I'm wondering which would be better for using Skritter, an Ipad or an Itouch. I actually already have an Itouch, which I love, but I just found out last night that my Itouch won't be able to run the Skritter app because it has to be version 4.3 or higher. After I got over my initial shock, I started thinking about what I should get.

For those who are testing the app, and have used Skritter on both, can you say a bit about what you think ? The way I see it right now, is that the biggest difference is going to be that the Itouch will be easier to carry around and hold while Skrittering, and the Ipad's bigger screen will allow for easier drawing. The biggest advantage to the Itouch could be that it's small enough to put in your pocket, where as the Ipad is too big for that. What does everyone think ?

Also, I remember I saw somewhere on the site a while ago that there is going to be an Ipad-only Skritter app coming out too. Skritter guys, can you say a bit about what the difference will be, and what kind of features will be added to the Ipad app ? Can you also give an estimate as to how long AFTER the first app comes out will the Ipad app come out ?

Is your iPod Touch 2nd gen or earlier? 3rd gen and later can all upgrade to the latest software.

yeah, it's a 2nd generation

There'll be one app that goes on iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, and has a different layout for the iPad. We're currently planning on releasing the iPad layout with the app, but it's not done yet. Actually, that layout is not started yet, so no one has any experience with how it's going to be. Everyone testing on their iPad currently has the iPhone layout using up a little bit of the screen in the center.

I'm using the app on an iPod touch and I feel that it's plenty big enough. I don't think I'm missing out by not having more room to write, so for the reasons of portability that you mentioned I would choose the iPod touch.

I am using both but would say that Itouch wins due to it's convenient size. I still do most of my skrittering on the Ipad since that is with me on the train and planes and I like the larger screen. For me it is easier to remember when i write larger characters.Still,If I had to choose i would go for the touch.

okay, interesting

I've just started using the iPhone app and in my opinion there are no size considerations - i.e. it doesn't feel too cramped for the basic functionality of reviewing. If you are strictly considering reviewing on Skritter as your deciding factor, the iPhone/iPod touch will be fine. Of course until they start working on a iPad layout its hard to say what bells and whistles they may put in that extra space (the iPhone version certainly is *concise* with what information you have on screen!).

In my opinion there are more considerations (which I've been thinking over, as well): considering you already have a iPod Touch (which can conveniently play your music and do WiFi browsing on the go), I'd choose a iPad for your next purchase (not necessarily a top model!). In addition to running Skritter, it can also serve as a convenient way to carry around media that you definitely wouldn't want to view on on a small screen (movies, eBooks perhaps). Also, I doubt I'll be Skritter'ing often for a only minute here and there in traffic (i.e. pulling my phone out) - more likely on long commutes in the train/bus, airplane, or perhaps during longer breaks at school. All times when I would also have my backpack, which means the iPad would be very easy to carry along as well. In fact, the majority of my time Skritter'ing will still be at home, but the iOS app makes the experience much more fluid than on a computer.

More important than the above reasons (convenience to carry, movies), I've recently started reading more Chinese using Pleco's iOS app with the document reader plugin (which is great, BTW). It's fine for short bursts of activity, but after trying reading (some normal, non-Chinese) documents on a friend's iPad I'm convinced that that is a much better format to read for extended periods (i.e. more than a few pages) - its more comfortable on the eyes and hands, and feels more natural as it fills more of your field of vision. Also, I like to increase the font quite a bit when reading Chinese, which makes things quite cramped on the iPhone screen.

So, at least in my case, I'm definitely willing to stick with the iPhone 3GS for another cycle, and purchasing a iPad this summer instead of the newest model of iPhone.

Thanks for the interesting input. I'm definitely considering an Ipad

I just hope we'll get Skritter for iOS once the Ipad3 becomes available! Otherwise, no need to buy it :o)

what's so special about ipad3 ?

It's rumored to have a higher resolution screen which will bring it closer to the quality of paper, improving comfort on your eyes during extended periods of reading. There are more bells and whistles, but that's the one I think is worth waiting for.

