the World Cup 2010 tab on the top menu. From there you can chose to browse the news, live scores, teams, match-results, group stage and knockout stage areas from another menu.

The news is varied, encompassing straight news, comment pieces, previews and reports, all with options to share on social networking site. The stories themselves are in-depth — the previews alone offer team overviews, past results, players to watch, a form guide and current team news.

The live scores section is worth a look as it makes clear which are the pre-match nil-nils, as opposed to final scores, and offers data from the day before and matches from the next day, while the teams section simply offers a list of matches (and results if they’ve been played) rather than any kind of half-hearted, haphazard bio.

However, for us this app was buggy, throwing up a ton of error messages that required some clicks to get past, sometimes multiple times in a row. It averages four stars from over 200 reviews, though, so it’s clearly hitting the right note with some BlackBerry-owning football fans.

Cost: Free
Best for: True football fans

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4. ScoreMobile FC

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If you’re not interested in the bells and whistles and just want cold, hard, football facts, then ScoreMobile FC is the app for you.

As with Goal Mobile, this is an app that covers a wider football gamut than just the World Cup. Make sure you select “FIFA” from the leagues menu when you first fire it up to get access to the World Cup.

Unlike all the other tab-based apps we’ve mentioned, ScoreMobile works with a drop down menu that offers scores, stats, tables and news.

Each of the options are fairly minimal from a design point of view — which we’d imagine would be good for your data bill — but present the essential facts in a clean and clear way.

The tables are particularly quick to access and easy to read while the stats only really offer useful info on goals scored.

The news here appears to be culled from AP’s stream, but presented without too many bells and whistles. If you have weak cell coverage or are counting the data pennies closely, you might prefer this to the more graphically rich AP offering.

Cost: Free
Best for: Minimalists

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5. South Africa on BlackBerry

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BlackBerry is pushing this app pretty hard with all manner of integration with your BB phone, such as push notifications, alerts to your inbox, the option to add games to your calendar as well as integration with BlackBerry’s “Messenger” service. Unfortunately the app is not compatible with our test handset — a BlackBerry Pearl 3G — (as this particular phone is not yet available in South Africa) so we were unable to get hands-on, but it looks like it’s worth a look if you own any other RIM-made handset. If you’ve already given it a try then let us know your impressions in the comments below.

How To - Follow the FIFA World Cup 2010 on Twitter

How To - Follow the FIFA World Cup 2010 on Twitter

The 2010 World Cup is going to be a very interesting one as far as social media goes — it’s the first to be played out in the Twitter :) era and the first to fully embrace the social media universe.
This bodes well for avid football fans keen to stay up to date with all the most recent news from their favorite players and teams. The real-time nature of Twitter may well entice these newcomers to hop on the micro-blogging site. To get new users ready for the action, we’ve got a few tips for how to follow the World Cup on Twitter complete with a list of who you should be following to stay informed on the games, news, and goings on in South Africa.

1. Hashtags and Searches

While Twitter’s hashtag system is a great way of monitoring a certain topic, and for getting real-time updates on what the Twitterverse is saying about a live event, the organic nature of exactly how the tags are decided can cause confusion. 

Currently, there seems to be a fair amount of footie-related tags in circulation, although we’d imagine by the first few days of the tournament these will be narrowed down as the most popular ones become trending topics and are adopted by tweeters.

At the moment, #worldcup seems to be the largest tag by volume of tweets, but #wc2010 is also doing the rounds, as is #2010worldcup. Don’t forget, however, that the World Cup is a global event, so different languages also come into play. In Spanish, World Cup is “Copa Mundial,” in French it’s “Coupe du Monde,” and so on.
Other tags have, of course, sprung up around teams. #England is what most people are using to refer to the England team, while mentions of the United States team can be found under the tag #USMNT.

To quickly access a stream of tweets containing a certain hashtag you can save a search on Twitter, so that the results are just a click away from your home page — and the search can be easily removed after it’s no longer relevant.

2. Lists

The World Cup only lasts for a month, so it’s unlikely you’ll want to permanently follow all the World Cup-related sources you’ll be getting your footie news from over the next four weeks, especially as many sources have been created solely for the event.
There’s a Top Tweets account direct from Twitter that algorithmically selects the “top tweets” about the World Cup. Simply follow the list and then you can unfollow it after the final.
Alternatively, if you’re just interested in the big headlines, rather than blow-by-blow coverage, TweetMeme’s World Cup 2010 aggregated feed of popular tweets might be of interest.
It’s more work, but if you’re a little more selective then you can create your own list and simply delete it after the tournament on July 11. To get you started we’ve made some suggestions of World Cup Twitter news resources that can be found below.

3. World Cup News Sources on Twitter

 Whether it’s the official FIFA feed, tabloid newspaper coverage, big broadcaster’s headlines or just the final scores, you’ll find the news you need in this list.

