I was at Google I/O today, and they gave everyone new Samsung Galaxy tablets (a new model that hasn't been released yet). Now that I have one of these bad boys for testing, and now that I have double motivation since I want to do my Skritter on it, it shouldn't be too much longer before I figure out better Android tablet layouts for the various screen resolutions.

Skritter is working very quickly on this thing, too. Exciting!

Sweet! You can mail it to me after you're done testing it :P

i. am. jealous.

Awesome, Android will probably be the dominant force on the long run, so working on this and IOS at the same time is great... and difficult, I figure ;-) good luck!

Don't give more details on this new model or there's a risk I'll throw my newly bought chinese tablet out of the window in anger

Good to hear. Although it doesn't sound like this will benefit me personally, I'm glad you're not completely ignoring Android, like so many developers before you have. Luckily, I'm going to have an iPod touch soon, and hopefully, if there's an offline mode when the IOS app is finally released, I can use that for some mobile Skrittering.

Sounds great, I am looking forward to the changes in the layout.

Nick,
Please keep us posted on this. I have gotten the impression that Android is not yet an effective standard as many Skritter users seem to need special software modifications from you to get their tablets to work properly. I assume that your Galaxy Tablet is running Android 3.0 ("Honeycomb"). As this version of Android is supposed to be optimized for tablets, will it solve the need for software developers to tweak their products for specific devices?

Also, I know you have been guiding users not to base their buying decision solely on Skritter, as Skritter for Apple's iOS may yet be some ways off, but do you think that after you have tweaked Skritter for the new Galaxy tablet the experience will be at least as good?

I want one!!!

@ Elwin: Even though I am a huge Google fan, I wont be so quick to say they will be the dominant force on the long run. Check http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/227407/apple_topples_google_as_most_valuable_brand_report.html

But I agree with you guys, the mobile phone/tablet innovations we see are truly exciting!

It's sweet that you have an android tablet to work with. There are some things that definitely could use some improvements on that side.

Nick is that the 8.9" or the 10.1"?

Must be the 10.1"

Did you get the Chrome OS computer too?

孟志书: my girlfriend was rather appalled that I wasn't just giving it straight to her, and she mustered much suspicion that I "needed it for work". If I gave it away, she would never speak Chinese to me again.

Elwin: yeah, Android has a lot of momentum, as became very clear from the conference. I still intend to focus on the iOS app, as there's no solution for that platform, but Android will become more important to Skritter going forward.

podster: the only reason I've been needing to tweak layouts for each device is that I haven't taken the time to do a nice, flexible layout yet. So the previous layouts have just been temporary hacks. With these higher resolutions, there is less need to customize the layout. I'll still have to figure out something to determine whether to show the very-constrained mobile phone layout or the more flexible tablet layout, though; I don't think Honeycomb will help solve this, but more effort on my part will help.

It's hard to say which platform will have a better Skritter experience in the end. There will be lots of little features that the iOS version won't have which the Android version will, but the iOS version will have better performance, better design, and offline reviews. Simplicity and performance versus features, I guess.

Neil, followtheflow: it's the 10.1".

Yes, they'll also send me a Chromebook, although it wasn't ready at the time of the conference. I also scored a sweet 4G mobile hotspot from Verizon and Samsung which has proved handy. Using that and the tablet, I was Skrittering in a Chinese restaurant after the conference in high style.

The other really good thing for Skritter that came out of that conference is a whole bunch of good news on the App Engine front. Many powerful, new features for us, and higher reliability for you. I'll probably throw together a blog post about it soon.

Wow, tons of swag for you! Great stuff - especially the focus on Android! Love it.

While I'm waiting for the IOS to be developed, can you recommend me a CHEAPISH (like less than $300) android tablet that I can keep practising on while I'm on the move? Samsung Galaxy costs as much as iPad.
I'd like a pocketable 7inch. Don't need to watch movies or play games, just keep brushing up my HanZi.

I hope this doesn't cause you to forget about the iPad version!

I now have an iPad and an iPhone that I can't use skritter on. Don't know wether to be happy or sad.