Formula 1 If you’re not a fan or motor sport and specifically that cavalcade of howling V8s, prima donna drivers, politics and general lunacy that is Formula 1 then this weeks app is not for you. Formula1.com Formula1.com View the chaos on the pit lane (left) while you track the laps (right) If you are, the Formula1.com app relays …
This won't happen hopefully, one of the conditions of the Concorde Agreement is that it must be free to air in major regions, purely because the team money comes in large from sponsorship and if you slash the audience then the sponsors will bail.
I refuse to give Murdoch money.
So I registered on F1.com, but the app (a) forces the password characters to be entered in upper-case, and (b) shows the characters.
Also appears that the app won't let you enter numbers as part of the password either. Unless something is really odd with my Android keyboard (SlideIT)
The app came out at least a year ago on iPhone but was also available on Symbian handsets (worked on my c902 no probs). Not sure if Vodafone was delaying the deployment of the Android version as it took a long time to come and apps that tried to use the same info in Android were given the cease and desist. At the time, Vodafone was heaviliy promoting the iPhondle.
Haven't checked for a while, but there's no native iPad version which is a shame as it could do alot on that form factor. But things may have changed!
Anyway, we all have it now. Handy when you can't have access to a pc and launch the java live timing app while watching the race/qualy.
...Its been available for Windows Mobile for at least the last 3 seasons, that I know of, with the exact same look and feel.
Its also been available for many other phones (even "dumb" phones) for the same amount of time, which is not surprising as it is, with the exception of the iOS version, actually a JAVA app.
Oddly the developers dropped the version for the HTC HD2 this season yet retained versions for other Windows Mobile devices. Bastards! Online Java version it is for me now... Thank god for Wi-Fi and mobile tethering!
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But can't remember.
TBH it's a good app, but I still set up my laptop in front of me and use the main website during the race - and fortunately I also remember not to if I'm watching a recorded race (I do know a couple of people at least who've logged as they've started to watch the race a few hours later
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... just touch/click the column headings. If you touch the "lap time" heading it cycles through "Lap time" "Gap" and "Interval". Same feature on the sector column. And if you turn the phone sideways in landscape the sectors expand...
I've been using it religiously since the start of the season. It’s a great app. Very useful if you can’t be in front of a TV at the time the race is on.
... just touch/click the column headings. If you touch the "lap time" heading it cycles through "Lap time" "Gap" and "Interval". Same feature on the sector column. And if you turn the phone sideways in landscape the sectors expand...
I've been using it religiously since the start of the season. It’s a great app. Very useful if you can’t be in front of a TV at the time the race is on.
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Formula 1 release a version of this every year, this is the 2011 version. It most definitely appeared on iOS first - three years ago - which is why it look like an iPhone app. Not that it matters. It's a great app and a great free alternative to the £20 (per season) F1 Timings app which has pretty graphics and a better driver tracker.
...this had some way of giving David Coulthard an electric shock when I pressed a button on the screen. That way, every time he pronounced Nick Heidfeld's name incorrectly, I could reach for the lightening bolt and send a few volts up his jacksy... that would wipe the smug smile off his face (to be fair, I'd be even more smug if I was him and had achieved as much as he had and was as rich as he is).
There could also be buttons that do unpleasant things to Eddie Jordan and that bloke with the iPad whenever they talk bollocks.
In all seriousness, though, after reading this review I think I'm gonna download this one. Thanks for the recommendation, El Reg.
Having both an Android phone with the official F1 app installed and a Linux netbook with the Java-based live timing app loaded from www.formula1.com using Firefox, the latter is the clear winner.
This is mainly because the "large" window on the Java timing app contains everything I need to see neatly in one screen, whereas the Android app, by necessity, is cramped and involves you constantly switching screens to find the info you need.
Even with my 8.9" netbook screen, a quick F11 for full screen allows the large Java window to fit perfectly and I just glance occasionally at it whilst watching the race without having to press any key/screen at all. The *only* reason I'd ever use the Android app is if I couldn't see the race on TV and I didn't have my netbook with me, which would be highly frustrating (and unlikely) on both counts anyway!
Trivia point: Has anyone noticed that the BBC F1 coverage on Freeview (SD or HD) is often 5-6 seconds behind the formula1.com live timing? Very noticeable in free practice and qualifying where you can compare the TV's session countdown clock with the one on the live timing. It does mean I can shout out fastest laps and pit stops before they get mentioned on TV though :-)
Works fine on my N8, coupled with the driver tracker from the BBC (tho for how much longer remains to be seen) on the Laptop & Im fully geared up to watch the race.
For a true departure in new media, F1 should hook up properly with Kangaroo/FanVision to offer their output for home use not just at the track. I'd buy that for a £.
The iPhone app does show gaps, I think. I've only just downloaded it so I'm looking at historical data mind. Go to the timing view and tap the "Lap Time" column heading, it then cycles through various types of data for that column, one of which is "Gap". Don't have Android kit to test if the same is true for that platform.
I Like it, but it does keep freezing up and generally misbehaving. Its at its best when being used during a race - I particularly like that it gives the sector times, and I see that data and who is in pit and out on track a split second before the commentators tell us and before the BBC feed updates on the telly. But it did freeze multiple times during the Canadian race and at one point the data was just wrong!
Of course if you truly are a petrol head geek you'll work out the data stream protocol that FOM supply and write your own app to display it (like what I did for a homebrew project). You just need a formula1.com account to authenticate against their back end servers and then scrape the data down into your app.
That way you can display/process/crunch it anyway you like on whatever device you prefer
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