Does anyone have experience skrittering on a Samsung Galaxy Note? I only found the following Samsung Galaxy SII related comment from September 15th, 2011:

"Previously I had display scaling problems but as of now everything works fine for me on a Samsung Galaxy S2.
Thanks for the fix I am now able to also practice while on the go. :)"

The Galaxy Note is basically an enlarged version of the SII, with a 5.3" 1280x800 screen and Wacom active digitizer and stylus built-in.

I do not need a phone. The main appeal for me is the tablet (Skritter, Anki, Pleco Chinese Dictionary, QQ, Google Translate, etc.), Wacom active digitizer and 3G functionality.

I have the galaxy SII and Skritter with it daily so I thought I could give some input to you.

Even though the screen is large for a phone(bigger than Iphone) there is still a lot of wasted space in the mobile version of Skritter.(Less than half used for writing) I have to fit the screen each time I get into skritter just perfectly around whats useful which annoying and is a pain.(Imagine having to ctrl-+ to fit the writing pad well) If I am lost at what is being prompted(because the English is too general), and have to uncover the pronunciation(which are tiny buttons for fingers) I have to re-lock on to the writing square, which is frustrating. Basically its 85% there and still. I dream of having a stylus to write with though. Honestly, I don't see how people use a smaller screen and a finger to do it. Oh, and I am probably only 50% efficient compared to my PC with Bamboo while mobile.

I am in love with my Samsung now and my SII which has been nicked named 小三 now. I will definitely get another Samsung next time again.

I think Skritter will work fine on your device, although it may need some tweaking to use the right layout. I hesitate to recommend buying Android devices based on that, though, since like dfoxworthy said, there are some annoyances and the performance isn't all the way there. Especially now that I have the iPhone app version to compare it to, the Android version feels pretty clunky. It may get the job done, though.

Thanks for all your feedback.

It's been a long time since I was a web developer, but I do remember being able to detect browser resolution and dynamically change layout based on that. Skritter is just Flash, correct? What are the technical limitations to make it work correctly on Android (or any other platform, for that matter)?

Dynamically resizing the Flash content doesn't work, so the Flash embed has to know roughly what type of screen it's loading for before the page is loaded. That's one of the issues. I could do that detection a different way, incorporating input from the client, but I haven't the time to rewrite that right now.

Another is that there isn't very much space for these devices, but we still want to make the most out of the space that is there, so we try to show/hide/rearrange various bits depending on what we think the physical screen size is going to be.

A third is that there is a delay between your touch inputs happening and Flash receiving them. You just write ahead of the squigs appearing and it can go pretty fast, but you have to be more deliberate than with the instant squig drawing on the normal version.

There are many other issues which are mostly solved.

Sounds like any Android device will experience at least some lag. I might as well save myself $700 and get a cheap Shanzhai tablet then. Seems like some people here have been having good experiences with them.

If what you're wanting it for is Skritter + Pleco, a better choice would be an apple device. There's a dedicated iphone/ipad app in alpha atm, and Pleco has been on ios for a long time.

I've been considering getting a Samsung Galaxy Note just like topic starter 约翰. I've wondered if the fact that this smartphone features a Wacom digitizer and a precision stylus would make any difference. I suppose there's one way to find out how it gets along with Skritter: visit a retail store that has it on display, then fiddle with the Skritter.com demo page for a while. Engadget reviewed the Galaxy Note a few weeks ago: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/28/samsung-galaxy-note-review/
The Dutch geek site Tweakers.net also has very favorable reviews from their users.
Current street price here is €540 (without a calling plan).

I second Byzanti - if you're primary use is for Chinese, a basic model iPod Touch is probably your best balance between apps, cost, and performance (especially considering the issues regarding Flash delay on Android, which would be a non-starter for me). One can buy a stylus designed to function with a iOS screen, for example from Wacom.

@icebear "One can buy a stylus designed to function with a iOS screen, for example from Wacom." I'd only heard of these for iPad, can you get them for a reasonable price for an iPhone (3gs)?

http://tenonedesign.com/sketch.php

I primarily use this on my MacBook Pro trackpad, but can confirm that it works smoothly on my iPhone 3GS. Its skinny enough that it doesn't obscure the screen while you write (well, as much as one can hope). So far I've just tested it in Pleco using handwriting, but it worked well enough there that I'm confident I'll use this heavily once the iOS Skritter app is released. They have other models designed to clip onto the iPhone as well for easy transport.

http://wacom.com/en/Products/Bamboo/BambooStylus.aspx

This has good reviews online (for iPad use), a few of which mention that it works fine on an iPhone as well. I would possibly consider this or the Pogo Sketch Pro next time I need one of these (I guess when the tip runs out, probably in a year at the rate I'm going), not out of need but just to see how the thicker grip suits me. The Pogo Sketch is comfortable to write for 10-20 minutes but after that the skinniness of it can demand a break for your grip.

