Comments on “Announcing: iFlash Touch”

1. What I'd like to see is the flipping of the card the way that album art is flipped (maybe that is too much to ask but it seems pretty). I'd like sets of cards like albums and that you can choose as many sets to combine as you want. For a good application I'd be happy to pay top dollar! I also hope that the phone/touch version will be available through the net for people that do not own a mac yet!

   Natali on March 7th, 2008 at 9:58 am

2. One area that I feel iFlash could benefit from is a more robust environment for the management of decks. I like that decks can exist as standalone documents but it would be cool if these decks could hook into a larger environment similar to something like iTunes where they could be managed, filtered and repurposed. This deck manager environment would allow more options for the aggregation of decks, cards based on cards and decks users have already created. Similar to the idea of 'playlists'. Provide filtering options based on tags to create 'smart playlists' Some of these features already exist to a degree with categories and the merging of decks but I feel like this could be taken further. Okay now that we have itunes for our decks program, let's sync them to the iphone/touch with options similar to what we have for music. Maybe there could be options to sync a deck or all decks or deck playlists.

   Christopher on March 7th, 2008 at 11:59 am

3. I can't wait for iflash Touch!! I feel that a both a tap and/or a flick motion would work well to flip the flash cards. I think that you should keep the option to have more than 2 sides to a flash card. Import of existing data is also important. I would love to be able to always synch my existing decks from my desktop Iflash and not have to rebuild anything. Another fantastic feature that I would like to see maintained in the touch version is to keep the ability to play an audio clip as one of the sides of the flash card. I currently use iflash to study Japanese vocabulary and find it very helpful to play the audio clip when using standard iflash. Thanks in advance for all the hard work.

   Timothy on March 7th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

4. Glad to hear you are going to support the Touch! Hopefully you can get the same kind of ease of use and functionality into the app. I agree that a key piece would be easy syncing between a laptop and the device. Keep up the great work! Our school is using your software throughout the Languages curriculum.

   Glenn on March 7th, 2008 at 3:24 pm

5. Thanks for the input so far. I definitely want to make transferring decks between iFlash and iFlash Touch as smooth as possible. I'm still looking into the best way to do this. Keep the excellent suggestions coming! :-)

   Davey on March 7th, 2008 at 3:56 pm

6. What a wonderful idea! I was going to suggest this in an email to support, but I am glad that you are already ahead of me on this. As far as functionality/features much of the original functionality of the desktop iFlash, together with (optional) ability to synchronize decks of cards between desktop and iPhone. Also, ability to import flash cards from the Windows Mobile platform (HandyCards or HandyMed; name escapes me). Keep the great ideas coming

   David on March 7th, 2008 at 4:54 pm

7. The main functionality that really will be essential is being able to transfer cards and interval/score points for each card back and forth. A sync so to say. That way cards can be studied on the go (at school, etc) during five minute breaks but then synced and the new updated scores transferred to a desktop computer.

   William on March 7th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

8. I think that iFlash Touch should act mostly like the "study" feature in iFlash. Save the deck creation and management for the mac version. Flash cards with multiple sides is a must. I have some decks with ten sides. The way I imagined it was you would hold the iPhone/iPod horizontally and swipe up/down to change card sides and right/left to move back and forth between cards. It would basically work exactly the same as in regular iFlash. There could be a small button on the side of the screen to indicate if the card is known. Also it would be nice if the color of cards and the different fonts were displayed on the iPhone/iPod version. Of course, it would be nice if pictures and sound files could be displayed/played within the sideshows. But I would rather have a version out quickly that has the basics down, but without every last little feature, than have to wait a year. Good Luck! I'm looking forward to it.

