I'm trying to decide whether to get an iPad2 or an Android-based tablet in the next few months. Availability of Go software plays a role in this.

I use SmartGo (Windows) for replaying pro games and to maintain my database(s) of pro games. Is it possible to use the same database in the iPad version, or will I be limited to the games that come with the app? (30k is a good number, but my collection includes about 80k games that I regularly update.)

Does the Kifu version offer decent editing features, e.g. multiple variations?

Does the app offer any pattern matching/position searches?

How many problems come with the app? The same that are included in the Windows version?

Does it play 9x9 at a somewhat competent level, e.g. 5kyu'ish? (19x19 isn't important, but I enjoy 9x9 vs. the machine.) If not, are there other apps that play well on a small board?

A bit more general, but how accurately can stones be placed on the virtual board? I've not used a touchscreen of that size. Do you use a stylus for better accuracy or do normal sized fingers work just fine?

Thanks!

Smartgo contains a set database of 30'000 pro games. You can import more but on a 1-by-1 basis. This may take a long time if you want all of them. To my taste, it's already quite a lot and anytime I needed to check one specific game I always found it within Smartgo Kifu.



Yes, it offers the "book like" feature which is nice to go through variations. The only caveat I would add is that there is no such thing as a visible variation tree. I understand it would be a challenge to adapt to this format (have the board + the tree + the comments... it's quite a lot) but this would be a nice addition.



The answer to this question is no.



I don't know of Smartgo Pro for Windows. Smartgo kifu contains about 2000 problems ordered by difficulty level.
I wish we could add our know but this feature is not available at the moment.



Yes, it plays nicely without handicap at this level (I'm 4k KGS). Still, there is another app which is good in 9x9. This is the IgoWin HD one on Ipad.



Nicely. A cross-hair appears when you place stones. I do record my tournament games with my Ipad and it is fast and accurate (much nicer than using a paper kifu). I do use a stylus from time to time but this is related to the fact that I copy diagrams when I read books (and it makes a lot of stone placement). It's not a matter of accuracy of placement but just of comfort when placing a lot of stones in one go. I can do without though.

Hope this helps,

Thank you. This was very helpful. It's a shame that there is no way to "bulk import" games, but as you said, 30,000 included games is quite the database. I'd have liked to move all my go-related stuff to the tablet, but as I prefer KGS over IGS this isn't really a viable option anyway. And importing some of my current "study games" probably isn't much hassle either. (Now if the iPad had Flash and Java support, this would all be much easier, or if the Android market had more than a handful of apps designed for tablets.)

Thanks again!

You can bulk import games if you save them as a collection (some SGF tools let you do this), or simply concatenate their texts into a single file.

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My blog about Macs and more: Kirkville

I don't know if this may help you but:
1/ Smartgo Kifu is really an incredible app very complete. I don't know if it is ported on Android but it's really a must have.
2/ All plays on the ipad have been less thought out than plays on the computer. I can't really tell why but it seems it's easier for me to think seated in front of my computer rather than play on the ipad despite its convenient shape. I tend to play to fast and in inappropriate moments when using the tablet rather than the computer. You may have a different experience though. For this reason, I'm rather happy to use the Ipad for offline study and play KGS on my computer. I would even say that I don't enjoy that much the games I can't help to play on Tygem or IGS.

In fact, I'd be interested to get others' opinion on how they play on the ipad or even better on the Android tablet? Do you play long games with it? Do you play seated as if the tablet was a go board?

If you can wait a few weeks, I hope my next iPad app will make your decision much easier. Meanwhile, let me add to some of the answers already given.

- Importing bulk games: As said, if you concatenate SGFs into a single file, you can import in bulk. 80k games may be overdoing it, though. The reason SmartGo Kifu currently has 30k games rather than the 50k games of the Windows version is to make sure performance is good. As I improve performance, I will add more games.

- Same set of 2000 problems as on Windows (a subset licensed from goproblems.com).

- Pattern matching: Not yet. I've tested that the code from the Windows version works on the iPad, but it needs some performance work and a bunch of UI work before I can include that.

Hope this helps; let me know if you have further questions.

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Anders Kierulf
@smartgo

Nice word, don't think I've ever heard a native English speaker use it though (except for me). Or is it also a specialist IT term?