I think any stylus designed for the iPad will also work on the iPhone, so you probably have options beyond these.

I'd be wary of using those styluses. I've got the pogo sketch, and it requires a fair bit of pressure. It's ok, but not great. I've read that the bamboo stylus doesn't last long (and is made of rubber, which I imagine has a fair amount of resistance -- it's also expensive!). I've ordered some from 'ifaraday' which from what I've read seem very promising (no need to press hard, and little friction). They're yet to arrive though.

But a stylus definitely helps for the iOS version - you can write quicker, and it doesn't cramp out your hand.

The iFaraday looks promising, if it indeed addresses my one concern with the Pogo Sketch on iOS - a need to push a bit (as opposed to simply gliding). Haven't had trouble with 'drag' but I can see how the Wacom Stylus or other solid rubber tips might have that issue.

Please let us know how it turns out and I'll keep it in mind when I'm looking to get a new stylus.

Thanks for all the useful info, I'd also be keen to hear the outcome. I'll wait for the skritter app before looking to buy one though.

Yea it's clever to wait til the Skrit app is out. I don't know how expensive an iPhone is eventually, but seems the Samsung Galaxy Note and these Android phones aren't cheap either. I'm testing the Skrit App and I don't like to use big words, but to say that it's awesome is an understatement:)

Got my Galaxy Note yesterday. Skritter works, with and without pen. Hurrah!

tvothe,

But does it work well? I tested a cheap ePad 7" Android tablet and it was a downright horrible experience. Is the layout correct? Is there any lag?

I will be going to Beijing on the 21st. I never bought any Apple hardware before but with time running out, Pleco's Chinese dictionary working so well, Anki being available and the Skritter iOS app nearing release I am very tempted to buy a used 4th generation iPod Touch or iPhone (not sure if I want to pay twice as much to be able to make proper use of Pleco's OCR capabilities).

I've just got a galaxy note and skritter really does work excellently now with it, a pleasure to use with the pen, and in fact I think I prefer it to the big wacom.

Its easy to get used to the extra tap needed to switch between the html page and the flash interation.

Only strange think is that the progress hours studied graph does not scale properly. It displays eg week view every day at max 10 min when I've done much more.

@约翰

Perhaps too late, but for what it's worth, OCR is my least used feature on Pleco. I initially thought it was pretty neat, but unless you're scanning entire pages from books its usually faster to user the handwriting prompt to input unknown characters (and, theoretically, a better learning experience). And, if you are using it to scan entire pages, you're probably better off finding the content online and opening in Pleco's document or web reader.

I have an iPhone and like it for combining a few gadgets into one, but if I was deciding between a iPhone and iPod Touch on the basis of Pleco's OCR, I'd go with the Touch.

If I am not mistaken, the most recent iPod Touch has a camera. I should think it would therefore support the optical character reader. I have just started playing with it on my iPhone and it is pretty cool, but I am inclined to agree with icebear; by the time I look things up with the OCR I could have done it faster with handwriting recognition. However, not all content is available on line, or you may not be able to go on line when you want.

@podster "However, not all content is available on line, or you may not be able to go on line when you want."

Not sure what you mean by this? At least specifically referring to Pleco - once you download any extensions you want, after that all functionality works offline, without 3G or Wifi connections (it and most other apps would be useless to me if not - 3G rates are very expensive on prepaid plans...).

@ icebear,
I was replying to what you wrote about "And, if you are using it to scan entire pages, you're probably better off finding the content online and opening in Pleco's document or web reader." I know Pleco does not require connectivity to function. When I see a periodical article and I know where to find it on line I do exactly as you say.

@podster - Ah, sorry for the misunderstanding, that's clear now. I wrote that biased by my use of Pleco, which is primarily to read books or articles; I rarely use OCR but I can see why "out in the field" some might find it really helpful.

Menus are a prime example of where the OCR function comes in handy, although I would still argue that its optimal to first add a list of the most common dishes to Skritter and see how far that takes someone first. I say that mostly because I find the "snapshot, Pleco, OCR" routine in a restaurant pretty lame/unnatural especially when I'm out with others - but that's just my opinion.

on my Galaxy note skritter doesnot work?
I cant use the pen to write ? any wrong setting that i made?

Michael, try it on the beta site http://beta.skritter.com/study/all -- I just changed something. But also, try this URL and let me know if it works better:

http://www.skritter.com/study/all?android=true