App Review: MLB At Bat 2011

When the winter begins to show its first signs of ending, something else is showing its beginning. Major League Baseball is back in the form of Spring Training and there is no better way to keep up with the Spring schedule and roster moves than MLB At Bat. In the app’s second year, various changes have been made, mostly to the improvement side, but there’s still a few missing items that could make the app even better.

The most notable addition is the Favorite Team section that highlights the team of your choice and gives you quick access to the day’s box score, schedule, videos, news, rosters and even ticketing. Amazingly, with this great addition, I still have yet to find the reminder setting to tell me when my favorite team is playing. Strange omission, or maybe I just haven’t found it yet?

Next up is the revamped news section. MLB news at the touch of a button, and for sprint training mode, the news coverage is pretty in-depth. Hopefully, they will continue linking to all this great content throughout the season without much lag.

The rest of the app remains relatively unchanged from 2010’s version. Streaming audio, a one touch summary of scores for the day and quick access to game highlights on the right hand “drop down” button.

Coming into April, hopefully MLB will work out a better deal for streaming games, but for now, the streaming audio will have to suffice for those out-of-towners that can’t be there to see their teams. Of course, we haven’t seen the package that MLB.TV is working out for this season quite yet and with Flash 10.2 due soon, maybe we can watch our subscriptions live on our EVO’s web browser rather than waiting for the MLB app to build live video streaming in.

Overall, for baseball fans, MLB At Bat 2011 is a great purchase. At $14.99 the price tag is a bit steep, but remember that baseball season is 7 months and you only pay this once – meaning you are billing out at about $2.15 a month – which isn’t too bad.

If you aren’t much of a fan, skip this one but if you are, it’s a basic must have for your android device. If you aren’t enjoying MLB At Bat 2011 on your EVO because you don’t have one yet, there’s never been a better time to switch to Sprint with their $125 porting credit. Visit http://www.getsmartphones.info today to get the EVO for a low $149.99 price tag on new activations and $179.99 on renewals.

MLB At Bat 2011: 4.5 out of 5  -  $14.99 in the market

Is the EVO Really a 4G Device?

Much has been made of the fact that Sprint and their WiMax network isn’t truly considered a 4th generation wireless network. Current LTE and WiMAX implementations are considered pre-4G, as they didn’t fully comply with the planned requirements of 1 Gbit/s for stationary reception and 100 Mbit/s for mobile. So, basically, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) changed their requirements of what is deemed as a 4G connection.

After changing the standards, the ITU now classifies WiMAX or 802.16m as standardized by the IEEE as 4G technology. Other carriers, like T-Mobile, have used what most consider to be 3.5G technology throughout the world for some time, but have recently added it to the 4G marketing scheme to keep up with the other carriers.

This is the brief historical version of this battle, which will go on for quite some time, but to bring us up to today we will do a very simple look at speeds throughout time – in the United States…

1G - 1xRTT (CDMA) or GPRS (GSM) – This was the original cellular data connection. This allowed users to use their cellular devices as a dial-up modem at rates up to 14.4kbps.

2G – EVDO Rev. O (CDMA) or EDGE (GSM) – These technologies increased data connection speeds up to 2.45Mbps and 1.6Mbps respectively. These were theoretical speeds as real world conditions rarely allowed users to access speeds in the maximum ranges.

3G – EV-DO Rev. A/B (CDMA) or HSDPA (GMS) – The rapid increase to 3G speeds bumped the theoretical maximum to 5Mbps (per 1.25Mhz of spectrum) on CDMA networks or 14.4Mbps on the GSM side.

3.5G – HSPA+ (GSM) – This is the technology that T-Mobile USA is using as their 4G technology as they expand their network into more markets. HSPA+ has an amazing theoretical speed of 56Mbps but falls short of the original 4G requirements of a theoretical speed of 100Mbps.

4G – WiMax (Sprint) or LTE (AT&T and Verizon Wireless) – Carry the theoretical speeds over 100Mbps, but their real world trials, they have fallen well short. Currently, WiMax is offering real speeds in the range of 6-8Mbps and LTE is testing on Verizon at closer to 10Mbps.

So, with all the reports coming out about the speeds of the new HTC Thunderbolt, where does this leave our precious EVO? The answer is in the photo that led off this wonderful article. The Thunderbolt is supposed to be the fastest mobile connection available on any device currently in production. Unfortunately, I hate to break this to them, but my little EVO pulls 9.5Mbps down just fine.

So, dual core this and LTE radio that, but the HTC Evo 4G running on the Sprint/Clear network will pull just as fast as anything else out there.

If you don’t have one yet, get them before the next price increase or before Sprint starts to limit their data plans at http://www.getsmartphones.info.

Protect Your Evo With A Silicone Gel Skin

The care and feeding of one's EVO is of the utmost importance. If you allow your EVO to take a hit, fall off a counter or even just get a little damp, you might just be without part of your life for a short period of time. With all the features of the EVO, protecting it just makes sense.

We recently ordered a few of the amazing $2.99 black silicone gel cases from http://www.getsmartphones.info and tried them out. Our first impression was that of a great fit, not too bulky and overall, steal of a deal. Although the rubberized surface does stick to pockets a bit, the almost perfect feel of the material in hand made up for any of the annoyances that the pocket lint created. The great shell is also available in a clear gel as well.

The molding is solid across the entire surface. The seams are well filed and almost impossible to feel. The texturing is subtle, but still pronounced enough to get a very solid grip on the device. Overall, while it's not the permanent solution that an Invisi-shield or full screen protector would offer, a combination of the Gel Case and a quality full screen protector ($1.99 at http://www.getsmartphones.info/accessories) will protect your EVO from most of the common elements and issues throughout the day.

Silicone Gel Skin in clear or black: 4.5 out of 5  -  $2.99 (sale) from http://www.getsmartphones.info/accessories/
Full EVO Screen Protector (die cut): 5 out of 5  -  $1.99 (sale) http://www.getsmartphones.info/accessories/

5 Minute App Review: HTC Sync All Widget

The HTC Sync All Widget isn't exactly a full app, but for those that are trying to conserve battery life, the widget is a god-send. By simply placing a single widget on your home page, you can sync everything from your Facebook feed to your news and weather with just one click. The widget itself is rather simple in a 1x1 format. A simple animation of the arrows shows that the widget is active.

By setting up your accounts in the settings menu, the Sync All Widget will allow you to update all your linked accounts and news sources instantly. To add this great widget to your collection on your EVO, simply press the add to home + sign on the Sense bar, then widget, then get more HTC widgets and select Sync All from the list.

HTC Sync All Widget:  5 out of 5  -  Free - available from the Widget Menu on the HTC EVO

5 Minute App Review: Bejeweled 2

One of the all time greatest hit games is the classic Bejeweled. Fortunately, our Android powered Evo isn’t left out of the newest version of the game with Bejeweled 2 coming to the market.

For the low-low price of $2.99 you get all the gem busting action of the popular classic with a a powerful new graphics set and even more super powered gem destroyers. Overall, Bejeweled 2 is a revamped version of the original classic, with a few new modes and much more exciting graphics.

Bejeweled 2: 4 out of 5  -  $2.99 from the Android Market