SmartGo Kifu vs EasyGo

[DinoKino]

I recently upgraded my iPad 2 to an iPad Air and I really got to love the Go Books app from SmartGo. It's really a gem! Being able to go through the diagrams move by move makes such a difference.

After a ~6 year absence of the game, I am ready to commit some serious learning, which I never did 'back in the days'. So I am thinking about replaying pro games from certain players, whose style is relatively easy to grasp, want to review my own games, solve my old generated sgf-problem collections and maybe more cool stuff. The iPad seems great for that and lobotommy already made a superb list of apps, here in the ‘Computer Go’ section.

Two particular apps caught my eye: EasyGo and SmartGo Kifu. Both seem to be great. EasyGo is cheaper and the developer is a reader of this forum who takes note of our wishes and updates the app accordingly. On the other hand, SmartGo Kifu looks pretty smooth and I already like the GoBooks app a lot.

So I wonder what is your favorite app? Is there even a better app? Is uploading your own sgf-files a hassle? Is replaying pro games on the iPad a good training or should I stick with the good old wooden board?

[RBerenguel]

I recently upgraded my iPad 2 to an iPad Air and I really got to love the Go Books app from SmartGo. It's really a gem! Being able to go through the diagrams move by move makes such a difference.

After a ~6 year absence of the game, I am ready to commit some serious learning, which I never did 'back in the days'. So I am thinking about replaying pro games from certain players, whose style is relatively easy to grasp, want to review my own games, solve my old generated sgf-problem collections and maybe more cool stuff. The iPad seems great for that and lobotommy already made a superb list of apps, here in the ‘Computer Go’ section.

Two particular apps caught my eye: EasyGo and SmartGo Kifu. Both seem to be great. EasyGo is cheaper and the developer is a reader of this forum who takes note of our wishes and updates the app accordingly. On the other hand, SmartGo Kifu looks pretty smooth and I already like the GoBooks app a lot.

So I wonder what is your favorite app? Is there even a better app? Is uploading your own sgf-files a hassle? Is replaying pro games on the iPad a good training or should I stick with the good old wooden board?

I have both, and recommend having both (SmartGo comes with a huge library of games and some problems, EasyGo is great for your own problems and personal collections of games, for instance). Anders is also a lurker here in the forum, I think (and he can be easily reached by mail or twitter.)

[Bonobo]

Welcome

I have both, and recommend having both

+1

Greetz, Tom

[oca]

Welcome

I have both, and recommend having both

+1

Greetz, Tom

If I can have only one of them, that would be ...
easygo... no smartgo kifu... no... easygo... or maybe smart go kifu... no no
easy go... but... maybe... etc... etc...

hope this helps

[fireproof]

I have SmartGo Kifu and EasyGo lite, but have found myself satisfied with SmartGo Kifu. It's used mostly for recording games, occasionally working through problems, and a game against the iPad every now and then. The interface seems a little more polished, to me, but that may also be due to familiarity.

[wineandgolover]

I have both. I use both. I like both.

[DinoKino]

Thank you for the feedback!

I went for SmartGo Kifu and bought it via iTunes on my PC, just before I left to visit my girlfriend in the hospital. Being in a hurry, I didn't manage to upload a sgf-file into the app, which would seem more intuitive via iTunes (to me at least). Some things I like, some I have to get used to. Overall I think this app will be worth it's money in the long run

I might purchase EasyGo another time. But since I still have a huge amount of Go problems to solve, that will take some time.

[Boidhre]

I find it easier to email myself sgfs (you can choose to open the file in SmartGo or EasyGo or GoEye or whatever). Some DGS clients allow you to open the current game in one of these too if you want to play out variations. You can also go somewhere like KGS Archives that has links to sgf files, hit the link and choose to open in the app of your choice.

Definitely not restricted to iTunes.

[DinoKino]

Good advice! I will give it a try.

For now, I installed Google Drive and use it just for Go related things - especially to sort all the sgf files. Actually I like this solution a lot, time will tell how it works out for my needs. My other cloud services are loaded with too many large files and would take too much space on the iPad if I let the app synchronize.