2010 FIFA World Cup – “The Twitter page of the 2010 Organizing Committee.” News and updates.
SA2010 World Cup – “Official 2010 FIFA World Cup South African Government website with all the information you need!” News, personal updates and commentary.
FIFAWorldCupTM – “The FIFA soccer world cup tweets. All the latest FIFA news and information on the 2010 soccer world cup.” Updates, human interest, emphasis on players and coaches.
TheFA.com – “The official website for the England Football Team and The FA Cup.” Updates on England players and live Tweets from England matches.
US Soccer – “U.S. Soccer: the governing body of soccer in all its forms in the United States.” Inside look at the US team, players and matches.
CNN World Cup – “All the latest news on the 2010 World Cup in South Africa from CNN International.” News and match scores culled from CNN reporters.
Telegraph World Cup – “World Cup 2010 news, analysis, pictures and video from Telegraph.co.uk” Links back to stories posted by The Telegraph.
NY Times Goal – “The New York Times Soccer Blog reports on the international game and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.” Live updates and links back to New York Times stories.
AP World Cup – “Join the conversation as @AP covers the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.” News, match scores and brief commentary.
BBC World Cup – “A feed dedicated to World Cup headlines from the BBC website.” Links back to BBC.
Sports Illustrated Soccer – “Soccer, World Cup coverage from Sports Illustrated and SI.com writers and photographers.” Player news and general features.
The Sun World Cup – “Follow all the latest news on the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with The Sun.” Mostly England updates and news, general match coverage.
Four Four Two – “Humorous but wholehearted, polished but readable, substantial but accessible, it’s football’s most insightful brand – with added F.U.N.” Quirky and off-beat updates, general news.
Fox Soccer News – “FOXSoccer.com headlines.” Links back to Fox Soccer.
World Cup Scores – “Live 2010 world cup soccer scores.” Match scores and live updates.
World Cup 2010 – With upcoming matches, top tweets, staff picks, media and individual feeds for eatch match, this account is a great one-stop shop.
UnivisionFutbol – “Univision Soccer World Cup: The last news, interviews, goal videos and exclusive photos from the South Africa 2010 World Cup.” Live tweets and general updates in Spanish.

Top 6 iPhone Applications - FIFA World Cup 2010

Call it whatever you like — football, soccer, the game with the black and white checkered ball that you kick around the field. Pick a name and get ready for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Every four years soccer fans go wild and neighborhood bars are packed to the brim in broad daylight with devoted viewers.
While the BBC and ITV apps that promise to stream the games and video highlights have yet to be released, there are still some great, free iPhone apps to satisfy your World Cup appetite.

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1. World Cup Countdown

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We know you’ve been counting the days until the non-stop soccer action. This app counts down the excitement by the days, minutes, hours and seconds until it all begins on June 11th. The app also has an interactive photo slideshow with a series of cool pictures of South Africa. You can click on the photos to learn more about each scene.
There are even interesting video and audio options, like a spectacular overview of the countryside and some local music and dance moves. It’s a great way to learn about the country hosting the games, especially if you are planning to attend in person.

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2. ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup

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This app has just about everything you need to prepare for the tournament. With a full schedule, you’ll never miss your team in action. The app allows you to select your favorite team or teams so you can easily keep track of all the news surrounding them. It also has full biographies and stats for each player for all 32 teams, so you’ll know exactly who is playing the game.
Super-fans will appreciate the app for its extensive history of the tournament, which dates back to 1930, and includes an overview, trivia and controversies for each year. Sign in with your myESPN account to post comments about your team or participate in the “Fantasy Bracket Predictor,” where you can attempt to forecast the outcome of each World Cup match.

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3. World Football Live!

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This app gives you the latest news about all things football/soccer from BBC Sports, Yahoo! Euro Sports, and ESPN. News is updated in real-time and you can bookmark your favorite articles or e-mail them to your friends. The app also lets users browse offline. Once you’ve updated the latest news, you can read all the downloaded articles without a WiFi or 3G connection.

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4. AP 2010 World Cup Coverage

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The Associated Press has been covering the games since the very beginning and is committed to giving fans full coverage. Once the games start, the app will provide up-to-the-minute news from more than 100 journalists in South Africa who will be covering the action. It has a multi-language platform and users can choose to get their soccer fix in English, Spanish, French or Portuguese.
With customizable skins for each team, you can show everyone (at least everyone you show your phone to anyway) who you are rooting for. There is an easy to follow schedule feature that shows which teams are playing and at what time. Also, a photo and video feature will be updated once the tournament starts. The app also has a “venue” feature and lists a bit of history and interesting facts about all 10 stadiums where the games will be played.

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5. World Cup Factoids and History

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If you really want to know what you’re talking about when you say that Germany is going to kick some butt, this is the app for you. With lists of every winner, host nation, defending champion and number of appearances since 1930, you’ll be able to make some informed predictions as to who will take home this year’s big title.
History buffs will swoon for the detailed chronicles of pre-tournament dates, starting with the world’s first international soccer match between Scotland and England in 1872. The app also connects you to news from BBC, ESPN and the official FIFA site. You can help spread World Cup fever (not that it really needs the help) by pressing the button that lets you tweet about the application.

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6. World Cup Trivia Challenge Lite

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Once you’ve brushed up on your facts and history, you’ll be ready for this game. Set on a soccer field, the lite version of this app has 50 questions that will test your soccer hooligan mettle. It’s a fast-paced game. With 90 seconds on the timer, you must answer questions like “How many nations appeared for the first time in 2006?”
Once you get three questions right, you score a “goal.” For every question you get wrong, your opponent (who isn’t actually answering any questions) scores a point. There are three stages to work through and it includes a penalty shoot-out for a tie game. You can even listen to the sounds of whistles, cheers and music from a real life game, or choose to turn them off.
Once you’ve mastered all 50 questions, you can upgrade to the paid version for $1.99, where 600 more questions are ready to test your fandom.