Life In 19x19

For the iPad, I see the pattern that all the major applications that you use on the PC via a decent, state-of-the-art web interface, like Google, Amazon, eBay, YouTube, ... have a dedicated App for the iPad that lifts the usability to a whole new level.

So while using Kaya via the browser interface will be working quite good, it will not be what the spoiled iPad owner has gotten used to. Look at this video to see the experience when playing on IGS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iLSeHu9itA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This Tetsuki app is very, very nice and it is really fun to play with it.

The reason I am making this so explicit is that I think in order to really target the iPad device, the APIs need to be available for 'third-party developers' to start building a state-of-the art iPad client.

For iPad tesuki is great, but for iPhone the only interface I enjoy playing on is the boardz interface. Where drag and drop works and the stone stays a little bit above your finger until you drop it. I've only played one game on tetsuki because i was so worried about misclick and having to zoom annoyed me.

tapir wrote:I love the enthusiasm, but is anyone here honestly considering to play a go game on the iPhone? I mean, it would be great for 5x5 go and a must-have for professional kibitzers, but for larger boards the screen is simply too small to play, no?

The iOS IGS client works pretty well on an iPhone. It shows you an overview of the entire 19x19 board and you place stones in a two step process; first tap zooms in on the board, second tap places the stone. You can even add a third step that forces you to confirm stone placement, to prevent mis-taps.

The iPad version of the IGS client is still more convenient, but the phone version is quite usable. Both versions are quite well designed in terms of looks and user experience, and I would say are the current gold standard on iOS for go server clients.

I've logged into Kaya on my android phones. (Yes, I have two...)

The screen size is not really an issue, for what I expected. The ability to play is not bad, though I wouldn't suggest blitz. Also, scroll bars appear broken when using the android default browser. Other than that, the rest of the server functions normally.

Archivist wrote:I've logged into Kaya on my android phones. (Yes, I have two...)

The screen size is not really an issue, for what I expected. The ability to play is not bad, though I wouldn't suggest blitz. Also, scroll bars appear broken when using the android default browser. Other than that, the rest of the server functions normally.

Yeah, the main issue we saw on mobile devices are the scroll bars, and the ability to double-tap to play.

Kaya.gs wrote:

Archivist wrote:I've logged into Kaya on my android phones. (Yes, I have two...)

The screen size is not really an issue, for what I expected. The ability to play is not bad, though I wouldn't suggest blitz. Also, scroll bars appear broken when using the android default browser. Other than that, the rest of the server functions normally.

Yeah, the main issue we saw on mobile devices are the scroll bars, and the ability to double-tap to play.

There is no scroll bar issue on iPad (no scrollbar at all, just swipe movable chat area up and down) and no need to double tap to play. However I noticed that on the iPhone scrolling through chat window is troublesome due to small screen - but it was predictable (but I think I have one thing which looks like a bug but I need to figure out when exactly this "thing" happen). However playing on 3.5 inch screen is relatively good because of very smooth zoom in and zoom out.

[update]
Ok, I can reproduce scrolling issue. If you just scroll chat window - all is ok. But if you accidentally touch one of the comments then 1) font size in a chat window will go double. 2) translate icon and star icon will show up and be persistently visible. 3) then when you scroll up and down now it looks like you have some fixed position in a chat window and when you scroll it then it jump back and return to this fixed position. If you choose other chat window - all is ok again (till you touch a comment...).

lobotommy wrote:

Kaya.gs wrote:

Archivist wrote:I've logged into Kaya on my android phones. (Yes, I have two...)

The screen size is not really an issue, for what I expected. The ability to play is not bad, though I wouldn't suggest blitz. Also, scroll bars appear broken when using the android default browser. Other than that, the rest of the server functions normally.

Yeah, the main issue we saw on mobile devices are the scroll bars, and the ability to double-tap to play.

There is no scroll bar issue on iPad (no scrollbar at all, just swipe movable chat area up and down) and no need to double tap to play. However I noticed that on the iPhone scrolling through chat window is troublesome due to small screen - but it was predictable (but I think I have one thing which looks like a bug but I need to figure out when exactly this "thing" happen). However playing on 3.5 inch screen is relatively good because of very smooth zoom in and zoom out.

[update]
Ok, I can reproduce scrolling issue. If you just scroll chat window - all is ok. But if you accidentally touch one of the comments then 1) font size in a chat window will go double. 2) translate icon and star icon will show up and be persistently visible. 3) then when you scroll up and down now it looks like you have some fixed position in a chat window and when you scroll it then it jump back and return to this fixed position. If you choose other chat window - all is ok again (till you touch a comment...).

Thanks for the feedback. When we get our hands on one of the devices, or get the emulator running, we wil lcheck into all of this.