My wife tried out the app... and she loves it! And she's not a big technology person, either.

So, rather than pay another $650 for an unlocked iPhone to use here in China, I was thinking of buying a new 4th gen iPod.

But then I read Scott over here:

http://www.skritter.cn/forum/topic?id=178814843

say that the 4th gen was "straining a bit".

Anyone confirm this?

The iPod touch 4th gen has two problems that the other devices don't have. The first is that it runs out of memory and crashes very occasionally. As I understand it, this is not common enough to really be a problem, but it's annoying to us that it crashes at all.

The second is that it's a bit slow when transitioning between prompts, especially tone prompts. So you don't get the smoothest of animations when that happens. The other devices have smoother Skritter performance in general.

It's probably not imminent, but the iPod touch may be updated in the fall according to the buyer's guide: http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

(I don't have one myself, but George and many other testers use them.)

Nick, is this ANY iPad? Or only 2nd and current generations?

EDIT: Or even the 3GS?

Hi chinajustin,

I have an ipod 4 gen and i beta tested since October. A couple months ago, the app would crash once a week, after using it daily for an hour +. It is really not noticeable; in fact it hasn't crashed lately, and I don't remember the last time it crashed.

If you're looking for an iOS device primarily to use for Skritter, I recommend the iPod touch without reservation.

The first iPad runs it okay, and the 3GS runs it okay because it's non-retina. A lot of the problems come from the iPod touch not having enough horsepower to handle the retina graphics.

so, this being said, what would be the best version of Itouch to use for Skritter ?

Do Apple stores even sell older versions?

Hardly anyone has tried the 3rd gen, so not sure if it works. One should still get the 4th gen if one goes iPod touch.

I also beta tested on an iPod touch 4th gen. It's true it used to crash a fair bit, but it doesn't happen much anymore. I would still highly recommend the app without any reservations. I don't do tone prompts though, so I can't say how much of an issue this might be, but I imagine it's not really a big deal and that it's just the skritter guys wanting their baby to be perfect.

Hey chinajustin, I just saw that you're in 黑龙江. Whereabouts? I'll be in Harbin for a month in August/September.

@atdlouis - Thanks for the info. I feel much better now that you (and junglegirl) gave me some firsthand comments on it. When I saw Scott's comments, I was a bit concerned.

@junglegirl - I'm on the north side of 松花江, at 黑龙江科技学院. My family and I have been here now for three years. Shoot me an e-mail at my username "at hotmail.com", let me know what brings you up this way.

The other thing about the ipod is that if you want to add new words, you need an internet connection, or be prepared enough to remember to add new words before you leave the house/office!

I notice slowness in between prompts even on my 32 GB iPhone 4 so it is hard to imagine the iPod Touch being able to handle it well. You have to consider that, given the facts that the app used to crash quite a bit on the iPod Touch and that it has been said that it strains a bit on the iPod Touch, while considerable work seems to have been put into improving performance on the device, future enhancements may cause more strain, more slowness and/or the crashes of old.

As for me, my laptop seems to work at a normal speed again so I will be happy to continue to use the web version both at home and at work. I was able to use an iPad 3 this weekend and while quite nice, I think I will invest in a Windows 8 ultratab (or tabbook, or whatever word they may coin for the ultrabook/tablet combinations that will be released later this year) with built-in Wacom digitizer if my 6 year old laptop should decide to retire at one point. Unless the Skritter team should come up with a great iPad layout and additional functionality that rivals or exceeds the web version, that is.

I'm using an 4th gen iPod touch and that's what I want to continue to use. Works great for me. I love Android's Google apps integration, so I use that for my phone. I just turn my Android phone into a Wifi hotspot, and I can even sync Skritter on the road!

My iPod touch 4 is working great too, Haven't noticed any problems with the tones lately, neither have been having crashes for a while. The only issue would be if you're gonna use the app for a long time without rest it's gonna heat up a bit. But that's no problem I guess. The combination Skritter/Pleco works nice, too.

Wow, that send to Pleco function is sheer awesomeness Two great apps working together.

I have the ipod 4th generation and based on the past two days it is more than up to the task. I've only noticed the slowing down rarely (perhaps once or twice a session), and it's not worth worrying about.

I just don't think an iphone is worth the huge starting price + costly monthly subscriptions, unless you have some pressing need to be constantly online. Wifi is more than enough.

If you want a device for Chinese studying I think the itouch4 is by far the best value for money, and all you actually need.

If you want to justify an expensive toy you don't need (but will still have a lot of fun with), then get an ipad or iphone4s and say it's for skritter. I can't deny that I'd love to have one myself :)

Talking of which, did we find out who got that lucky ipad from the app launch?

I did the drawing, but in all the craziness, I haven't told the person yet! I'll get that email sent out today.