It will still be a backlit screen though, which is still a far cry from paper or e-ink, sadly.

The phone app is great.
I've gone from averaging about 10 minutes a week to
doing nearly two hours this week so far (4 days)

lets me use skritter when I get a spare few minutes here and there at work,
before going to sleep at night, in bed in the morning,when stuck in the lifts at work(or waiting for them).

It seems a lot faster than the web site version.

ipad3 is just going to be the next increment of ipad.
Possibly a higher res screen, more ram, faster processor(or more cores), slightly better gpu , possibly siri .

Possible release date is most likely sometime between end of feb and easter.

The trick for me for reading on ipad2(lcd screen) without headaches is to adjust the brightness for the conditions every time and not just use the default settings.

A few questions I just thought of :

1. If I want to load 5-6 hours or more of Skritter reviews onto an Apple device, will 8G be enough ? I seriously don't know, I'm not tech savvy.

2. Should I wait for a 5th generation Itouch ? Because I'd feel a bit silly if I get a 4th generation and the 5th generation comes out soon after. I want to keep up with the times !

3. How is the Skritter app while practicing tones and definitions ? I don't think anyone has said anything about that. Can you choose what parts you want to study on the Skritter app (writing, tones, defitions, reading) , just like on website ? In other words, can you choose to only study writing, or only study tones ?

1. Do you mean 8 gigabytes? As in, that's how big of a hard drive you'll need to store the app and your reviews? Space is not an issue, don't worry about that. You could get the smallest hard drive available on a device. The size the app takes is negligible. I think when I load all of my reviews, it downloads 3 megabytes and change (2,100 characters, about 4,000 words, studying tones, strokes, & definitions).

2. Look here: http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/ This is an Apple rumor site that regularly tracks product cycles, and gives "buy/wait" recommendations for each Apple product. (currently iPod touch is rated "buy", iPad is rated "wait")

3. Can't help you there, I study everything. Nick will have to answer that for you.

1. IIRC, when I first loaded my profile into the Skritter app the scope of all my reviews was in the tens of megabytes range - i.e. you shouldn't have any trouble. Daily updates, depending on how many new words I've added, are very small, in the hundreds of kb range.

2. If past release schedules are any indication, the Touch line isn't due for a update for another year or so. With that I'm mind I'd say buy now and resell/upgrade later. http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#iPod_Touch

3. The app works similarly to how the Flash app on the website works - whatever reviews you have due start popping up, which will include a mix of pinyin, tones, etc all in one go (if you've been adding those sides, via your preferences on the website). Currently there are many options beyond just studying, so maybe that will be incorporated later (personally, I like the mixed stream as it discourages me from skipping some parts on some days).

8gb is easily enough. On mine, the app is using 107mb. But you don't load '5-6 hours' of reviews on. All items in study are loaded, and the app schedules reviews from then on.

It's working very well on the 4th gen ipod touch, although it no doubt runs a little bit faster on the latest iphone. I imagine the Skritter app will come out before the new ipod touch though, which is probably 9-10 months away.

I also have a question about Iphones. Can I buy an Iphone in the States and then bring it with me to China and then just buy prepaid phone cards (充值卡）　to use the phone ?

I hate signing 1-2 year contracts, so I definitely won't be doing anything like that, but if I could use an Iphone with pay-as-you-go prepaid phone cards here in China, then I would definitely consider one, because that would mean I wouldn't have to carry two devices (phone and Itouch) .

you can buy them in the states without a plan, but the new model 4S is the price of a desktop computer, $649. last year's model is $549.

you can buy them unlocked and then use them in china with a sim card.

@ Bohan - absolutely, just buy a factory unlocked one (directly from Apple, not a mobile company). People scoffing at the price of an unlocked phone need to also consider that they *are* paying the full price of the subsidy through their contract when they get it via their mobile company, and not only that, are locked into a 2 year service contract and sometimes will have issues with unlocking after that, even.

650, huh ? Okay, I'll consider that. Are there any drawbacks to having an unlocked phone ? And, for those who have both Iphone and Itouch (probably not many ppl), is the Skritter on the Iphone really that much better ?

