Posted this on the blog -- http://blog.skritter.com/2013/12/skritter-for-android-alpha-preview.html -- and newsletter -- http://www.skritter.com/newsletters/13-12 -- but still wanted to make sure y'all saw it. Basically Skritterer Josh has open-sourced a working HTML5-based Skritter client that runs on Android, and he needs your help to test it, find bugs, and suggest improvements. Use the latest Chrome beta on Android to try it.

http://html5.skritter.com/

You can post general feedback here. It'll be really helpful for Josh if you do use the GitHub issues for specific problems you run into or features you need: https://github.com/mcfarljw/skritter-html5/issues

Keep in mind that this is the earliest possible release, not a polished final product--Josh didn't want to keep anyone waiting a minute longer than necessary.

Why develop it in secret at all? Because we learned the loud, disgruntled way not to announce a mobile app 18 months in advance with the iPhone app. ;)

I got and get an iphone and the android version comes out. Figures. Glad to hear it though.

Finally!!! Good job guys! Thank you!

Really appreciate the effort. I will continue to use the iOS app on iPad and I just bought my daughter an iPod touch so she can use it but I support the move enough that I will help by testing it on my phone. Having said that - my first impression is that it's so slow that it's unusable. I'll refrain from submitting an issue yet and hope the backend is just being flogged following the announcement. Will try again tomorrow.

SO EXCITED! Thank you thank you thank you!

Been trying to access for the last 2 hours or so though, still stuck on "initial download"

Galaxy Nexus running 4.3, Chrome browser

THANKＹＯＵＵＵＵ！！！！
THANKＹＯＵＵＵＵ！！！！
THANKＹＯＵＵＵＵ！！！！
THANKＹＯＵＵＵＵ！！！！
THANKＹＯＵＵＵＵ！！！！
THANKＹＯＵＵＵＵ！！！！

First off, thanks to all who try it, having your support is what it needs to get ironed out into a fully functional app for Android.

I'm particularly interested in what devices you try it with, because I'm only about to test with a handful of them.

@mikemills, the support is much welcomed. Speed and performance is definitely something that this alpha aims to fix. Don't hesitate to open issues on GitHub, post them here or even just e-mail me.

@Nicki, I've yet to test it out on 4.3, but that shouldn't be the issue. I was able to download your account on my s4, but I had to keep the browser window open and not let the screen turn off. It seems when the screen turns off it stops the browser from downloading. I'll open an issue for that.

I've just uploaded a fix that should greatly increase the speed of loading prompts on larger accounts. So if you previously tried it and it was a complete dinosaur, give it another go.

If you're not seeing the speed boost, then try clearing the account to force the changes.

Josh,
I appreciate your work immensely; thanks for taking the time to work on this. While I have used the iOS app for some time, I am pumped to begin Skrittering on Android.

I have used the html5 version on my 1st gen Nexus 7 running 4.4.2 for about ten minutes today. Considering this is an alpha I am very impressed. Besides being a bit slower than the iOS app it seems to work well for what the need is. I have only had one prompt not appear... everything else has been good.
Thanks again.

@edjwhite, thanks! Hopefully we can get all the quirks fixed sooner rather than later so it holds its weight in comparison to Skritter on the other platforms.

Guys, I was getting disappointed by not sensing any major features during the last months.

But THIS is amazing!

Will check it out on christmas (my mum's having my tablet because she's playing Plants vs. Zombies on it :D )

Now we just need to have Skritter Plants vs. Zombies mode. Draw characters before getting overrun.

looks promising, glad to see those things becoming possible in html 5... any details on the license?

Thanks for checking out my account. Yeah, it's a large one. I've downloaded chrome beta, and stopped my screen from turning off, but I'm only getting about 900 KB into the download before I get an "Aw, snap, something went wrong" message. How do I "clear the account" ?

Hmm, I cleared Chrome app data (was that what you meant?) and got up to 4.99 MB before "Aww snap"

:(

That's great, for my phone ^^ And the offline isgoing to be great too, so I can use it with my laptop in trains and planes! Great job, really!

