Love this site and love studying Japanese but I'm beginning to burn out from the lack of sunshine and the solitude so... Could anyone recommend a portable device that will let me do my reviews on the go. This would mean having the capability to use both this site and Anki (with sound). Ideally, this device would be very portable, good on batteries, and allow me to study offline from time to time. I really find that my concentration is better in busy, moderately loud places and i'd love to be able to study while walking about. Any ideas?

Well these look promising...

ASUS Eee PC T91 and T101H touchscreen tablets

Those both rule out "good on batteries" Get something that can run Anki mini (iPhone, other smartphones, pda).

They are much more intuitive to use for standing-up on the go reviewing too. Trying to review on a laptop (even a netbook) while standing up in a crowded train = haha

Jarvik7 Wrote:Those both rule out "good on batteries" Get something that can run Anki mini (iPhone, other smartphones, pda).

They are much more intuitive to use for standing-up on the go reviewing too. Trying to review on a laptop (even a netbook) while standing up in a crowded train = haha

That's true. Does Anki mini support mp3 playback? This FAQ seems to suggest it does http://ichi2.net/anki/download/ankimini/README I would love to use it with my Iknow decks. Thanks for your help.

I have a 2nd gen iPod touch, so I don't personally run Anki mini. You'll need to ask someone else for specifics. I get by with iAnki (which doesn't support sound or pictures at all).

If you have a DS or PSP, there are, in fact, SRS homebrew solutions for both which have impressed me a bit. Obviously, you'll need some way to play homebrew software, and the SRS programs I've tried have been rather rudimentary, but they get the job done nonetheless. (not to mention, my DS's battery life can outlast a laptop or netbook by several hours, which is a big plus)

Not the most optimal or practical option, but it's there! Anki Mini would be the way to go otherwise.

Jarvik7 Wrote:I have a 2nd gen iPod touch, so I don't personally run Anki mini. You'll need to ask someone else for specifics. I get by with iAnki (which doesn't support sound or pictures at all).

I see. So iAnki allows on or offline use but without sound or pics. Whereas Anki mini seems to facilitate sound playback, but can only be used online? Well, if this is the case, then the iphone running Anki mini seems to be the best choice considering that my current cellphone is out of contract, has a broken screen, and has me paying well over $100 a month for service WITHOUT any internet access. Thanks again!

Burritolingus Wrote:If you have a DS or PSP, there are, in fact, SRS homebrew solutions for both which have impressed me a bit. Obviously, you'll need some way to play homebrew software, and the SRS programs I've tried have been rather rudimentary, but they get the job done nonetheless. (not to mention, my DS's battery life can outlast a laptop or netbook by several hours, which is a big plus)

Not the most optimal or practical option, but it's there! Anki Mini would be the way to go otherwise.

Yeah, the Nintendo DS looks very tempting since there are a myriad of good Kanji-learning programs and dictionaries available. Decisions. Decisions.

Quote:Yeah, the Nintendo DS looks very tempting since there are a myriad of good Kanji-learning programs and dictionaries available. Decisions. Decisions.

A deal-breaker for me is the fact that you can't sync your reviews between your DS/PSP and Anki on your computer, meaning you can't use anki at all (unless you want 2 completely separate srs decks & systems at the same time.) My DS also gets crap battery life with an R4 in it. Nowhere near the 48 whatever hours of my iPod.

iAnki doesn't require online access. You sync your deck to your ipod and from then on it's offline. When you get back home sync again and it'll apply the reviews to Anki on your computer. Anki mini works in the same way but requires a jailbroken device (meaning only iphones or the first generation ipod touch). On the plus side it supports pictures and sounds.

If my contract was up and I needed a new phone, I'd definitely go for the iPhone. Anki mini is just ONE of the many things you can do with it (oh, and there is a reader for EPWING dictionaries in the appstore, or you can just buy the dictionaries directly on the appstore too). The one thing to watch out for is that there is a rumored 3rd generation iPhone that may be released in the summer. It might be worth it to wait, but at the same time who knows when/if it'll ever get jailbroken.

Thankfully I don't use sound and I have only like 4 cards with pictures, so iAnki suits me fine.

I feel the same way. I'm tired of lugging my gaming laptop to work every day just to use a simple flashcard program. If I had an iPhone I can only imagine how conveniently I could study. I'm personally holding out for the next iPhone, as it's overdue for an update and I don't want to feel like a chump. I just hope I can somehow negotiate with Softbank to let me upgrade my current, terrible phone.

I wish I had an iPod Touch/iPhone just for this. Hell, someone porting Anki to DS wouldn't be bad either

Going through Heisig on a DS SRS program would be pretty sweet with the stylus, though I can imagine the immense frustration of people trying to use it on a bus or train.

Yeah, I'd like to buy an iPod touch. I bought a nano last year instead of spending the extra money to get a touch (what a fool I was). I also bought a netbook about 6 months ago and, while I've been really happy with it, I'd still like to study on the bus/train.

I suppose I'll buy an iPod Touch in a few months. Anyone have any annoying issues keeping your decks properly synced?

I know you say you're looking for something smaller but have you given a netbook a chance?

