iPad / iPad pro users

[Flickserve]

I recently visited the apple store.

 

After coming home, I wondered if anybody was using the iPad for language learning in more novel ways.

 

There's the split screen function where you can have multiple apps open which I think could he very useful.

 

1. Can write notes for reminders, Vocab, phrases, sentences.

 

2. PDF files can be written on like a notebook. You can photograph pages from your textbook, make notes on it and have your Skype, zoom open at the same time side by side. Would it be better to use face time?

 

3. If you were to use Skype, zoom could you record the conversation to mp3 or M4a for review?

 

4. If you are reading a newspaper, you could perhaps more easily copy and paste sentences or vocabulary.

 

There are the usual things like anki, writing characters, consuming media. A bigger screen is easier than a smart phone screen..

[mungouk]

The split-screen function is relatively new to iOS, and I've just recently started using it on my 10.5" iPad Pro with an ebook open on one side and Pleco on the other.  It works pretty well. 

 

For viewing large PDFs like books I usually use GoodReader which is an excellent app and very fast.

 

 

6 hours ago, Flickserve said:

If you were to use Skype, zoom could you record the conversation to mp3 or M4a for review?

 

Yes to both. I think with Zoom you have to be the originator of the call to record it; not sure — after all the recent bad press Zoom have been rushing through a lot of privacy/security changes.

 

https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA12395/how-do-i-record-my-skype-calls

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203066759-Recording-on-iOS-and-Android

 

Facetime isn't really that good for lessons IMHO... it assumes vertical orientation for video and screen-sharing is technically possible but a bit cumbersome.

 

Of course the other win compared to a laptop is the touchscreen, so you can practice writing characters with Tofulearn or Skritter.  Actually I think a phone screen is probably better for this, as the characters you write wouldn't be so big.

 

I really like it for reading ebooks too. With Pleco the ebooks you can download are much too fiddly on a phone, but on a bigger tablet screen it works very well.

 

Recently I've started using it to scribble on PDFs with the Apple pen, and to record video commentary while I do it (to make a "screencast" as feedback for my students)... this works great. I've not had any need to do it for language learning though.

 

Again, not specific to language-learning, but I really appreciate being able to use the iPad as a second monitor for my Macbook laptop while having Skype lessons (you can extend the OSX desktop to it). I used to have a nice big second monitor but had to get rid of it when I became nomadic. Having another screen  is really handy for reference material or taking notes during a lesson if your main screen is taken up with Skype screen-sharing already.  I use duet for this, which apparently works with Windows PCs too.

 

Clearly most of these would also apply to any tablet compared to a phone or laptop. One difference with iOS is that the Apple App Store and iCloud work inside the Great Firewall, whereas of course Google Store/Google drive etc don't, if you're using Android.  I presume iPads are way more expensive than Android tablets as well.

 

[Flickserve]

Wow. This sounds really good. 

 

The split screen function is something that was promised a number of years ago on samsung Android. The user experience in practice turned out to be a huge disappointment. So much so, it put me off tablets for a number of years until present day. Then, I was attending a postgraduate course hoping to utilise a tablet for that.

 

Recently, I have seen students using iPad much more effectively, especially the ease of writing on to PDFs and lecture notes. That's much more efficient than our paper notes from before. 

 

Post Covid, I see seminars and conferences playing a increasingly important role over the Internet to gain bigger audiences for sheet convenience.

 

Yes. The price is high. I could get some discount for using up airmiles points.

 

43 minutes ago, mungouk said:

10.5" iPad Pro

 

Given that I currently don't have any iPad, is there any advantage of the larger 12.9" version over 11" version? 

[mungouk]

I don't know... depends how big your bag is I suppose. ?

 

https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/03/29/comparing-the-11-inch-and-129-inch-2020-ipad-pros

 

[roddy]

On 5/19/2020 at 5:19 PM, mungouk said:

I think with Zoom you have to be the originator of the call to record it

The host can record, or give permission to others to record.

 

I've been ogling iPads for a while now, but I can't quite justify it. There'd be some advantages to bringing my tablet onto the same OS as my watch and phone, and I might make use of split-screen for taking notes while doing other stuff, but realistically that's not enough and I think I'll be sticking with my current tablet (last generation Amazon Fire 10, which is great for the sub-£100 I paid for it). If I was buying an iPad (or indeed any Apple stuff) I'd be looking at the Apple refurbished store - nice middle point between buying new and second-hand. 

[mungouk]

Talking of iOS, this is in the release notes of 13.5 which just came out... Yet another sign of the times.

 

 

Shame it doesn't just do the face-recognition thing with the mask on... I thought I'd read recently that the face-rec in train stations etc can do that now.

 

 

[mikelove]

FWIW, I think mouse support on iPad is going to be *huge* in ~6 months or so when iOS 14 is out and the mouse APIs are a little more fleshed-out. There are some weird omissions at the moment, but we've nevertheless been able to add experimental mouseover support to our document reader (even when editing!) and by the end of the year I expect it'll also be possible to do stuff like trackpad handwriting (nicer than trying to write on a vertical touchscreen), mouse steering in FPS games, repositionable floating windows, etc.

[mungouk]

Thank you @mikelove.... whenever you pop up here you have such great news and wisdom for all of us. ?

 

 

 

 

 

[Flickserve]

On 5/20/2020 at 12:19 AM, mungouk said:

For viewing large PDFs like books I usually use GoodReader which is an excellent app and very fast.