@wb, Not sure if this is what you mean, but it'll all be included in the normal subscription fee (same as the iOS).

@Nicki, Oh no, that's not good! It should definitely be making it past 5mb. Shoot me and e-mail at josh@skritter.com. I'll put in a few lines of code to help debug your device and then hopefully figure out what it's doing under the hood.

I'm going to post a more complete write up about offline mode later. But even though it's a website you should still be able to disconnect from the internet, open your browser and then access it for studying. It only relies on you having opened the website once before and not clearing the app data/cache. So if you're feeling adventurous give it a whirl.

no I mean for the code on github ;-)

Oh haha, my mind must not be working this morning. That's definitely something we should include in GitHub. I'll see if we can get that taken care of this week. Thanks for the heads up!

Have tried to use it on my MacBook Pro (Chrome) and the study section won't work. (I have a bar on the top with a timer and several buttons, but the whole section below stays blank). (Inital Download has been done)

This is still alpha and I am not running Android so I am not complaining. :D

That's why this early alpha release is so important. Just testing it on my devices isn't enough of a guarantee it'll work on everyone else. In the programming dream world I'd write one piece of code and it would work everywhere... so sad that's not true.

I just loaded up your account on Windows 7 running the latest Chrome and I'm able to see prompts. I won't have access to a Mac until very late this evening to test it out there. I did notice there were some recent timeout errors, so maybe refreshing a few times might help.

You could also do a bit of detective work for me and check the Chrome console for errors. If you see any expand, copy and send them over to me.

https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/docs/console

The goal is to get it running equally as well on desktops (Linux, Mac and Windows) as well as on Android. We want users traveling with laptops to be able to study offline too!

I have been skrittering a bit this morning on HTC Butterfly, and so far I have a very good impression on it! However, here's what I think could be improved.

- Very frequently (maybe that's just for me?) - just after character writing or definition, immediately next is a tone for same character. That is not good because you had just answered meaning, and heard the sound, so naturally you know the tone.
- Sound SOMETIMES comes very late. Like you are writing next or even more character, and then sound for previous one comes from nowhere. Maybe internet issue... but still, I am connected through wifi and on notebook there is no this issue, same wifi.
- sound as such is frequently "switching off" itself, i.e - you need again press on sound icon to switch it on again.

P.S - I am NOT complaining, this is a GREAT new feature, and was so long awaited!

Yup, you're right. I need to enhance the scheduling selection process. I went ahead and opened a general issue for this so it's on my plate.

https://github.com/mcfarljw/skritter-html5/issues/98

The audio stuff is a bit confusing and sometimes almost feel a prompt behind. Nick opened an issue similar to this, so it's on the list.

Most people I've talked to have been either testing on either a Nexus or Samsung, how does the writing canvas run on the HTC Butterfly? From specs I just saw it has a quad-core mobile processor.

Writing is OK, maybe small strokes need write bigger then they actually are on screen and then they appear, but after all it's a phone and not writing tablet, after few characters I already adapted to it. So, I can say no issues for canvas on HTC Butterfly

Ive tried it and its working now. still waiting for several features to be added like reviews due today (and "Items due now" seems not to be accurate right now).

I have been using the preview since about two days ago and it seems to be improving as far as speed is concerned. I have a Droid RAZR X as it works about as well as can be expected. I can't point out any specific flaws as the ones I see are not consistent; this phone is rather capricious. The only thing that seems to be consistent is a slight lag between input and display of strokes when doing the writing prompts, but that isn't really an issue yet.

Cant wait to try on my Note 2, maybe can have stylus support?

@stvwoj, Glad to hear it's working on the RAZR X. The delay on input is because currently the recognition is doing too much. I'm working on cleaning it up so that lag will disappear.

@Bob J, Yes it works just as comfortably with the Note 2 stylus as with a finger.

