Being that rare sports-fanatic-come-android-fanboy hybrid, the first search I did on the Market upon getting an Android device was for a sports app. I've tried all the freebies - SportsTap, while flawed and downright frustrating at times, is a must for its clean widget and somewhat-timely notifications. However, tts play-by-play is at times a joke. Let's jump in.
The Widget: Thumbs Up
The SportsTap widget offers a clean, up-to-date glance at your favorite teams.
Coming from an iPhone 3G, widgets are brilliant - but only if they work right. In that regard, the ST widget performs flawlessly. Offering a quick look at your favorite teams' most recent games, current matches in progress, and upcoming events, it's find to hard something to complain about here. With a clean look that integrates nicely with the stock Android UI, it's a must-have for sports fan-droids and is miles ahead of offerings from LiveScores and Google's own Scoreboard, which glitched out frequently on my Android 2.1 device. The only thing I would like to see added in a future update is standings, which must be accessed inside the app. What is this, 2007?
Widget: 5/5 Stars
The Notifications: Thumbs Half-Heartedly Up
SportsTap offers plentiful alert options
Let me be clear: SportsTap offers the best and most versatile notification system on the Market right now. However, that's not saying much considering the competition either doesn't offer this function or fails at it hard. Score/point/goal alerts usually come within 5-10 minutes of the actual event in the real world, which is fine or not-so-good depending on your need. It's great if you just want to be kept in the loop on your favorite teams' happenings while you're out and about, but it can be embarrassing to text your brother "BOOYAH K-MO GRAND SLAM!!!!!" an hour after it happens. Not that I would know. Cough. Anyway, the options are plenty and varied, offering alerts at specified intervals, game start/end, and at events (goals, etc.). One annoying bug was that some notifications seemed to arrive more than once - especially game end alerts. Yes, I know, SportsTap, we lost to Oakland 10-1. No need to rub it in. Hopefully this will be fixed in future releases.
Notifications: 3/5 Stars
The Play-By-Play: Thumbs Down
The play-by-play, while full-featured, is riddled with bugs.
Depending on your need for this feature, it could be the make-it-or-break-it for SportsTap. While it offers arguably the most robust set of stats and play descriptions (and handily bests Google Scoreboard's laughable "effort"), I consistently experienced bugginess and painful delays in receiving the latest plays. My personal favorite was "At Bat: Bobby Abreu" and "Bobby Abreu grounded out" being locked on the screen for 10+ minutes during a game. I also saw various hiccups including the wrong score being displayed, missed goals and missing play descriptions, and delays ranging from 5-15 minutes to refresh to the current score. Again, the features are the best, but it needs to work right before I can award it a corresponding score.
The Play-By-Play: 2/5 Stars
Summary: Almost a Perfect Game
SportsTap is a must for any sports fan-droid. Not only are its notifications the best, but its widget is clean, simple, informative, and reliable. If an upcoming update would fix the broken play-by-play, I could wholeheartedly recommend it as an all-in-one sports information hub. Until then, keep it for its great widget and excellent stats within the app.
Overall: 3.5 Stars
-Kyle Mann
The Widget: Thumbs Up
The SportsTap widget offers a clean, up-to-date glance at your favorite teams.
Coming from an iPhone 3G, widgets are brilliant - but only if they work right. In that regard, the ST widget performs flawlessly. Offering a quick look at your favorite teams' most recent games, current matches in progress, and upcoming events, it's find to hard something to complain about here. With a clean look that integrates nicely with the stock Android UI, it's a must-have for sports fan-droids and is miles ahead of offerings from LiveScores and Google's own Scoreboard, which glitched out frequently on my Android 2.1 device. The only thing I would like to see added in a future update is standings, which must be accessed inside the app. What is this, 2007?
Widget: 5/5 Stars
The Notifications: Thumbs Half-Heartedly Up
SportsTap offers plentiful alert options
Let me be clear: SportsTap offers the best and most versatile notification system on the Market right now. However, that's not saying much considering the competition either doesn't offer this function or fails at it hard. Score/point/goal alerts usually come within 5-10 minutes of the actual event in the real world, which is fine or not-so-good depending on your need. It's great if you just want to be kept in the loop on your favorite teams' happenings while you're out and about, but it can be embarrassing to text your brother "BOOYAH K-MO GRAND SLAM!!!!!" an hour after it happens. Not that I would know. Cough. Anyway, the options are plenty and varied, offering alerts at specified intervals, game start/end, and at events (goals, etc.). One annoying bug was that some notifications seemed to arrive more than once - especially game end alerts. Yes, I know, SportsTap, we lost to Oakland 10-1. No need to rub it in. Hopefully this will be fixed in future releases.
Notifications: 3/5 Stars
The Play-By-Play: Thumbs Down
The play-by-play, while full-featured, is riddled with bugs.
Depending on your need for this feature, it could be the make-it-or-break-it for SportsTap. While it offers arguably the most robust set of stats and play descriptions (and handily bests Google Scoreboard's laughable "effort"), I consistently experienced bugginess and painful delays in receiving the latest plays. My personal favorite was "At Bat: Bobby Abreu" and "Bobby Abreu grounded out" being locked on the screen for 10+ minutes during a game. I also saw various hiccups including the wrong score being displayed, missed goals and missing play descriptions, and delays ranging from 5-15 minutes to refresh to the current score. Again, the features are the best, but it needs to work right before I can award it a corresponding score.
The Play-By-Play: 2/5 Stars
Summary: Almost a Perfect Game
SportsTap is a must for any sports fan-droid. Not only are its notifications the best, but its widget is clean, simple, informative, and reliable. If an upcoming update would fix the broken play-by-play, I could wholeheartedly recommend it as an all-in-one sports information hub. Until then, keep it for its great widget and excellent stats within the app.
Overall: 3.5 Stars
-Kyle Mann
