Android Go applications
Android phones have already been around for a couple of years, but it wasn’t till a couple of months ago that it really got into the Go community. Android Go fever started with Wms announcing a KGS client for these mobile phones, which would be available in short term through the market. In November 2009 there were only two go applications available in the market; within 3 months the number of applications is, at least, three times. There is quite a wide range of features among these apps: IGS clients, KGS clients, just boards, just sgf viewers, clocks, freeware, shareware…
In order to let you know a few of them without making it too long, I decided to limit the reviewed software to freeware:
You may think that it’s a little bit confusing to record videos this way, but it’s incredible hard to actually record the android screen with software. In fact, by using this method, I let you see how does the touch screen work with go games, which is relevant when it comes to placing stones in a tiny board through a touch screen.
After a couple of games, the zooming-in method seems to work faster and is more useful for blitz games, but I’ve already made a few misplacing errors; so KGS’ method, while it seems less intuitive and slower, turns up to be more precise. Personally, I would stick to the KGS method till the other clients implement some sort of “undo” once the stone is played or “confirmatin button”. Unwillingly misplacing a stone is highly frustrating.
Further details:
- This review was made on January 25th, but some programs have already been updated, so you may find certain improvements in the applications.
- I may review KGS and Hubango software on a different video. Though you may try them for yourself: All market applications have a 24hours money-back guarantee.
- Eidogo software is perfectly viewable through the standard browser. So you can scroll most games in blogs.
- Since Android phones lack of Flash plugins, GoDiscussions’ games won’t show up. This may be solved with the new Nexus One (the newest Google phone).
| Gobandroid | Acego | KoalaGo (free version) | Goigo | Go clock |
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