If I am going to buy my first Ipad, should I go for the Ipad mini 2 or the Ipad Air? Which would provide a better Skritter experience?

I would prefer the larger Ipad Air but I think I remember that somewhere on the forum it was said, that the Ipad mini would be the most ideal device for Skritter.

Yours
Ken

I would first consider what else you want to use the tablet for aside from Skritter. Coming from an iPad user, (as in the 10" verson,) I'd say to go for the iPad mini if you want to use the tablet exclusively for Skritter, but if you plan to do internet browsing, movies, and games in addition, I'd say to go for the full-sized iPad.

edit: and for the record, regardless of which version you choose, you're definitely going to enjoy using Skritter on a tablet! I haven't touched the online version of the app since they made the iOS app. Now if only they'd make an android version so I can skritter on my phone....

Not having used the mini, I would still guess that the mini with retina is to be prefered for skrittering (at least I prefer my iPhone 5 to my iPad 1). That said, I just ordered an iPad Air myself :), since I prefer the larger screen for almost everything else. I also think the Air is going to be a lot better for skritter use than my iPad 1, since it's a lot lighter and smaller.

The nice thing is that they are both the same performance wise. Definitely try both at an Apple store first. Advantage of the mini are that it's $100 cheaper for the same specs, smaller, and lighter. If you plan to touch-type type a lot, you'll probably want a full size. For Skrittering, I don't see a big advantage of one over the other,

The problem with the full size ipad was the weight when skrittering for any reasonable length of time. The air is closer to the ipad minis weight but I haven't held them yet and with the addition of retina on the mini, the mini is the perfect tablet for me.

I held the Air in a store the other day and its slim design makes it comfortable to hold with one hand in portrait mode. It's really close to the Mini in term of comfort. I tried holding the iPad 4 for comparison and the difference was quite pronounced.

I'm still waiting for the Mini myself (rumored release dates 11/22 or 11/29) since I only have extra space in my bag for it. However, it seems the supplies will be "ridiculously tight" until Q1 2014 because of the Retina LCD manufacturing issues. As such, it might not be easy to secure one soon.

In the meantime, why not head to a store near you and compare the sizes of the Mini (since the dimensions will remain the same), Air and iPad 4 yourself?

Just bought an air to my self and the older mini to my daughter. They are both very nice to skitter on but the Air might feel somehow to large to write on for any longer time. I do use the air when i am sitting at home and study but a Ipod touch when i travel. If skritter is the only thing you are planning to do I would go for a mini but if you do anything else too, go for an air. By the way, start up time of skritter and other apps is super fast o the air with the new processor. Going from my old first generation Ipad to air is really nice:-)

I find that I can't use Skritter on a full-size iPad because I use a stylus and the palm of my hand keeps touching the screen. Would I still have this problem with an iPad mini?

My experience is similar to yours with the full sized ipad but I do not experince that on the mini. Might be depending on how you are holding the device though. I have not used the mini more than a few days but find it to be very nice for skrittering both with and without a stulus.

I use Skritter on an iPhone, a PC with a Wacom tablet, and an iPad mini, but I rarely use the mini because the extra space is not providing much benefit, and its so much easier to just fish the phone out of my pocket. Some people even dislike using a tablet because of the large size in which the characters have to be written. For anyone looking to buy a mobile device just for the purpose of using Skritter I would probably suggest a second hand iPod Touch, as long as it can support iOS 7.0.

I think the most ideal thing for me, would be for Skritter on iPad to have an option to move the input area to the bottom right of the screen (or left side for left-handers). I really want to be able to rest my hand on my desk while writing like what's possible with an iPod touch or iPhone.

I have an iPad and never use it for Skritter- the larger writing area is of no benefit and more awkward if anything. Also there is no dark theme on the iPad, and I find the light theme very ugly and tiring to look at. If I was buying a device myself just for skritter, My first choice would be one of the latest iPods or iPhones, then an iPad mini 2, then last of all an iPad Air.

Not specifically for Skritter, but for Chinese in general I'd get the Air. Good for reading. Mini would have smaller text. Don't want characters to be any smaller than they need to be.

Yes for reading books and academic papers the iPad retina screen is amazing, and with the Air being smaller and lighter this would likely make it even better than the iPad 3 / 4

Well, I had no issues reading Kanji on the iPad Mini Retina on display at Yodobashi. The size is about right. Now, if Apple would just hurry up and ship my order :(

Going back to original question, assuming choice is based on skritter only, and as the app and online version stand today, I'd go for ipod touch plus win8 tablet. I got an ipod touch for skritter, but couldn't live with the ios app limitations (no lookup etc) as main device, so got a win8 tablet for use at home. Total cost will be similar to ipad air or mini, assuming weren't going to go for 16gb ipad. Can also run full version of other chinese study software (e.g. anki) on tablet then, which can't on ipad. Others are quite happy with ios app as above obviously, so think you need to think about what functions of online skritter you use regularly and which you don't use - can you live without the ones you lose?

Nick has mentioned before that a future version of the iOS app will integrate the online lookup features that are available on the web version. Will require an internet connection.

True, online ios lookup will be great, waiting for that for touch, but while touch/iphone ios app flashcard screen is optimal for the available space, ipad app doesn't take advantage of extra space to put info on front page that web version has - example sentences, list word added from, mnemonics, character breakdown - and I look at all those regularly, so don't want to click to a details page to see them. That's my experience, but seems many like ipad app for skritter, so each to own.

I have a touchscreen monitor on my Windows 8.1 desktop (Japanese OS) and a Surface Pro (English OS). I tried using the web version of the demo with touch (fingers and a stylus) and here are my experiences on both devices:

IE11 & Chrome 31: touch doesn't work at all

Firefox 25: only the horizontal strokes work with touch. Vertical and diagonal strokes will cause the browser's screen to move.

Still waiting for my iPad MR to arrive before upgrading my membership again.

Musouka, use win8.1/IE11 as in following topic http://www.skritter.com/forum/topic?id=397992300&comments=7