Hoping to watch some of the opening rounds of the NCAA "March Madness" basketball tournament on your Android phone or tablet? It might be harder than you think.

Hoping to watch some of the opening rounds of the NCAA "March Madness" basketball tournament on your Android phone or tablet? It might be harder than you think.

Users can download the NCAA March Madness app for Android as well as the iTunes App Store. As PCMag's , users can download the app for free, and receive schedules, stats, and live streaming radio of the games for free.

For live video, however, you'll need to pay $3.99 to see the free video of all 67 games, available for streaming over 3G or Wi-Fi. Video of the teams practicing will also be available, as will post-game highlights - although that's just for those with iOS devices.

According to the developers, Turner Sports Interactive, the app will be usable by all Android phones running OS 2.2 to 2.3.7. However, Turner also lists a few phones that support "the best viewing experience" for the app.

The problem, however, is that the number of optimized phones is relatively small, and favors Samsung devices. If you don't have one of the latest superphones, your results may vary. Those phones that are supported include: the , , , , , , , , , and the .

"We have to evaluate all carriers and manufacturers as best we can for the 2012 NCAA March Madness Live app," Turner said in an emailed response to questions from PCMag. "While we would love to support a wider range of devices, there are almost 70 different Android devices on sale in the U.S. currently, and many more that are still in use despite no longer being on sale. To provide the best experience across the most number of devices, we selected the most common Android devices that preserved our high-expectations for video quality."

None of the optimized devices include Android tablets, however, and it's unclear what the experience will be like once live play begins on Tuesday.

On one hand, Turner says this: "Devices not on the list may still offer a good experience. If your device is listed above and you're having problems accessing the video, please try closing the application and re-launching."

But tablet support is not guaranteed. "If your device is not listed as one of the approved and tested devices, we can not guarantee that the application will run correctly on that devices [sic]," Turner said in a FAQ, in response to the tablet issue.

Some of the initial user comments also aren't encouraging. "No live video with Verizon Galaxy Nexus. Works with Charge and doesn't look too bad on phone (selection show via wifi) but HDMI output is terrible," Bill Dean wrote, who also noted that the $3.99 upgrade still features ads. Most of the reviews for the app are either 5-star or 1-star, indicating the breadth of viewing experiences at press time. The comments, however, are almost uniformly negative, with many complaining about the lack of device support, video quality, or the lack of tablet support.

Users who buy the app via Android will still have access to the online video, Turner said. But there's also one odd line: "Beginning March 7, the apps for NCAA March Madness Live will be available in the iTunes App Store as a free download. Android apps will be available on Google Play as a free download before the tournament begins on Tuesday, March 13." (Emphasis ours.) That may mean that Turner may begin charging for the app on Tuesday; Turner didn't respond to that particular question.

The return policy for the Android Market (now Google Play) is 15 minutes; however, it doesn't apply to in-app purchases, like the live video upgrade.