Asus JUST release the new 1000HE and the reviews that are coming in are essentially claiming it as the best netbook yet. It's now got one of the best keyboards out there, bluetooth, wireless N, multi slot card reader, webcam, mic, 160gb hard drive, new lower watt N280 chipset and an improved battery. With stock settings and all power using devices active it is getting over 6hrs of battery use. In power savings mode some reviewers have seen over 8hrs which is amazing. And let me tell as a current 1000HA owner the "power saving" mode is more than enough for 90% of computing tasks.

Oh and it's only $375.

I'm being completely honest when I say I haven't spent more than 10 minutes on my desktop since getting my Eee PC and I'll never touch a standard "laptop" again. It's by far the best purchase I've made in several years. I take it around with me EVERY single day because it just really is that portable. No I can't use it standing up on a train but having real world computing power in such a small package more than counters that.

I'll say about my netbook, the small screen bugs the heck out of me. I really don't like use it for much more than Anki. But I have a rather large monitor for my desktop, so I think the contrast between the two is what really bothers me. heh.

Also being a guy hunched over an incredibly tiny laptop just looks ridiculous.

I've never used my netbook at home, always opting for my desktop. At home, my netbook never leaves my bag.

That said, I still like it. But it's got its drawbacks.

I think it mostly depends on where you want to review. If you want to spend a lot of time in libraries, coffee shops, somewhere with a table, then I'd suggest a netbook. As an added bonus with my netbook, I use the Firefox Rikaichan plugin and a blank text box HTML page (saved locally) as a very, very easy to use quick-lookup dictionary that you can use offline if you're not near wifi. Obviously it's way better to watch movies on the laptop than it would be on any smaller portable device as well.

If you primarily want to review during your commute, I'd go with something smaller (iPhone/iPod touch seems to be the consensus). With a netbook, this is rather difficult unless you're on a pretty comfortable and not crowded bus or train.

I'm trying to find something for reviewing too. Right now I use my Macbook Pro to manage the decks. It's fine, but way too heavy and big to haul around. (I'm in Tokyo, so that means carrying it a lot). The Macbook Air probably wouldn't be bad, but doesn't have cellular access without and add-on and it's still rather expensive for what I want to use it for. Still, I could do software development on it too.

I use iAnki for reviewing right now. It's so-so I guess. Syncing the first time can be painful at times. I had a really hard time getting it to sync 3 decks. Two will be combined down the road and one will go away, but I want all three now. Now I wanted to add my sentences deck, but it's giving me an error. I think I'd have to remove all of them and start over. Last time it took me hours to get it all working, so not looking forward to that. Having to load each deck separately and load open the sync is a pain. If you want to sync a different number of cards you have to change it manually each time. It seems rather restricted on the space it can use. I haven't played with it too much, but I really want to increase the size of the characters. The kanji are too small when displayed.

I haven't tried Anki mini yet, but I'm tempted. I don't really want to jail break my iPhone. I wish there was some better software out there.

I'm looking at netbooks, but haven't got out to play with them yet. The price is right. I'm not wild about Windows though. The biggest problems seem to be the small keyboards and low vertical resolution of the screens. Has anyone found one much above 600 pixels? The HP 2140 HD screen would be nice if it ever appears. A version of Anki for the DS would be pretty cool. One worry with the netbook is syncing on the go. I've brought my Macbook to work a couple times and I wasn't able to sync with iAnki after creating an ad-hoc network. I'd like to use the netbook for adding new cards and reviewing during breaks, but if I can't sync afterward it makes it less convenient.

I tried looking at Mental Case for OS X. I love the fact you can add and edit cards on the phone. It really needs to support multiple fields like Anki though. It just isn't worth the money yet.

Macbook air is horrible. If you need a portable PC get a netbook like Asus EEE. Who cares about Windows, most of them come with Linux preinstalled.

I agree, the Air sucks. So does the preinstalled linux on the EEE though. I suggest going for Asus anyway and install a proper linux distro of your choice and you'll be fine...

stoked Wrote:I agree, the Air sucks. So does the preinstalled linux on the EEE though. I suggest going for Asus anyway and install a proper linux distro of your choice and you'll be fine...

Indeed. Use the preinstalled one to create a OSboot USB stick. I just did it with Debian, very easy to create and install from ^^

I keep wondering if it wouldnt be possible to use a nintendo ds :
the update of the database would be take care of through the flash card save system . You'll just have to copy your save on the computer and transform it into a windows-linux file and the other way when you want to take your ds . It would need someone skilled and quite knowledgeable into the DS technology but through homebrew & ds flashcard it's not an impossible feat.

Thanks for all the advice! After seeing a coworker's eee 1000HA in action, I placed an order for a 1000HE, which should arrive in a week or two. This netbook is portable enough for my needs and doesn't have to be used indoors and near an electrical outlet as it reportedly gets up to 9.5 hours of use per charge. I'll report back in a few weeks after I've had some time to try it out.

I've got a eee901 a few months ago. I made do with the default linux for a while, but it was really limiting. Recently I upgraded to the Ubuntu 'easypeasy' distribution and it has been very usable so far. I cheated and connected to my work's network via ethernet to upgrade and install packages.

One tip: the Anki in the repository is out of date and incompatible with the current release. Luckily you can upgrade once you get it using the 'deb' file available on the anki site... Or get an eee with XP loaded