EasyGo on iOS - review

[SpongeBob]

I now got it for the iPod Touch. A nice purchase at a reasonable price, given that it includes over 2000 problems. Problem solving on the iPod works like a charm, it even has the 'random rotate board' and 'random swap color' options that I like so much (it indicates correctly who is to play first, but it does not switch black and white in the annotations, though).

When I included some commented SGF files from the Go Teaching Ladder, the screen size is just too small. It is doable, but hard to read. Gives me another reason to get an iPad ...

[kusto]

Okay i bought easygo and can't figure out how to create my own problems properly...

I made a folder, created a game file and started entering the stones i wanted to be in my problem. But i cant figure out the edit tools properly . What i am trying to do is set up a position on the board and then have a "what to do" from this point kind of problem. At the moment when i hit test it asks me to enter everything from a blank board. Please teach me how to set up such positions.

thank you

[xiangz]

For your case, no need to tap the edit button, please tap the black stone button(on the left of edit button), then tap add black or add white icon(two black or white stones) to enter setup stones, after that, tap single black or white stone icon to enter your moves(solution or variations)
You can refer to the built-in help for further info.

[kusto]

Thank you for the quick reply, i understand how it works now.

So far i love it, good job!

[kusto]

xiangz, is there any way that you could add a full screen option for the iphone which would remove the top bar, allowing more room for the comments to be read?

like where it says black first could that bar be removed


I am still in love with this app.

[xiangz]

Hi kusto,

For problem mode(system problem or problem in My Games), there is no way to go to full screen currently.

(iPhone/iPod touch only) In game edit mode, you can two finger swipe up on the go board to hide the status bar and navigation bar, swipe up again to hide the bottom toolbar also, swipe down to restore.

Generally, the comments in system problems or custome problems are short, it seems no need to enlarge the comment area. If you specifically need full screen mode in PROBLEM mode, please let me know.

[Boidhre]

xiangz, are there are any plans for future in-app purchases for more tsumego sets?

[xiangz]

Hi Boidhre,

Some tsumego problems are in preparation(slow progress yet). Currently no plan for IAP, updated problems will be provided for free.

Hello dear EasyGo users,

If you found some tsumego problems in your own games or other games(that is, the problems have no copyright issue) and you'd like to share them with other EasyGo users, please email me the problems.

[kusto]

xiangz, i have a lot of a problems that use large comments

If you could add a fullscreen to problem mode for bigger comments on the iphone that would be great!

[xiangz]

Hi kusto,

Okay, I'll add full screen support for problem mode on iPhone. (two finger swipe up to enable)

[kusto]

That will be great thank you! please tell me when it's added

[SpongeBob]

I greatly enjoy the autoplay feature which I just found out about. It can be activated by a two-finger tap and enables you to scroll through the SGF like this: 
Tap on the right part of the board for next move and tap on the left part of the board for previous move. 

Another two-finger tap brings you back to Edit mode.

[xiangz]

Just let you konw that the version 1.2 was just released, please check it out at Appstore.

V1.2 (Last modified on Jun. 10, released on AppStore on Jun. 17)
Enhancements:
• supports the showing of sgf tree view for very big game file such as Kogo's joseki dictionary.(Note: the performance will be degraded compared with prior versions, in which the tree view was just disabled for big game files. In V1.2, if the size of the tree view is small enough, the tree view will be disabled)
• supports SGF file splitting by variations(especially useful on Kogo's joseki dictionary for faster response and easy lookup)
• add a built in browser to facilitate the downloading and importing of sgf files, import game from URL
• import game from clipboard
• create problem from the current board position
• double tap to zoom support(option to turn on/off, default on on iPhone/iPod, off on iPad)
• continous zoom
• swap black and white in comment if color swapped
• option to configue custom image as board background, stone texture(need to add image files via iTunes file sharing with name as board01.png, board02.png, blackstone01.png, whitestone01.png, etc.)
• pinch to adjust the font size of game comment
• remember the last move when opening again(only in memory)
• two finger swipe left/right on the board to switch between up to 5 games recently opened.
• SGF PL property support, now you can set white player first without entering any solution/variation when preparing problems
• full screen support for problem mode on iPhone
• new iPad retina display support