Yep. A+B=AB

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

Ah, I see. I use it gratuitously in everyday life ("concatenate these vegetables in a pan..." etc)

I pretty much made the decision to get an iPad2, but now my hardware vendor is out of stock. I guess that gives me time to further dwell on the question whether to go with black or white. Twenty years after I decided against Apple (when I had to choose between a Mac and an IBM compatible; the Atari ST era started to come to an end and I needed to switch platforms for professional reasons) I finally join the fold, in some form.

I'm curious about your upcoming app! It's intriguing since SmartGo is already the single strongest reason to get an iPad and you make your next software sound even more fantastic! I'm definitely looking forward to the announcement.

I just think "cat." (hop on a linux terminal and type "man cat")

I'm another fan of SmartGo and SmartGo Kifu, looks great on the iPad 2.

This is what my putty window came up with: is there some kind of bug?

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

Ha! Makes me wonder what you get with "man strfry" and "man woman."

Does SmartgoKifu have the following?

- Full editing support of all SGF features?
- Tree view when editing?
- Batch import + export of SGF games as single files in their folders?
- Batch export of all included SGF games as single files in their folders?

SmartGo Kifu features:
- Full editing support of all SGF features: No. Most, but not all. And no batch editing of game info like the Windows version allows.
- Tree view when editing: Yes.
- Batch import and export: No, import and export options are limited.

Hope that helps,
Anders

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Anders Kierulf
@smartgo

Since only part of the SGF features are available for editing, the simplest would be if you had a list of those possible. Otherwise I would need to compile a list of features I would want to use and ask again for every feature if it is there.

Due to limited import / export, I wonder whether I need seconds, minutes or months to transfer SGF files from / to Windows PC / Smartgo Kifu on iOS. Does import / export use iTunes folders so that transfer between the computers is fast and then "only" the problem of import / export between Smartgo Kifu and iTunes remains? Say I create 100 files on the iPad with Smartgo Kifu, then it would be tedious to mark 100 times each single file I want to move, but at least possible in principle.

However, my real concern is the 85,000 GoGoD games. Marking each game manually to move it is out of the question, so the games, which I need for database queries on the Windows PC, would be useless for me and no reason to buy Smartgo Kifu. I would want to export them all with basically one action but maintain the 85,000 individual SGF files. How good or bad can this be done with the current version of Smartgo Kifu? If it is bad, I'd better buy GoGoD directly and possibly instead of Smartgo Kifu (unless its other features should convince me).

EDIT: Cassandra, you posted and I replied, but when your post disappeared I deleted my reply because it presumes your post.

SGF editing: You can edit most game info; a few things like Black/White team are missing. For board markup, only triangles, crosses, and uppercase labels are supported. Editing the structure of SGF is well supported, including deleting/inserting moves, and deleting branches.

It's easy to export all the games in My Games, they will be exported as a single file. Ditto import of many games as long as they're first concatenated into a single SGF. Import/export is through Mail and Dropbox, iTunes folders are not yet supported.

The GoGoD game collection in SmartGo Kifu is not designed for editing or export. You can only export one game at a time from that collection, so you definitely want to purchase the GoGoD collection directly to get them all as SGF. The GoGoD collection in Kifu includes some extra cleanup in the game info, but is otherwise identical for the 19x19 games. (GoGoD also includes games of other sizes.)

Over time, I hope to include more functions on the iPad, but it's not replacing the desktop quite yet.

Anders

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Anders Kierulf
@smartgo

Yes, indeed.

I realised after posting that -- with regard to your desire of getting the single SGF-files that are contained in the GoGoD-collection (also available with SmartGo) -- the Windows version of SmartGo would not really benefit you.

As Anders mentions above, export from the integrated game collections is restricted to only file by file.

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The really most difficult Go problem ever: https://igohatsuyoron120.de/index.htm
Igo Hatsuyōron #120 (really solved by KataGo)

Anders, although your description confirms that the program does not meet my needs, thank you for answering. E.g., arbitrary labels belong to the essential board markups. For security reasons when using local software data, I tolerate local file transfer only (no email, cloud or own cloud).



If, at some time, you want to know which functionality and GUI features are essential for me, I can tell you. Hint: GoWrite is reasonably close (but for PCs).