Rapid Rote Mobile

Bottom line up front--do not waste your time: Language learner with a short time frame and wanting to stay mobile, save time and anger by writing real notecards or using google docs and g flash or a program that you can use on the fly. My profile: mid thirties, third language, and second time through DLI. Using an iPhone and iPad. Fairly tech savvy. 1. Integration falls way short. It is good for learning everything you need to know from a phrasebook. To go above and beyond, you have to devote some time if you want to use this product. For instance, there is little in the way of a truly mobile application. True, you can carry it around, but you can not make a list independent of a computer. Nor can you really amend the existing list without cloning a list and then trying to add to list. Talk about frustration. I find myself using Gflash which is instant when I make a list in google docs...and I can view all items at once on my mobile device. I think this would be a far superior product if you could make a list independent of the computer platform. I mean, really? How many people in this day and age want to be constrained to a desktop? 2. As well, if you do make a mistake on your desktop computer list, please do not ever have the expectation to resolve it. Yet another time waster. It takes forever to amend it. I get the list already exists error message and then I have to change the name. Then go through, delete the list on the mobile app, which works some of the time. 3. Syncing this product is also a disaster. I get so frustrated from the wait time. 4. Forget about archiving learned words on your mobile app....that is something that you have to sit down at a computer to do. Slick and good looking, but not productive for real work. But mighty handy for small tasks. 5. Forget about adding to an existing list. Go back to the desktop and open it up...then wait for it. 6. Forget about saving a list in something other than the internal product format. The only real positive thing I can say is the translate function and the intuitive typing function on the desktop. If it lacked those two, this rating would have been a "1." But we are still talking about the mobile app...which does fall short and has no bearing on the desktop app. I feel like I wasted my time. I know that is probably a hard pill for many to swallow because I am sure that some programmers are out there that were faced with some hard deadlines and constraints. I have tried several times to move away from the analog age and into the digital age in regards to language learning and review. Unfortunately, the technology still isn't there. I take that back, it is there, but just not completely in this product. It is a lot more productive to write your own notecards and study with them than go through the frustration of having to spend 10 minutes to correct the spelling on one card and never have the problem resolved on the mobile app. I hope some of the eases of use will increase and the government will get its money out of this app and program. Serious language learner beware. For the time being, stick to writing your own note cards. That is your only choice for a truly mobile experience. If you want to use this product to learn a language, get a comfortable computer chair. because you are about to spend a lot of time there. 23 Feb 2014

This is an amazing app. I have it installed on my MacBook Pro, iPhone, and iPad mini, however it has crashed 3 times on my iPad mini in the past 4 weeks.

Update: Can now upload lists in Itunes :) ----- No longer able to upload lists directly into itunes. I have test tomorrow and now i cant study for it. Wish i hadnt updated the app.