Right now I'm using a tiny LG phone, here in China, and there are a few things about it that are so annoying. Here's one thing: when its memory fills up (which happens quite frequently), you can't send out new text messages until you free up memory. So, a lot of times, I'll type out a text message, only to find out I have to delete old messages and re-type it. The other thing I don't like is, for contact names I only have a small amount of space for names.

Can't comment regarding performance comparisons, but the benefit of an unlocked phone is (potentially) higher resale value down the line (or, just better regifting value), as well as no hassles for you if you relocate (areas, carriers, whatever). There are no drawbacks besides the unsubsidized price, which should be taken into account anyway with a 24 month contract.

Also, keep in mind that unlocked iPhones can be purchased in Hong Kong for competitive prices, in case that's an easier purchase (for you or a traveling friend) than waiting for the next US trip.

Oops just wanted to add - a downside of getting a carrier locked phone and then using it in China is that you will need to jailbreak your phone. The process itself is painless, but it does mean you are at the mercy of the jailbreaking community, which sometimes is very fast (same week updates) or very slow (several months wait for a decent iOS 5.0 update). Depending on how bleeding-edge you want to be (or, the apps that you use are designed to be - Skritter *alpha* is 5.0!) this may be a concern.

@icebear that's an interesting option. How competitive are the unlocked iphone prices in HK ?

oh, no, I won't be doing any of that jailbreaking stuff

in case anyone else is considering whether to get an itouch or an iphone, I just found out that the current itouch model as smaller dimensions than the iphone, and it only weighs about 2/3rds of what the iphone weighs.

So far, that's a pretty big deciding factor. But I'm still considering an iphone. I'm no longer considering an ipad, but if I win one in drawing, then I will definitely be using it !

another thing I just thought of, is if I use an iphone,I wouldn't be able to turn off my phone and study on Skritter. Right ? Unless they've thought of this sort of thing over at Apple and come up with a solution.

And one more thing I just thought of is, I don't have any problem letting people use my crappy phone if they need to borrow it for a second, but I would worry they might drop it if they were borrowing an iphone. On that note, I've dropped my cheap/little LG phone numerous times and it remarkably doesn't have a single scratch on it. This might be because it's really light and has plastic all around it, which possibly absorbs falls better than the glass/metal of an Iphone.

So, I'm starting to lean more and more towards an Itouch. Cheaper. Smaller. Lighter. Never have a reason to let anyone touch it. If I don't want to be disturbed, I can turn off my phone and still use the Itouch.

Any more comments/opinions in favor of the iphone ?

Also worth considering, you will need an internet connection to add new characters (although you can add, say 20 at once when connected).

@ Bohan

http://store.apple.com/hk/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone/iphone4s
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone/iphone4s

Essentially the same price, perhaps longer waits in HK for availability.

If you want to turn off the phone function of the iPhone a simple solution is to put the phone into Airplane mode (no mobile signals) while keeping wifi enabled. I do this at night as I dislike being woken by texts or calls.

But the Touch bit be the best bet for you; it sounds like you are leaning towards it already, and there's nothing wrong with that.

@Byzanti I was just thinking about what you wrote about the app scheduling reviews. So, suppose that a person studies on both a mobile device without internet access, and also on a computer. Does this mean that the person will have to sync the device every time the computer is used in order for all the reviews to be on the same page ?

And also, does this mean that if a person only wants to use the mobile app to do reviews,and not use a computer, that you could study for an unlimited amount of time (days/months) ?

If you study on the mobile device, and on the computer, without syncing, then you'll be doing the same reviews on each. Then when you sync, Skritter will merge the reviews and do the scheduling as would make sense given how you actually encountered the items. But you're still duplicating your effort.

What you would probably want to do instead is sync every time you're going to go between studying on the computer and on the app. You could then study as long as you wanted without syncing, until you wanted to switch again or get new words, at which point you would sync.

@nick okay, cool. So, it sounds like we don't need to have an active subscription to use the app after we've already downloaded it, right ?

Right, just like the web app: an active subscription is needed just to add new words.