Well, have been practicing more with android version, and the more I use it more I like it.
All this time having skittered with Wacom on notebook, this offers now a whole new experience.
This offers a feeling like... hmmm, you are more CLOSE more personally touched with a character, in a mean of that it appears after a direct touch to a screen and you really feel it that you "wrote" it yourself. Somehow I feel that remembering rate is going up if I use phone. Yes, it is more slow thatn you would use Wacom but here... I feel like an old times scribe who carefully makes every touch and swap and... that feels great.
Thank you Skritter for this Christmas gift for us Android users!

Thanks for the feedback Rolands and glad to hear the writing experience is going well. I'm going to keep pushing the app towards feature parity with the iOS and current Flash website.

By the way this is josh. I forgot to log out of my testing account before posting.

Hi Josh

recently i am having strange bug, when suddenly screen becomes like this: http://tinypic.com/r/2hylb9u/5

and then nothing can be done further. Sometimes it's later sometimes sooner, but that apparently is a reaction on some particular character in writing practice, so when when it comes, then this bug happens. But which character, or is it really so, I am not sure. Do you know what can be done?

This may be related to this issue:

https://github.com/mcfarljw/skritter-html5/issues/106

I'm having a bit of trouble consistently reproducing it so that I can patch it up. It's happening when it gets to a prompt and can't find something important (like the stroke order data). I'll spend some time tomorrow tracking it down. Thanks for the report!

I think I've handled the issue with prompts not loading. Let me know if it's still an issue.

Next on the list is to better combine reviews of single characters when a word containing it will also be soon reviewed.

Thank you all for this awesome gift!

I've been using the HTML5 version on my galaxy nexus and it's much smoother than the flash version. You rock.

So far I've seen only one minor funny quirk. The html5 version is asking me for readings of hiragana only words and then gives me the correct reading again in hiragana. Like for example しばしば (from the JLPT N2 list, i think). But that may just be an issue with that particular word, and not a very important one at that.

You guys rock and thank you so much.

My Phone is a Blu VIVO 4.3 and with the Opera Classic browser has worked great for Skrittering on the non-html5 site. I only have the Chrome Beta to use this Skritter Alpha. Is there a way to disable the Navigation Toolbar and the phone's status bar in Chrome Beta?

My Opera Classic browser and the default browser that came with my phone (Android 4.1) doesn't load anything past the login when i use the HTML5 Skritter version.

When I use the HTML5 in Chrome Beta there isn't enough room above the scratch pad to see what word it wants me to practice (I can see one line of text at a time so some scrolling is required). I can provide screen shots if requested. This pretty much makes the HTML5 version un-usable.

@pespes,I'll check it out. I'm the html5 app developer and study Chinese. Let me know if you see any other Japanese inconsistencies I may have overlooked.

@chip256, I still need to implement a better layout for devices with smaller screen sizes. I am hoping to get it cleaned up a little bit by the end of the weekend.

Using Chrome Beta you can get the application to load without the navigation bar by clicking on your device menu button and selecting "Add to home screen". That should give you a little more space.

https://developers.google.com/chrome/mobile/docs/installtohomescreen

I just checked the errors logs and I think you might have been using Opera 12.1 which doesn't support the database technology to run Skritter. They have a newer version out that does support it and I have included the link below.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.opera.browser

I just tested it using that version of Opera for Android and it works, but the strokes will look a little fuzzy because that browser doesn't yet support anti-aliasing.

Tried to use it on my Sony Xperia Z, but was not working properly.

Problems:

1. If I click on Add to homescreen, it shows : Loading account, requesting batch, but no icon is added to my Xperia Z desktop.

2. It only works if I hold my mobile phone vertically, if I hold it horizontal, the screen is just white.

3. If I click on the screen when it says: "What's the definition?" in 9 out of 10 cases it immediatly jumps to the next word only showing the answer for a split second.

4. When it shows a "What's the definition?" question, the word is shown twice, once saying "trad" under each word in the upper quarter of the screen, and devided by a black line and again in the lower 3/4 of the screen.

Also several other bugs.

After restarting the "App" in my browser, this time offline, the "What is the definition" questions are working now!

But now I have two other bugs:
1. On the upper bar it only shows 2 white squares than the time, another empty square, than 655 and 3 other squares. So appearently the menu points are not displayed correctly.

