FirstCuts: iPhone's At Bat App Isn't Even Worth Five Bucks ... Unless You Don't Own a TV

Like many sports-minded iPhoners out there, I imagine, the MLB At Bat iPhone application was the first one that I paid money for. It’s $4.99, which is whatever, the cost of two medium Slurpees, not exactly bank-breaking have-to-tell-your-wife territory. Nevertheless, in that so many apps for the iPhone are free, and in that this one actually cost me something, I have to say I’m a bit disappointed. Below is a video, somewhat fuzzy, that pretty much shows you everything the app does:
What you see there is pretty much what you get out of this thing. When you open it, you get a scrollable list of today’s games with scores if the games are under way. Highlight the game and you get the nine-inning line-score at the bottom of the screen with each team’s current pitcher listed. You can flick the screen to the left (one-day ahead) or to the right (one-day back) to see tomorrow’s matchups and yesterday’s scores.

Next to each game’s score there’s a camera icon, and if you click on that, you get a scrollable list of video highlights that are continually updated as the game progresses. Click on any of the highlights and you can watch them on the phone’s video player in profile. For instance, I just opened up the highlights from yesterday’s Phils/Marlins game and watched Jorge Cantu’s walk-off single, which afforded me the luxury of reliving the moment and all of the rage and anxiety that filled my heart. Good times.

Now, keep in mind, I’m using an old iPhone here, not the new 3G model. So when I’m running the At Bat app over WiFi, the videos are, as you would expect, prompt and excellent quality. Over the Edge network, however, they take forever to load are nearly unwatchable quality-wise. I would guess they are better on 3G, although who knows.

Even if they are, though, I wouldn’t much care. The videos are cool, but they’re not that big a deal to me. Mostly what I want this app to do is be a living boxscore that I can access at all times, and as far as that goes, it’s kind of whack. It doesn’t even provide a friggin' boxscore, even when the game is over, just an updated line-score and the videos. That’s what you get for five bucks, and get this -- that five bucks only covers the rest of this season. You’re going to have to re-up with another five, or probably ten, bucks for 2009.

At that level, let me tell you something -- don’t buy this thing unless you like don’t have a TV or something and therefore the only way you can see highlights of baseball games is on your little baby iPhone. Because there are other sports apps out there that do a better job of keeping you informed, and what’s more they’re free, and what’s even more, they’re forever.

Like a little something called “SportsTap” for instance, which I’ll be reviewing later in the week ...

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.