ESPNCricinfo has pushed a new update for its existing official app for the Apple iOS and Android platforms. The new app brings fresh and revamped user experience along with several new features as well as under the hood improvements. We were given a nearly final version build of the ESPNCricinfo to play with which is now available in the Apple App store.
The ESPNCricinfo website has been quite famous for its real-time score updates, scoreboards, live commentary and exhaustive content. Now imagine all of it being bundled into a mobile app. Many would presume it to be a loaded app with too little content and multiple links on the home screen but that is not the case.
ESPNCricinfo app version 3.0 for the iOS arrives with a fresh user experience, smooth transitions-animations and several tweaks. To start off, the app loads with a visual guided tour of the new changes that have taken place in the app.
Honestly, we simply blown away by the smooth transitions, intelligent content packaging, endless view modes for several sections and most importantly – the content took less than a second to load quickly.
The top part is covered by the score summary of the current matches being played anywhere – be it International cricket matches or domestic cricket matches. This dedicated window also has tabs that one can swipe through to know the scores of multiple matches being played at different places or scores of the matches that just finished.
Below it is the header that gives a quick access to the different categories of content – News, Fixtures, Videos, Blogs and Photos. On the top right corner is a latch button to bring in the Settings panel side panel. In this panel, you can access the settings to choose your location or country for getting the content for that particular region. Whenever you change, the content in the categories changes accordingly.
Every category has select number of content available by default and the user can always continue loading more. New additions include the Number Crunching that gives interesting number involving factoid for cricket lovers and the Quote-Unquote – most memorable and important quotes. The content for each section is specially optimised for the mobile screen and loads very quickly.
Scoreboard is the place where most users would like spend their time while a match is in progress. There is a concise and full scoreboard just like the one offered on the ESPNCricinfo website. Best part is that you can also get push notifications not only for the scores but also for any new content being pushed in the different sections.
When tapped on the top box for current score at the home screen, the app takes you to the detailed scoreboard view where in the users can see the complete score statistics in detail. Users can also tap on the tiny icons to choose their view – completely numerical or with textual commentary. Apart from that, you can also view the Match Graph to see infographic of the runs scored. This infographic carries snapshot of the ground and the runs scored by different colour coding around the ground.
The last tab on the Scoreboard panel at the home screen takes the user to three options – Live scores, Results and Fixtures (Time table). Each of these options has a toggle button at the top for INT (International) and DOM (Domestic) matches information. At any of the settings, the user can tap on a player’s name and get the complete profile of the player along with career statistics.
The developers have also tried to make the app more social. That means from most sections, you can share the scores or other content with your friends over Facebook or Twitter network. You just have to sign in to those social networks through this app. Apart from that, all the news, scores and blogs will carry Commenting capability right from the app. Just so that you can interact with other users and share-learn interesting information. Most interesting is the Offline Reading option that allows the user to select/Favorite a content to be read later in offline mode. 
The season ball animation loader at the center of the screen has been used perfectly to keep the user’s attention and also get along with the soul of the app – Cricket.
We found the app really smooth and the content has always been enjoyable since it loads quickly. With specifically tailored content and push notifications about the scores in real-time shall keep every cricket lover connected to the matches.
ESPNCricinfo app makers promised us that the landscape mode will be made available along with few exciting features in the next interim update. Not only that, the app also has video tutorials on how to use the app and make the best out of it.
After using the app for good amount of time, we can say that if you really love cricket, then you must have this app on your iOS device to stay updated and read as much as interesting content related to cricket from some of the best and seasoned authors.