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Version 1.05 Released

Version 1.05 which supports 4-inch device screens was submitted to the App Store yesterday, Nov. 20th, 2012. It usually takes Apple a week or two to get to it though.

Actually, they already got to it today and it should be live on the App Store soon.

However, I’m actually not happy with the way the fonts are being laid-out on 4-inch devices. They’re bigger, of course, but for some reason the app isn’t doing a good job of keeping single, long words (like eavesdropping or misunderstanding) on one line. So, I’m gonna tweak that a bit and put out an update to address it. I’m also thinking of having examples come up in a random order so that you don’t see the same one at first every time. Please let me know what you think.

Happy Studies!

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Using Apple’s Dictionary

imiwa? doesn’t have examples for every word. In this case, you can either try to find a real world example (you must have gotten the word from somewhere: a book, a sign, something a friend said to you, or something you thought about saying) or can you look for an example using your device’s built-in dictionary. It’s best to do this during a study session. Tap edit and then double-tap the kanji entry and choose Select All. Next tap Define (you may need to tap the right arrow first).

Apple’s dictionary will slide up and you’ll have a nice list of examples to choose from. The examples are between the「」and the word you looked up will be replaced with a —.

The only problem is that you can’t copy text from this screen. You’ll have to be able to read all the kanji in the example so you can memorize it and then manually enter it into kanji Flow on the card’s Examples screen.

Many words will also have a long list of sub-entries at the bottom of the page.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Happy Studies!

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iPhone 5

I finally got my new 5th generation device and the update to support 4-inch screens is well into testing. It should be ready, submitted to Apple for approval, and available on the App Store soon.

Once I’m done with that, I’m considering working on an iPad native version of the app. However, I don’t want to do just a scaled-up version of the app. I’d like to make the iPad version take advantage of the extra screen space somehow but, frankly, I really don’t have any good ideas about how to do so.

So, please send a long any ideas you might have about what you’d like to see in an iPad version. If I don’t get anything good I probably will at least do an up-scaled version so that iPad users don’t have to deal with the not-so-great default up-scaling. However, it may be a while before it’s ready.

Happy Studies!

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Version 1.04 Released

Version 1.04 should be live in the app store soon and has the following features:

  • Tweaked iOS 6 performance

  • Fixed card resetting from the card detail view

  • Added card copying during study sessions

  • Tweaked Upgrade restoring

The app should be a bit smoother on iOS 6 and will provide visual cues that it’s working in the background when syncing study dates or starting a study session.  You can also copy cards while studying and there have been a few minor bug fixes/tweaks as well.

I’m still waiting for my 4-inch device to arrive but as soon as it comes I’ll be able to properly test and release the next update which will support iPhone 5 and iPod Touch 5.

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iOS 6

iOS 6 came out today and I’ve noticed a few issues that I’ll try to get fixed as soon as possible.

First, it seems that touch tracking is a bit more sensitive now so touches that would’ve previously registered as taps are now registering as slight movements.  This may mean that you end up having to tap just a bit too carefully not to be annoyed.  Also, the way that background threads are processed seems a bit different as well so you might have a noticeable wait when starting a study session or syncing study dates but without any indication that the app is doing some work in the background.  I’ll try to get these two issues fixed in an update ASAP.  Unfortunately, an update to support the new 4-inch device screens will have to wait until my 5th generation device arrives which will be sometime in October.  Please let me know if you’ve noticed any other problems after upgrading to iOS 6.

Happy Studies!

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CSV Importing

Version 1.0.2 of kanji Flow posted to the App Store today and includes a new CSV import feature.

You can add CSV files to your kanji Flow documents and the file will be converted to kanji Flow format upon selection from the lesson list.  You can also import CSV formatted text from the Edit view.  The CSV needs to be formatted correctly in order to import properly.  If you’re working from a spreadsheet file, it should only have three columns: one for the kanji entry, one for the kana entry, and one for the English (or translation) entry.  If you’re working from a source file that includes more than three columns, just delete the extra columns from the file before you export it as a CSV file.  The resulting text should end up looking something like this:

来週,らいしゅう,”next week”
東,ひがし,”east”
冷蔵庫,れいぞうこ,”refrigerator”

Happy Studies!