2. When I am suppossed to write a characters stroke order, doesnt matter what I do I get a red cross and a totally unrelated red stroke displayed on top of the character. Somehow its not working.

@fangshi, I'll comment about the issue in order and hopefully help you resolve them.

1.) If your Xperia desktop doesn't have any open space then clicking add to homescreen won't add an icon to it. Could that be the problem?

2.) I haven't yet added support for holding the device horizontally, but it's definitely on the list of things to do.

3.) Did you load the app using a wifi or mobile data? You might need to keep the website open for a few minutes so all of the fonts and images can save on your device before going offline. I'm planning on adding a green indicator light to let people know when the application is ready for offline mode.

4.) A red cross? That should be displayed at the bottom of the character prompt. If possible could you send me a screenshot of that issue? You can e-mail it to josh@skritter.com

Thanks for the reports! I might not get changes implemented until right after New Years, but we'll get them all sorted out.

Hi, unfortunatly I am out of volume right now, my mobile phone tarif here in China kinda sucks, so I can only use the offline mode right now. -_-

1. Nope. There is space. Maybe I have to update Chrome? :S

3. mobile data. I was online the whole time during my first test run. But I ran out of volume whil doing it, I will check later again, when I added volume to my phones account.

4. No the cross is in the right place. I just good a red cross every time, even so I could not possibly write the stroke wrong.

Thanks for the good work anyway. A Skritter android app is awesome news. I will help as much as I can!

Checking for updates to Chrome and Chrome Beta is important. The html5 application is using lots of new browser features.

The application downloads your entire account, so it can eat up a lot of mobile data, especially on the initial download. If you need to re-download it might be a good idea to find a wifi connection to do it.

Thanks for the support!

Arrrggh, ok I am an idiot. I used the regular chrome. I just realized you guys said CHROME BETA!
I use the German version of the regular Chrome browser, so I confused "Desktop Version" with "Add to homescreen", I thought it was just a bad translation... -__- Download Chrome Beta now.

Edit:

Ok now I restarted HTML5 Skritter with Chrome Beta. Now everything works, BUT one big problem remains. Every few words I am stuck after the App shows me the red cross, the yellow waves and the green and blue hooks to choose from. No matter which I press, its highlighted, but the program does not jump to the next card. I am stuck on that card. I can go back to the main menu, but it wouldnt switch to the next word. :((
What can I do about that?

very nice, wow! In first flush of enthusiasm I want to say I like it even better than the iPad version. So clean, simple, elegant...

I only used it for 10 minutes but so far I like it lots!

What I would most like is to be able to study a single list.

I will check out the github for sure as I've been meaning to do HTML5 stuff like this for ages. Congratulations on doing this!

Galaxy Nexus 4.3 Chrome Beta

@fangshi, are you still having that issue where it won't move to the next card?

@Kai Carver, Glad to hear! I'm still working on implementing all of the list management features, but once I roll that out then studying single lists will be bundled with it. There are incomplete docs:

http://html5.skritter.com/docs

They might help orient you to the code. The goal heading forward to is to have the whole project well documented.

Any idea when it's going to work with regular Chrome, Firefox, Opera and so on?

@distantvoice, are you referring to regular on mobile devices or on desktops? Here is the breakdown of what currently should work with the alpha.

DESKTOP
Chrome (win/mac)
Firefox (win/mac)
IE 10/11 (win)
Opera (win/mac)

MOBILE
*Chrome(android)
Chrome Beta (android)
**Firefox (android)
IE Mobile (windows phone)
*Opera (android)

*These browsers don't currently support anti-aliasing of shapes so the strokes will look a little fuzzy. The only fix for it is to wait for the browser to get updated with that support.

**Firefox for Android is a little slow when processing canvas rendering and has a few other quirks. You can use it, but the speed might be less than desirable.

Is there a way to go back in case I incorrectly check my work as correct/wrong? How about the ability to erase the character I've written?

@chip256, You can erase the character or tone by pressing and holding on the writing area.