   Dylan on March 7th, 2008 at 10:18 pm

9. First off, great news. I could then justify an iPhone on educational grounds. I think most of what I'd want to see has already been covered above. - syncing of decks and scores, intervals, flags, etc. - audio - study as the main focus (rather than create) @Christopher: I like your "iTunes for deck management" idea. I'm not so imaginative, but one feature I would like to see (not necessarily in the iPhone version) is the ability to study cards from multiple decks at one time. I learn vocab from each lesson I take (Chinese) and store these as individual decks for ease of management. I often want to go back and do a quick run through of all decks/cards I have created. My current solution is to use the "Merge Decks" feature to create one super deck. But above all, let me take this chance to say, Great Product! Simple and wonderful to use. Many thanks.

   Bill on March 8th, 2008 at 4:07 am

10. Really looking forward to this. I agree with Dylan. Start off simple and get the basic functionality working, then get out a quick beta, then 1.0 release while you develop the advanced features. Compatibility with, or conversion from, current iflash decks is a must. Christopher's deck management and deck sync feature sounds great. For me, there has to be some kind of computer-based deck manager as I cut and paste a lot from my study material to assemble cards. To be forced to type everything into the iphone would be tedious. Best of luck.

    Martin on March 8th, 2008 at 5:50 am

11. I like everyone else who's posted so far am really looking forward to this release! what i would like to see in both iflash touch and the regular iflash is the ability to create tests for multiple categories at once, as i understand that you can at the moment only test 1 category or all the catergories in the deck. That addition would be awesome. Good luck!

    Jamie Morrison on March 8th, 2008 at 8:54 am

12. i just got the non-touch version of the program so i'm not sure if this is already in it, but i would love to see bullet points also is it possible to record your voice with the ipod touch?

    erikostensjo on March 8th, 2008 at 3:27 pm

13. I agree with Dylan. I'd rather have a basic version out quickly than wait for an initial release with all the bells and whistles.

    Phil on March 9th, 2008 at 10:10 pm

14. I agree with Dylan. I'd rather have a basic version out quickly than wait for an initial release with all the bells and whistles.

    Phil on March 9th, 2008 at 10:10 pm

15. Agree as well for a basic version first. i loved the idea of exporting the decks to my ipod but the interface was not really nice. I study chinese and the audio record function is very useful. 1. upload a deck to the ipod touch. 2. study with ipod touch 3. able to listen the audio recordings 4. able to record audio with ipod touch. That would be already more then great. I coul prepare the decks and we i have a native speaker around me, they can quickly record the right tone. it is really important when you learn chinese. And i would like to help you with testing beta version. Juan

    Juan on March 10th, 2008 at 2:36 am

16. For me, iFlash Touch will be an extremely important application. My business life keeps my quite busy and I don’t have a lot of time left over to study japanese and refine my chinese. Being able to use iFlash while in the elevator, on the subway, off topic in a meeting, waiting... Free moments that can be used are key to making life more efficient. I’m very excited. If PlecoDict’s Chinese Chinese dictionary is ported to the iPhone and then if able to locate a Japanese English dictionary comparable to Pleco’s English Chinese, just need push email and my iPhone will surpass every previous smartphone that I’ve owned in every respect. I'm extremely excited. -Ryan Erwin www.ryanerwin.com

    Ryan Erwin on March 10th, 2008 at 9:54 am

17. first off, god bless you for doing this. this will save my life when it comes out, and I'll be able to study on the go (and i'm always on the go). Plus, i don't have to deal with carrying all those paper cards!! And yes, beta basic first please! not everyone needs all these advanced features, but they will be nice later. Thank youuu

    Reggie on March 10th, 2008 at 9:56 am

18. Although I mentioned an advanced deck manager in one of my comments and it is something I would like to ultimately see I think I would also just like the basic functionality of getting my card onto my iphone and being able to study them on the go. This is really the most important thing. The rest can come later.

    christopher Edmondson on March 10th, 2008 at 9:23 pm

19. I vote for getting just the basics out as quickly as possible as well. Something that would allow ALL the same "study" features would be just fine for now. No need for anything new, or input, edit, functions. Just so long as we can study just as we are, but on this great new mobile platform.

