Android App-Aholics Anonymous: ESPN Scorecenter

App: ESPN Scorecenter

Developer: ESPN Inc.

Price: Free

Rating: 2.5/5

Let it be known that I am a big baseball fan, and sports fan in general. Even if I don’t really watch a sport, I will still follow the news and keep tabs on it. So this app is something I was looking forward to using. I mean, a sports app made by ESPN? How could this go wrong, right? Unfortunately, this app is merely mediocre. It does what it advertises, keeping track of scores, stats, and standings. But it’s the execution that is lackluster. Yes, I can keep track of my teams, but the updates are patchy. I mean, the Blues were swept out of the NHL playoffs a week ago and the widget on my phone is STILL displaying the score of their final game. I am following the Cardinals, and it is baseball season, so there are other scores to report. What’s the point of a widget that doesn’t get updated regularly (a sports score widget at that!)? The notifications also suffer from this hit and miss updating. Also, it seems to force close quite a bit. I would also like to see the ability to follow specific athletes, rather than just teams, integrated into the app in the future. Another annoying facet to this app is that they place an article in the news section of each sport, then when it peaks your interest and you click on it, it is revealed to be an ESPN insider article, so you can’t read it unless you subscribe. There are positives to this app. Let me say that the coverage is comprehensive. There’s everything from golf scores to the latest NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL scores and news. So you can’t say that this app doesn’t keep track of your favorite sport. The app itself is clean and beautiful. ESPN really hit that balance between what is necessary and what is just eye candy. Overall, the beauty of the app and its’ comprehensive coverage of all sports is not enough to put it over top. The lack of adequate updates and notifications, coupled with the force closing issues, really hurt this app. More specifically the update problems, which are mind boggling considering score updates are such a huge part of this app. So if you’re ok with the occasional update or notification, and can put up with some force closing, then pick up this app.

 

 

 

About Steven Brewer

I’m a lifelong comic book fan. Comics pulled me in at an early age, with influences ranging from Chris Claremont’s historic X-Men run, Walt Simonson’s Thor run, Mike Zeck’s run on The Punisher limited series, Jim Lee’s X-Men, the early 90’s X-Men animated series, and the best cartoon ever made, Batman: The Animated Series. As a kid, these comics and cartoons gave me a new world to go to when the real world wasn’t so nice. Because of this, comic books will always have a special place in my heart. I love everything about comics, and still get the same feeling reading them today as I did when I was a kid. My major in college was psychology, so I love to incorporate that into comics.
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