There is an issue open for going backwards and I'm hoping to have it implemented sometime this week. You can check the issue using the link below to see if I've fixed it yet or not. Sorry about that!

https://github.com/mcfarljw/skritter-html5/issues/59

Oh I see. It works well in Firefox and Chrome (on the Desktop) for me. Didn't test anything else. Once mems and example sentences are in I might stop using the Flash version. Thank you!!

@josh this is just great stuff. Discovering the API documentation too.

Is there a way to link to a specific word or series of words, like this?:

http://www.skritter.com/scratchpad?words=你好_例子_蘑菇_斩

('cause if there is, I could link to a possible writing recognition bug with 實際) (also I like URLs :)

@Kai, You're right, having the scratchpad might make it easier for people to debug and report recognition problems. I haven't added it back yet, but it is planned. It shouldn't be too difficult since it'll still be using the same prompt classes.

For now you can open a GitHub issue and just paste in some troublesome character examples then give a quick description of how they aren't working so well. I can load them into a test account and check them out.

I'm thinking the scratchpad will be back sometime next month when I start making the site more friendly for new Skritter users. Right now it's mostly targeted at people who are already familiar with it.

@josh woops, there was no bug, just my incorrect writing of the character 實
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/rsc/img/stroke_anim/23526.gif
HTML5 Skritter is awesome!

This is awesome. A few of my Android-Phone friends were disappointed that Skritter was iOS only. Will make Skritter much easier to recommend.

I just pushed out a somewhat large overhaul to the layout both on the front and backend. I've also added in experimental horizontal support for phones and tablets. If you get the chance to test it out feel free to send screenshots of issues to me at:

josh@skritter.com

It's easier for fix layout issues with accompanying screenshots, because I don't always see the same issues on my limited number of test devices. If you're really daring you can try rotating your mobile/tablet horizontal and see what madness might occur.

Everything is working perfect now for me! I am really happy and excited about this! I contemplated to buy a Apple product for month now just for Skritter... Now I can use Skritter on my believed Sony Xperia Z and stay a Apple hater. XD

Thanks for the good work, I think the app is already running really satisfyingly now. If we can directly add words inside the app and other stuff in the future, it would only become more awesome.

Edit:

Only problem that I have now：
I dont get enough new words. I already pushed the + buttom in the flash app several times, but I get the same word like every 30 seconds in the app and it shows "0 items to review".But if I select study in the flash version I get new words. Why isnt it the same if I study with the App? I already pressed "sync" but still no new words get added.

FYI, I cleared my Chrome Beta browser settings/cache and the next time I used the desktop link on my phone (i.e. straight to html5.skritter.com/study it just gave the grey background screen. To fix this I just had to go back to the html5.skritter.com screen, sign in again, and redownload (As expected). Just giving a heads ups.

Second item and maybe this is a Chrome Beta problem. I cannot control the app volume with my volume buttons when using the html5 version. I did not see any settings in Chrome for volume controls.

@fangshi, There is an issue open for the adding thing (https://github.com/mcfarljw/skritter-html5/issues/109) and I'm going to focus on getting that cleared up today. It is strange that it's adding the new words, but not actually showing them in the html5 version. I have a good idea of what the problem is though.

@chip256, I just opened an issue for this (https://github.com/mcfarljw/skritter-html5/issues/118) as it's definitely something that needs to be patched up. Thanks!

Hi Josh

Yes, after practicing some days, I can say issue with blank screen is fixed, and it never happens again.

2 things wanted ask/clarify at the current moment (it never ends, right? ;)

- In writing mode pinyin is showed, even in study settings I had ticked option to hide it.
This is really important thing, as it's such a spoiler...

- I am not sure how does the time resets and when it resets? Like today I went in android mode, and already had study time 45 min, which is something I think 2 or more days ago last time stamp. Even if I press sync, before and after time is not resetting. Maybe it has to do something with offline study mode? This I had noticed already for a time. sometimes it resets sometimes keeps last moment logged in.
While for example vice verse it works - i studied around 30 min's on phone today, and then went in desktop version and time studied is correctly recorded

I likely broken some things with hide reading when I rolled out the the altered layout. I'll run through it and make sure it's in check with how the current Flash version handles it.