    puen on March 11th, 2008 at 11:03 am

20. The most important thing is that sync wonderfully mac style with my iflash desktop app. I think it is important that you think about how is this going to work for Windows users. Are you going to have to build a window version? or will you allow other developers to read .card files? Like the first comment Natali said maybe a web app for PC users. PC users are going to need some way to manage their card off their Phone. You might be able to make it a mac and iphone/itouch required app however you will miss out on a huge potential market. I am sure with your beautiful style iFlash Touch could make it to the featured app page making you the number one Flashcard app. Now I don't want you to think that you to abandon your mac native app. Really, I wouldn't want you to port it to windows because I would be afraid that you would have to spend way too much time working on it and taking away new features from the mac version. As most agree keep it simple and elegant. Then work add more advance features. One thing is that you must wait and find out what other finger gestures take off. Apple needs to decide how to make a clipboard so we can copy and paste. I know this is probably obvious but I haven't seen anyone mention it (maybe because iPod touch) but to be able to add photos with the camera on the spot. This would be a wonderful tool.

    Asiago on March 11th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

21. Glad to here about development for touch products. I too am someone VERY interested in flash note cards for touch products. The program "mental case," for mac note cards, is also a very good place to reference for development amd comparison.

    hunter on March 13th, 2008 at 12:43 am

22. Confetti. And, Explosions. Seriously though, iFlash touch is going to be fantastic; there's no doubt about that. As far as features go, I'm looking for syncing from a computer, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if iPhone/iPod OS will let users sync data through iTunes or not. If this isn't an option, the usage of the Deck Library will have to be increased so that users can have their own decks accessible from anywhere - public or private, their choice. Interface: iFlash touch will need a slick interface. I'm talking makes-me-want-to-lick-my-iPod interface. Here's what I envision: Coverflow view for navigating decks in horizontal orientation, and regular iPhone list view for vertical. Core Animation to flip cards. The "Known" checkbox as we know it will have to be made more iPhone-y. The ON/OFF slider is slick, but I think too clunky for this. I'm not sure, it's something to think about for sure. User input: single tap brings up a HUD, a la the iPhone Photos app. Double tap flips the card. One-finger slide advanced to next card. On the HUD (black transparent style of course): play/pause and volume IF there's audio. Otherwise, there's a forward and back navigation button set, maybe the known button/thing can go here as well. On the hud you can view basic stats (current card / total cards, etc). What else can be packed into here? I'll of course leave it up to Davey. He is, after all, the developer.

    Joey Lange on March 14th, 2008 at 11:37 pm

23. I'm super excited for iFlash for Touch. I was actually just going to send you an email suggesting this when I decided to check the web page. Basically, for must-haves, I'd say easy sync is tops. I'm tempted to agree with Dylan that sooner is better than perfect-er, but my workflow is to keep a notebook when I'm reading or on the go w/ new words, and then transferring it into my iFlash every few days. The transfer is quite tedious, though helpful for memorization, so it would be quite useful to be able to put new words into my database on the fly...once and for all. (Though I use a lot of weird unicode characters...not sure how input of those works on the Touch/iPhone.) Anyway, my two cents. (Also, it would be cool to be able to access the Deck Library over the network from the handheld.)

    Evan on March 17th, 2008 at 8:47 am

24. I'm a big fan of iFlash and am looking forward to seeing the iPhone version. One biggest drawback of the current application though is that it doesn't seem possible to use different colours / font types within the same card side, like for example if you have a sentence and want to highlight one word in it... Any chance to get this corrrected in any future versions?

    Serge on March 17th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

25. I can't wait for the iPhone version. As many have said, the basic version would be fantastic. Of course it would be best if the PLAY mode would use the full-screen. Also if we can transfer iFlash documents from the Mac to the iPhone and vice versa, perhaps through iTunes. Also if the computer can back up iFlash documents when modified on the iPhone.. Thanks for working on iFlash!

    Shae on March 18th, 2008 at 1:06 am

Next →

Your Name
Your E-Mail
Your Website