Our Verdict
A few years back , I review the Mac version of iFlash , an spectacular bailiwick economic aid that lets you produce onscreen flash cards and provides a number of effective quiz modes for studying them . The only problem with iFlash was that you needed your computer handy to canvas . But thanks toiFlash Touch , a companion app for the iPhone and iPod touch fromLoopware , that ’s no longer the case .
Like the Mac version of iFlash , iFlash Touch supports flash - wit deck of cards ( groups of related cards ) and categories ( modest groups within a pack of cards ) . For example , you could have a deck of menu for studying Spanish lexicon ; within that deck , you could have categories that jibe to chapter and topics in your Spanish schoolbook .
likewise , iFlash Touch supportsmulti - sidedcards — instead of being fix to the physical equivalent ’s front and back , each practical bill of fare can have as many “ sides ” as necessary . Using the encyclopaedism - Spanish example , each circuit card could have one side for a Spanish watchword , another for the English equivalent , another for a pronunciation guide , and one more for the word used in a sentence . You could even add sides for unlike form of the word ; for lesson , verb colligation .
Side By Side: Here’s the front of a two-sided flashcard…
However , because iFlash Touch is designed as a companion to the Mac version , you ca n’t produce or edit board on the iPhone or iPod feeling ; you do that on your data processor . ( There are also thousands of pre - made deck available via the online iFlash Deck Library . ) When it number to creating decks , this is n’t much of a drawback ; the $ 15iFlash for Macis excellent and it would be a tedious task to create an integral deck of cards of study cards on the phone . But it would be nice if you could tot a posting or two on the go , or make minor corrections or edits to existing cards without having to wait until you get back to your desk .
Side By Side : Here ’s the front of a two - sided flash card …
To get your subject field card onto the iPhone or iPod touch , you first establish iFlash Touch ; then you open up iFlash on your Mac , select the deck you want to transfer , and press Export - > [ iPhone or iPod touch name ] . It choose only a 2nd or two for the cards to be transferred , but I did come across one bug here : Each card deck has a unique identifier for synchronize , and if you duplicate a deck in the Mac interpretation — for example , to utilize one deck as a starting point for another — the written matter keeps the original ’s ID . If you try out syncing multiple deck with the same ID , only one will happen its way to your iPhone . The developer will be fixing this issue in an approaching update , but until then , you involve to assign appal decks new IDs using the deck of cards predilection in the Mac version .
…and the back
iFlash Touch ’s main screen door shows all your decks ; tap one to view all category in that deck , along with an item for All Cards ; tap a category ( or All Cards ) to start take . ( you may also pink the arrow clit next to an item to pasture a list of all cards , displaying all side in that set . ) While hit the books , you purloin up or down to wheel through each add-in ’s “ sides , ” or correct or left to go to the next or previous batting order , respectively . you could even resize the text edition on cards using the iPhone ’s familiar jot - rapid growth gesture .
As you study bill , you may “ control off ” the one you ’ve mastered . This checkmark comes in ready to hand when you broach your study session via the leaning - view screen — you’re able to take to contemplate all cards or just those you have n’t yet checked .
… and the back
Via iFlash Touch ’s setting , you’re able to choose whether to cycle through cards in consecutive or random order . you’re able to also choose which side of each card you want to watch first — for example , the English or Spanish side of voice communication flashcards — or to have the app opt the side randomly for each sloping trough .
iFlash Touch is dead - simple-minded to apply and very efficient for contemplate . Anyone who ’s used an iPhone for more than a few moment will find the swipe - to - flip gestures to be intuitive and elegant . In this respect the iPhone rendering of iFlash is really good than the Mac interpretation for contemplate your cards .
On the other hand , the iPhone version is missing some of the alone field of study features of the desktop version . For model , paradigm and audio clips added to cards on your Mac are n’t transferred to the iPhone adaptation of iFlash , nor are usage fonts and card data formatting . And you do n’t get the screen background variation ’s unequalled Interval and Score subject area method acting . However , the developer says these features are all in the deeds for next updates .
But even with the current limitations , iFlash Touch is a great companion to the Mac interlingual rendition and an excellent sketch attention . If you ’re a student , or otherwise have a need for rote memorization , you ’ll want to insure out iFlash .
iFlash Touch is compatible with any iPhone and iPod touch launch the iPhone 2.2.1 software program update .
[ Senior editor program Dan Frakes writes about low - cost Mac software in our Mac Gems blog . ]
