Masseym drops our latest Lightning Review, for MLB At Bat ($4.99 at iTunes), which we publish today even though masseym clearly was trying to play this Minnesota boy's heart by using a Twins game in his screenshot. We're publishing Lightning reviews of iPhone apps nearly every day, write your review in our forums and you'll get a chance to win a 25% off coupon to our iPhone accessories Store. Click here for full details!
As an avid baseball fan (ok, just the Mets) living in Texas, I was excited when MLB announced their app. I could see the strike/ball/out counts live and then watch highlight clips from anywhere in the world! What an exciting application.
Well, after $4.95 I am disappointed. The app refreshes only once per minute, so there is no "live" update to strike count. It does have a small "on base" display, but again, only updates every minute. No box score or other stats.
I was most excited about the highlights. On my wifi connection, the highlights are AWESOME! 30 to 45 second clips of the "exciting" parts. They are delayed about 2-3 minutes after the actual action, but that involves the encoding of the video on MLB's end.
On 3G and EDGE, the video is a different story. They are TERRIBLE. You can't even make out who the players are since MLB compresses the video so highly. I can somewhat understand on EGDE, but 3G too? Come on.
Pros:
- Wifi highlights
- $4.95 for the rest of the season
- Baseball anywhere I go and have a signal
Cons:
- TERRIBLE video on EDGE and 3G networks
- 1 minute refresh rate isn't instantaneous for balls/strikes/outs
- NO additional data (i.e. box scores, etc)
