Im very interested in the new iOS application and Im thinking about buying perhaps an Ipad 2 more or less for the sole purpose of using it to study my characters when I am on the fly.

As long as it is included in the normal membership fee that Im already paying, I think it is a great initiative and something that will keep me as one of your customers.

As soon as I get this confirmed I can go ahead and buy the Ipad.

There is already a Beta so it shouldnt be long now until it arrives, right?

Regards

As a bonus question, what is "app" in chinese? :)

The plan is to have the app be free and use the existing subscription mechanism.

We are not speculating as to when it will launch. We'll only announce an ETA when we get very, very close, so that we know we can hit it.

Looking forward to it!!

I think app (program) is often translated as 程序. I don't encounter the term very often so not sure if that's the most natural way to say it in speech.

Most of the people I hear talking about apps in Taiwan just call it an app, or say it one letter at a time.

@funchinese: no point in buying an iPad 2 specifically for Skrittering until the app will be released? Given Nick's late September holiday a late summer release of the app seems likely. On the other hand, Nick may just need that two week holiday to recharge his batteries for one last sprint to the finish line (which may be a Christmas release - or perhaps a 2013 Chinese New Year one). Perhaps Nick's plane will fall from the sky and there will be no app, leaving Scott to finish everything on his own. There is no such thing as certainty in life.

With that said, I mainly use my iPhone (purchased used in anticipation of the iOS app) for Pleco Chinese and love it (the app, not necessarily the hardware).

@约翰

"Perhaps Nick's plane will fall from the sky and there will be no app..." Well that's a pleasant thought!

On a more serious note, I understand what you're saying about no certainty in life, but did you have to go and scare poor Nick there? :)

Lets not hope for that. To be honest with you, I am getting somewhat bored with sitting in front of the computer learning characters, also the more I use skritter Im seeing the limitations of it. The app would potentially make skritter as a whole much more useful for me.

For example, it takes me 30 min to walk to the gym, in total 1 hour both ways. Sometimes I have tried to take a book with me and read it when Im walking but it goes without saying its not so easy to walk and read at the same time. The text is small and pages are flying everywhere. Studying single characters on the other hand is probably a more simple task and something that isnt that fun anyway when sitting at home. In that case I like to read simple chinese novels instead.

Ive seen the teaser videos and the app looks well on the way. People are already using a Beta application of it. Surely it cannot take very long...

@funchinese

I personally wouldn't enjoy using it while walking... I'd rather Skritter intensively for a few, concentrated bursts in the day than do it while walking (which I think is just weird). Walking around is the time for various Chinese podcasts.

I am using the app while walking rather frequent so that I guess is just a matter of preferences. Have tried it on the gym as well but can say that running is a bad idea and if you do spinning, use an stylus :-) However, on trains, planes etc it is absolutely perfect.

Skritter while walking, eh? I'd never really considered it as a possibility. Like icebear I think it's pretty weird, but on the other hand if I could squeeze some skritter into my walk home from work it might leave me more time to pursue other interests.

@junglegirl, other interest? Is that possible;-)

@Mandarinboy: Actually, yes! It's true that I have been very focused on Chinese for awhile, but I'm starting to envisage a point in the not so distant future when I will be at a level I am more or less happy with and can just maintain that level without dedicating so much time to studying, thereby leaving time for other things. Only I'm finding that I'm interested in way too many things (various languages, forms of music, dance, etc.) and will never have enough time to pursue them all. If only I could clone myself.

I'm eagerly waiting for the app too and thinking of buying iPad2 or 3 at the near future. Should I just wait until the iPad3 comes to the Chinese market which could take months? Or maybe buy it from Hong Kong as I live in Guangzhou? Or just wait until the Skritter app is released?

I'm only hoping that the release would happen before the summer, it would be torture to wait for it for several more months.

Surely the app on the iPad is great too but I think with an iPod Touch or iPhone it's much more mobile, so you have to think about how and where will you use the app most frequently. To use something as large an iPad on the subway or in the bus while standing is not so handy because you'll have to use both hands for the app, and when the bus or train suddenly stops you'll have to stand firm.
Also I think it's a bit weird to use an iPad on public transport but that's where we're heading to anyway:)

Just now I was using my iPod on the subway, when the doors opened I couldn't stop Skrittering and walked straight out of the door onto the next railway before my gf pulled me and directed me to the exit. I wouldn't have ended up on the railway but it shows that the app kind of captivates you at times ('oh let me do two more now'), and especially for men who can only focus on one thing at a time. It's a dangerous tool!!

I just wanna warn guys who like to Skritter while walking on busy streets in big cities, be careful or we're gonna have our first accident due to Skrittering. I've already attempted to be the first one on the list!

@xuefang

No matter which model you get, you'll likely be better off buying in Hong Kong - much lower sales/luxury/import taxes. You may have to unbox and carry as if owned/in use when going back in to avoid paying taxes at the border.

@Elwin, I would mostly use the Skritter app at home or at the university. I don't have daily commute in a bus or metro, do walk to school, but I'm sure I can't walk and skritter at the same time :)

@icebear Thank you for the tip!

According to this article: http://www.cnbeta.com/articles/177797.htm , even if the ipad is unboxed, one may be taxed for 500元.

