Right now I have android, which has kanji study which I absolutely love. Lately I’ve been thinking about getting a tablet to help me write some kanji, study Japanese, and play Japanese games. I passed N2 over the summer, so I was curious as to what the outlook on apps is like? I hear kanji study is getting an iOS version soon though.
Just curious about the thoughts on it, since I mean there’s so much out there and I don’t know if people happen to use both operating systems. Or is it really an apples vs oranges sort of situation?
9 comments
Android is better in every way. Every app that is released on iOS has it’s Android version, if it doesn’t there is a good alternative and new apps usually release on Android first.
For device native games, I’m not sure if there is a difference but you’ll find plenty on Playstore guarenteed. However, if you buy a good spec Android tablet you can try emulation and now you have access to an infinite amount of Japanese games, PSP VNs for example.
Hope this helps!
If you are already used to android, get an android tablet. I used iOS through my entire learning and had no issues or shortage of good apps/websites to use but it will be a bit to get used to and/or you may have to find workarounds for services that exist in one OS but not the other
If you’re good at Japanese, doesn’t matter which one you pick. If you aren’t, get Android.
I have an iPad mini and I love the iOS built in dictionary which can show jp-jp, jp-eng, and jp-ch definitions at the same time. It also has a lot of example sentences for a majority of entries. It’s really handy when I read novels in iBooks or web novels in browser.
android is probably better
just be aware there are some scams floating around. Someone on here bought some version of “anki pro” or some nonsense that would only let him use certain decks.
Make sure you just get ankidroid, it doesn’t cost anything.
I use QooApp on Android for my Japanese game fix. It would be quite difficult to get that working on iOS
Android will always be better with the amount of apps it has. I say this from a developer’s perspective and knowledge. iOS apps cost more to maintain annually for no more complicated a reason than because Apple feels their platform is so premium that they deserve it. Most developers don’t agree that they deserve any better treatment than Android or other platforms. The consequence of this is that developers will release on Android 99% of the time and iOS only when they think they can justify all the costs associated with putting it on the Apple Store. Even then they will likely stop paying the annual fee when it stops being profitable and apps rapidly expire as iOS updates forcing developers to keep updating just so their app even works.
Both iOS and Andriod are excellent for Japanese and kanji recognition. Both are popular in Japan too.
However, the superb Monokakido dictionaries app is only for Apple users; it can be used across devices so that is a benefit (iPhone, iPad, Mac). If you like dictionaries and have other Apple devices, that may tilt your view.
https://github.com/DanyRamdas/Dictionary-Corner/wiki/0.-The-Monokakido-%E2%80%9CDictionaries%E2%80%9D-app
https://community.wanikani.com/t/monolingual-dictionary-corner/58250
If you passed N2, your Japanese should be good enough to learn from consuming native media and learning from context. Android or iOS won’t make a difference, if your Japanese is at that level.