Bug fixes:
• sometimes, the tool button image might not be correct.(for example show black stone although the next move is white)
• fixed a crash issue on iOS prior 4.3: during problem test, if the computer have multiple variations, then app will crash
• on iPad, in game/problem grid view, when tap the full screen button, it's an empty window on iOS 5.0+
• if no email account configured, all the function regarding sending email will lead to app crash
• on iPad and iOS 5.0+ and portrait mode, the full screen grid view will show incorrectly

New Problems: Added 285 problems on endgame.

Problem updates:
1. The solution to following problems have been corrected: (thanks to user Eric)
Basics - Oiotoshi - No. 35
Basics - Capture Race - No. 72
2. The problem itself updated :
Basics - Ladder - No. 24
3. Alternate solutions were added to some problems.

Known issues:
On iOS 5.1/iPad, on portrait mode, tap the new button on the toolbar in the popover will lead to a crash. Solution: upgrade iOS to at least 5.1.1 or tap the new button only on landscape mode.(It works fine on iOS 4.3, 5.0)

[Alberich]

Now all we need is a module that allows us to play Go using EasyGo. Once that's in here EasyGo will be the best all around Go app for iOS.

[rpchuang]

Hi Xiang,

I am having some difficulty with Easy Go and the fuseki database. It loads ok then when I try to go to the database, it crashes. I have been able to load Kogo's Joseki Dictionary without any problem, however.

Also, How do I unsplit problems in a single sgf file? Does Easy Go require separate sgf file for each problem or can I just use the single file?

Thanks for your help and the great work!

Robert

Just let you konw that the version 1.2 was just released, please check it out at Appstore.

V1.2 (Last modified on Jun. 10, released on AppStore on Jun. 17)
Enhancements:
• supports the showing of sgf tree view for very big game file such as Kogo's joseki dictionary.(Note: the performance will be degraded compared with prior versions, in which the tree view was just disabled for big game files. In V1.2, if the size of the tree view is small enough, the tree view will be disabled)
• supports SGF file splitting by variations(especially useful on Kogo's joseki dictionary for faster response and easy lookup)
• add a built in browser to facilitate the downloading and importing of sgf files, import game from URL
• import game from clipboard
• create problem from the current board position
• double tap to zoom support(option to turn on/off, default on on iPhone/iPod, off on iPad)
• continous zoom
• swap black and white in comment if color swapped
• option to configue custom image as board background, stone texture(need to add image files via iTunes file sharing with name as board01.png, board02.png, blackstone01.png, whitestone01.png, etc.)
• pinch to adjust the font size of game comment
• remember the last move when opening again(only in memory)
• two finger swipe left/right on the board to switch between up to 5 games recently opened.
• SGF PL property support, now you can set white player first without entering any solution/variation when preparing problems
• full screen support for problem mode on iPhone
• new iPad retina display support

Bug fixes:
• sometimes, the tool button image might not be correct.(for example show black stone although the next move is white)
• fixed a crash issue on iOS prior 4.3: during problem test, if the computer have multiple variations, then app will crash
• on iPad, in game/problem grid view, when tap the full screen button, it's an empty window on iOS 5.0+
• if no email account configured, all the function regarding sending email will lead to app crash
• on iPad and iOS 5.0+ and portrait mode, the full screen grid view will show incorrectly

New Problems: Added 285 problems on endgame.

Problem updates:
1. The solution to following problems have been corrected: (thanks to user Eric)
Basics - Oiotoshi - No. 35
Basics - Capture Race - No. 72
2. The problem itself updated :
Basics - Ladder - No. 24
3. Alternate solutions were added to some problems.

Known issues:
On iOS 5.1/iPad, on portrait mode, tap the new button on the toolbar in the popover will lead to a crash. Solution: upgrade iOS to at least 5.1.1 or tap the new button only on landscape mode.(It works fine on iOS 4.3, 5.0)