Time studied should be calculated in the following order:

1.) Check the server for total time studied for the day (if online).

2.) Check the local device for any unsynced reviews and add up the time from those items.

I've noticed a few error logs where that initial time check from the server is failing even when online. I need to add some handling so that it tries again when that happens. If you go offline and refresh the page then the server time won't show up. What I need to do is have it store that time locally so when people go offline it still shows up. Basically right now if you go offline and refresh the page you'll only see your offline progress until you go online again.

Any update on the issue of adding new cards? For me all other issues are solved but no matter what I do I dont get new words, which is a big issue, because I just started the HSK 6 list and have only a handful of words in rotation. I really need new words. If I add new words on the flash version (which is a pain in the ass, because I dont have my bamboo tablet with me) I get new words like it is supposed to be, but they only sometimes after updating the android version transfer. If I only use the Android version (which I would prefer!) I never get new words.

@fangshi,I got a little bit slowed up by the holidays, but I'm in the process of testing a large update that fix stabilize html5 adding. Barring any disasters I should have that out today. It'll also let you select how many items to add rather than just trying to add 5. I'll post back here when I upload it.

Alright man, appriciated! I will report back.

@fangshi, I ran into a few problems and had to revert a few things, but adding new items *should* work now. I didn't have time to test it much, but did add a few items using a Chinese and Japanese account without problems. Let me know how it goes for you and I'll do more testing on it tomorrow.

Its still not working. The only way I get new words is by emptying the catch of Chrome BETA, reloading Skritter HTML5 and my profile. That way I just got a bunch of fresh words, but its hard to say if they were activated by clicking the ADD button in the flash version or in the Android version. Anyway, afterwards I tried to add new words via the "+" Symbol, but no matter if I selected to add 1, 3 or 10 new items, no new words were added.

Could it have something to do with me being in China?! Maye the app is not working right here? :S

One thing to check before you try to add words using the html5 is on the homepage under 'My Lists'. Make sure it's displaying at least one list as 'adding'. If they all say paused it won't add anything. You can try clicking on the list to change it to adding or on the Flash website click the restart adding button.

It shouldn't be a China issue, especially since you're able to download your account. I'm going to keep cleaning up the add items stuff today though.

UPDATE:
I checked it again and if your HSK6 list section is complete it'll mark it as paused. If you go back to the html5 app homepage then click on that list it'll toggle it back to adding. Then you should be able to add items. I just pushed out another release that should update the items due immediately after your add items.

Sorry mate, still the same. :S Just visited the app, list "HSK 6" is activated as adding. The app let me review a bunch of stuff until the number next to the pen was 0. Then reviewing ad nauseam, pressing the Add words button doesnt change anything. Switch over to the flash version open "Study" and it immeditaly upon opening let me write a bunch of new words. I am still in the first 100 word section of the "HSK6 list".

Might be a caching issue again, because I posted the updates so recently. It can take a few hours for the changes to show up due to the cache. To force it you could try the cache/site data clearing thing again.

I'll look over your account specific settings again to see if I missed something, but I've yet to be able to get it to add nothing when at least one list was marked as adding and it doesn't seem to be generating any errors.

well than it must be my phone or what do i know. even after activating a second list "500 Chengyu, Chinese-German" I dont get new items when pressing the + button. Maybe I do something wrong here, I am just trying to give you feedback.

Funny enough, after ACTIVATING the 500 Chengyu list did nothing in the way of adding words/chengyus in the Android app, it started adding those Chengyus in the Flash Version after I switched over, so it was registered in the system that I activated the list in the Android version.

It should be as easy as clicking the add button, so it's definitely not you. I ran a lot of tests today and have some more ideas on how to fix it. I'll keep you updated here, sorry for the delay.

Hey its really no problem, we all know its a alpha version. So I am just happy if I can help to speed up the process. :)

Little update: After switching back to the Android version again, the new Chengyus that were added in the flash version after I activated the list in the Android version, curiously dont show up in my rotation of words in the android version. I guess like previously it would only be recognized by the system if I empty the cache and load my whole profile again.

