The Games 2014 app review: the best unofficial app for the Sochi 2014 Olympics

Introduction

The best-selling app from London 2012 is back! This time completely redesigned to cover the Winter Olympic Games, this unofficial app has beaten out all apps that were made for the last Olympic games, simply by always being up to date and bringing the latest news to the people who bought the app. I have been lucky. When developer SubZeroApps actually released The games 2014 in the App Store, I got it completely for free; however, now this app, which is designed for iPad and iPhone, will set you back $2.99.  Will this app be able to take the gold away from the official Sochi 2014 apps?

Design and Usability

All in all, this app is designed very well. You can see that the developer has learned from mistakes made in last years’ app, but there is one thing it can’t deliver on. The official Olympic feel that the official Sochi Apps do deliver. Keeping in mind that the other apps are completely free, I think that the developer of this app should have talked to the IOC and offered them their services to create the official app. There is nothing bad to say about this app, since it works fantastically and it loads fast, but it doesn’t do any of these things better than the other official apps out there.

 

Features

The Games 2014 has definitely got a lot of stuff going for it, and all of these features have been improved since the best-selling London 2012 app. You can, however, tell that the IOC and its developer have taken a long hard look at the app by SubZeroApps as this year the feature set of both apps are the same. You can set favorites, you can follow individual events, there is a full-fledged calendar, a news section and so on. The only difference is that the official app is free of charge, while this app will set you back about three dollars. And of course that the official app looks official and will have all the official news.

 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• As good as the official app
• A ton of cool features
• Easy to use and well-designed

 

Cons

• No official assets are used, as this isn’t allowed by the IOC
• The app costs money, while the official one is free

 

Conclusion

I would not use this app during the Olympic Games in Sochi, simply because I think the Official app is a lot better than this one. Not only due to the fact it looks like an Olympic App, but also because it’s free. This app will set you back $2.99 and why would you pay for something that you can get absolutely free? All in all it is a very good app, but never outshines the other apps available. The app is compatible with both iPad and iPhone and takes up only just under 5 MB.