如果从香港购买一台新iPad，入境时可能面临抽检。如果被抽到，无论是否已经打开iPad包装，均需缴纳500元的税款；如果人品爆发，没被抽到，这笔钱就省下了。

@pts That's bad news, 500RMB is a lot of money I wish not to part with. So in the end is it better to buy in Hong Kong and risk the tax, or wait that the iPad3 comes to China?

@xuefang The tax applied at the border would be included in the price of an iPad you bought within China. For example, the 16GB iPad 2 is 3088 HKD (~2500 RMB), or in China is 2988 RMB. About a 500 RMB difference...

I think your best bet is buying in HK and hoping you don't get checked, or arguing that you bought it a time other than that trip. Worst case scenario they apply the tax and the cost is similar to what you would have paid in GZ.

@funchinese: Two months ago, I found myself in the same boat as you. I went to gym every other day and afterwards I had to wait half an hour to 45 minutes for the bus. To kill the time, I read pages of a Chinese textbook. I have since switched to Pleco Chinese on the iPhone to review my vocabulary. I do not have to carry any books anymore and it fits neatly into my pant packet. I think I would find it quite inconvenient to have to lug something the size of the iPad around. It is also less inconspicuous to use at work. With the way I study (heavily dependent on research), I expect I will continue to use my laptop and cheap Wacom Bamboo tablet to learn the characters in Skritter and use the iPhone version for review purposes at work, the bus stop and holidays only.

@malaili2

Newer models of the iPod Touch can run all the same (non-telecom) apps as the iPhone. It's basically an iPhone without a cellular connection or microphone.

Newer ones even have microphones so you can use skype or face-time when you have wifi access.

But yes, the iPod touch is basically a slimmer iPhone that can't make calls.

@malaili2: No, not unless you are a registered app tester. Since flash player doesn't work on apple products you can't use the website on an iPod, but once the app is released it will work on an iPod touch.

The latest iPod Touch does have some differences from the latest iPhone. The iPhone uses a dual core A5 ARM processor while the iPod Touch has a single core A4. The iPhone also has Siri which combines voice recognition and limited AI that understands the iPhone apps to some degree.

The build quality of the iPod Touch is less good though (battery and screen issues seem to be more common, back scratches heavily). Its camera is quite bad and it does not have autofocus, so forget about being able to properly use Pleco Chinese's OCR feature. On the other hand, a used 8 GB model would only set you back 100 and it would be more than sufficient for Skritter and Pleco Chinese. You would only be able to use it in combination with WiFi though so skrittering while on the road would only be possible if you would buy an additional WiFi 3G device (search for "wifi 3g huawei", cost is appr. 30 but you would have to unlock the device if you would want to be able to use it with other providers - e.g. to use with China Unicom while in China).

约翰, the iOS app runs offline, you just need to be online to add new characters.

Really? That's awesome. :)

how many characters are there to add right now, all JLPT N5 to N1 kanji?

Here in Germany the mobile internet is still... problematic. Outside of the larger urban areas often I dont even have a mobile phone connection, not speaking of mobile internet connection. That is way using skritter offline will be so awesome.

I can't wait to use the skritter app.

@dc1

By add new characters, they mean adding new characters to your studies. You have to have a active list on the Skritter website, and then in app (if you have a net connection) you are able to add a certain number of words. If you don't have an active connection then you can still review all due reviews according to the last time you synced online. So, before a long holiday you could add some words, sync, and then use the Skritter app for all reviews during that period (without need of a 3G or wifi connection).

And yes, the convenience is very nice. Even when home I prefer Skritter'ing on the phone (although there are still some bugs to be hammered out it seems...).

is there going to be a limit of how many words / kanji you can have in my study list (downloaded to the ipad/iphone) at a time?

I think there is some confusion with terminology:
Lists, sublists - contain words organized by the user that have/will be added to their studies
My Words - all words added to your studies which will be reviewed according to their individual intervals/scores
Adding - including new words in the Lists and Sublists in to the "My Words" database
Reviewing - completing reviews as they come due in the My Words database

Within the app there is no distinction of lists - when *adding* it just cycles through the available ones and adds what it finds. *Reviewing* what is in the Skritter app is akin to hitting the "Study All" button on the Skritter website, i.e. contains all the words (and their data/next review time) from your My Words database (as it was at your last sync).

I'm not aware of a limit to the number of words you can have loaded in the app (just I don't know if there is a limit to the number in your My Words on the website), but if there is one it is presumably huge. I have 4000+ words and characters, 4 sides each, loaded into mine and have no indication of a ceiling approaching.

"is there going to be a limit of how many words / kanji you can have in my study list (downloaded to the ipad/iphone) at a time?"

All your current words get downloaded to the app, and you could continue reviewing indefinitely. What it doesn't do is 'load the next 100 reviews' or anything like that.

Thanks now i understand.

@Byzanti "All your current words get downloaded to the app, and you could continue reviewing indefinitely. What it doesn't do is 'load the next 100 reviews' or anything like that."

Actually, it loads ALL your *reviews* if I understand correctly. It downloads all previously studied words and their interval data, which then can be used to study those words indefinitely according to the SRS system. If I was happy with my words studied to date I could sync once and be done with it...

What is doesn't do is "load the next 100 *new words*" - I think this is what you meant, but wanted to be clear... at least this is my understanding of the app.

Yep. Same thing, different words!

As for 'What it doesn't do is 'load the next 100 reviews' or anything like that.' Add 'just' before 'load' and my meaning will be clearer.

PS. If you're adding new words, you can add 30 at once, then go offline without seeing them in study, and they'll add later.