I still think it could have to do something with the Chinese firewall. I also have problems loading the skritter webpage. I can load the main page but if I click on the sections like Study or forum it won't load.

Really impressed. Can't wait for it to be full featured. On initial impressions it seems more responsive than the flash version (on PC in firefox). The strokes certainly move into place alot quicker.

I have tried this on my Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 Silk browser and I was able to use it, sort of.
A few issues:-
it took 6 or 7 reloads to get past the initial download as it just seemed to stop between 600k and 1mb.
If you try to scroll at all or make it full screen when on the study page then you can't generate any strokes. You get a dot where you start the stroke but nothing more.
Sound only works intermittently.
On the definitions is skips past the self scoring onto the next character.

@Mannanin, thanks for giving it a go!

I haven't been able to debug it on any of the Kindle devices, but that's definitely something that should be supported with the html5 application. Is it possible to download Chrome Beta on the Kindle or are you forced into using Silk?

If you could take some pictures of it in a vertical and horizontal orientation on the study page or other funny looking things that might help me debug some things. You can send them to me at: josh@skritter.com

https://developer.amazon.com/sdk/fire/taking-screenshots.html

I see a few error logs from Amazon Silk 3 that I'm guessing might be from your device, so they might give me some insight on what's going wrong.

I have managed to load Chrome Beta on to my Fire, which works as expected.

Amazon pretty much force you to use the silk browser. There are no other browsers available on the amazon app store and you don't get the play store.

They haven't locked the door completely as you can side load apps but sourcing an Apk file that I would trust has proved interesting.

I have loaded Chrome by downloading it on to my phone from the play store and then used a backup app to extract the apk - couldn't find it using a file manager. I transferred it to the fire via my PC and then used a file manager app on the fire so I could find and install it.

This is not ideal given the frequency of version updates but it works.

As regards the silk browser, the screen looks the same as the chrome ones as the layout isn't one of the issues.

Glad it's working with Chrome Beta, that does sound like a rather tedious process for updating it! I'll look into what Silk is doing when I get the chance to test it on a device.

has anyone got this working on windows phone 7.8? seems hang at grey fleck page

@wind, I tried this one two windows phones about a week ago and it worked (maybe have been 8), but I can't remember which version they were. Is the grey screen hanging before or after you login?

The only hard requirement for it to run on windows phone is that the browser is IE Mobile 10 or greater. Let me know and we can do some more troubleshooting to see what's going on with it.

If you could paste in your user agent (http://whatsmyuseragent.com/) it might help me find the relevant error logs, thanks!

Haven't read closely through all the responses, but just want to mention that I've also used the html5 version on the Nexus 5 for a few days now (chrome beta) and it is running fairly smooth.

Working great on my crappy Pioneer phone. Was just wondering what exactly each icon does at the bottom of the screen (red x, ~, green check , blue check ). I'm assuming its in order: dont know, so-so, know, skip? Just wanna get a confirmation.

@edjwhite, Let me know what issues do come about (hopefully they won't haha). I unfortunately don't have any of the Nexus devices to test on.

@psyke117, Almost, the grading is just as you mentioned except the blue check doesn't skip the item it just pushes it much further into the future.

Chrome for Android was just updated with the features that made me recommend using Chrome Beta. So you don't have to use the beta version anymore if you update to the latest regular version of Chrome for Android.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.android.chrome

The two main ones being shape anti-aliasing and the ability to add Skritter to the homescreen.

i'm going to give it a try on my xiaomi 2s, the phone is quite popular here in china. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! ...for doing what the skritter team should have done a long time ago for its monthly-paying, adroind-using users. GREAT JOB!!!

@eurowatz, let me know how it goes on that device. I just looked up the specifications and it looks like it'll run.

it does :-)

Thanks Josh - win7.8 is IE9 only, so that explains it!

Works nicely with android 4.4.2 on a HTC one running chrome (not beta). Thanks!

josh, you're doing a great job, the skritter html 5 app is most usable on my rubbish tablet.