 

 

 

Just going back to your screenshot.

 

How did you get the character to appear in pleco? Did you write it or use OCR?

 

What notes app are you using?

[mungouk]

5 minutes ago, Flickserve said:

How did you get the character to appear in pleco? Did you write it or use OCR?

 

I think I just typed it to demonstrate the split-screen feature.  But I do also write characters when I can be bothered.

 

OCRing on-screen text is a bit fiddly when running in split-screen mode, but works great when you're not...  Take a screen-shot using the hardware buttons, then go back to the home screen, long-press on the Pleco icon and choose "OCR newest screenshot". 

 

I do this on my iPhone all the time, especially when using APPs where I can't understand the Hanzi.

 

9 minutes ago, Flickserve said:

What notes app are you using?

 

I use the Notes app that's built into iOS. Mainly because it syncs seamlessly between phone, iPad and laptop... I've used it for years and I know it. 

 

I guess you could use Evernote if you want something you can sync with your PC... I used it for a couple of years when I had an Android phone.

 

 

[xinoxanu]

Not the iPad, but I just bought today a handy 100$, Lenovo 8" tablet (like the Kindle Fire HD 8, but not quite) to be able to use Pleco in all its glory.

 

Personally, I can't really justify the pricepoint of Apple products in 2020, when an Android tablet with minimum 2GB of ram and a clean ROM works wonders.

 

If someone is interested on a extensive review, this is the one I got: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Tab-M8-HD-Tablet-Review-Browsing-and-streaming-for-little-money.449424.0.html

[BlackMamba]

On 5/19/2020 at 6:19 PM, mungouk said:

The split-screen function is relatively new to iOS, and I've just recently started using it on my 10.5" iPad Pro with an ebook open on one side and Pleco on the other.  It works pretty well. 

I wanted to do exactly this but even better with the LG G8X Thin Dual Screen phone. I asked mikelove from Pleco if its possible but he didn't know yet. But now I bought another phone.

 

But if this is possible with dual screen phones then my next phone would definitely be a dual Screen phone as this makes such things even easier than a split screen function that I already know for a long time in Samsung phones. Split screen in single screen phones is not so good imo as the space is too little. In a tablet split screen should be better however, but I don't carry a tablet everywhere with me. A dual screen phone would be more handy to carry everywhere.

[roddy]

Finally clicked buy on a 7th Gen ipad - main selling point was the split-screen thing, but it'll also be handy to have one less OS in the house - especially as my tablet isn't really Android but FireOS, I won't miss all the Amazon stuff. 

[Flickserve]

I got mine last week with the keyboard (not the magic keyboard which is very expensive). I need the larger font and got the 12.9” version. Having split screen on a larger iPad is quite useful. I can make notes on the workspace without having to zoom in. I have been using an app called notability to fill in pdfs, sign and email pretty quickly and return the email. 

 

So far, I haven’t explored much on using it for language learning. Hopefully, I can adapt to it. Maybe turn some pages of a text book into pdf and see what happens. 

 

 It’s very convenient for storing documents. Watched a YouTube video on a medical student compressing his thick set of notes down and being able to take the whole lot to his parents home without breaking his back. 
 

although mine is a large size, it’s the same as a A4 sheet of paper - still ok to carry around and I can tolerate the size.

I have tried laptops that act as a tablet with the keyboard folding backwards. The keyboard is more bulky and the keys stick out more making it feel uncomfortable. I didn’t find windows 10 very appealing on a tablet. 

 

[Dlezcano]

I'd like to use ipad for mirroring via airplay and would know what happens whenever you turn off the screen. For instance, if you turn your android device screen off while mirroring with chromecast a timestamp will show on your TV, and if you turn the android device screen on again you won't have to open google home app again to reconnect.

[mungouk]

I'm just watching the WWDC2020 keynote, and for iPad users with an Apple pencil, the new iPadOS 14 is looking rather interesting.

 

The new stuff about Pencil is around 40:22-44:12 https://youtu.be/GEZhD3J89ZE?t=2422

 

Spoiler

Handwriting recognition for both English and Chinese, anywhere in the OS

 

[roddy]

That automatic handwriting ability in any text field does look useful. 

 

I'm liking the split screen thing in the ipad - browse recipes with a shopping list app open, read or do flashcards with a dictionary app to the side, that kind of thing. Edit: Music video with sheet music open next to it...

[mikelove]

Automatic handwriting is not working that well for me on the beta, though maybe it's just my crappy Chinese handwriting.

 

After yesterday I'd actually suggest holding off on an iPad purchase until the first ARM Macs appear (starting around the end of this year, apparently). They're going to be automatically able to run most iPad and even iPhone apps from the App Store (though the developer can opt out if they like) and there's a ton of evidence to suggest that some of them will include touchscreens and Pencil support, so it'll be kind of a 'best of both worlds' thing if there are aspects of both Mac and iPad you like.

[roddy]

Mike, did you just announce Pleco on desktop?

[mikelove]

I announced Pleco desktop in 2005, then have announced it again in some manner or other pretty much every year since ?

 

I mean yeah we’re probably going to have to support desktops in some form now; there are no license restrictions I’m aware of that would compel us to *not* allow our app to be downloaded on ARM Macs, the main reason why we might opt out of that is if we were working on a much better desktop app we planned to charge for. (And in that case we might still sell the quick lazy version through our website in the meantime, since Mac supports sideloading, hopefully with x86 support too)