This new version needs improvement
Although the new app has the slight advantage of allowing random access to the articles so that you can go directly to a topic of interest, it has several drawbacks. On the IPad it will only display in portrait mode. My IPad Pro will only stand on its keyboard/cover in landscape mode so that makes it harder to use. I also miss the intro and the current organization is not chronological.
Also, there is no vocabulary page or list idioms.
These problem could be easily fixed (since the content exists and almost all IPad apps switch modes).
Two things I would like to see added are the ability to create a list of words and definitions to study later, and the ability to look up any word in a French-English dictionary. The highlighted phrases and translations are helpful, especially for idioms, but I often come across other words/phrases I need translated. When reading French text on my Kindle I can highlight any group of words and get a translation to English. That would be very helpful here.
As a developer myself, I don’t think it would be hard to make these improvements and then this App would be better than the older version.
Also, there is no vocabulary page or list idioms.
These problem could be easily fixed (since the content exists and almost all IPad apps switch modes).
Two things I would like to see added are the ability to create a list of words and definitions to study later, and the ability to look up any word in a French-English dictionary. The highlighted phrases and translations are helpful, especially for idioms, but I often come across other words/phrases I need translated. When reading French text on my Kindle I can highlight any group of words and get a translation to English. That would be very helpful here.
As a developer myself, I don’t think it would be hard to make these improvements and then this App would be better than the older version.
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Response from developer
We have addressed several of these issues in recent updates. Landscape mode now works on iPad and other devices. Also you can now listen to full episodes, organized by date, just as on our website. We are currently working to implement our Grammar and Expressions sections in a future release. As for a French-English dictionary feature, we will take that into consideration.
Missing features
The old news in slow Spanish app included a weekly summary of stories covered and it worked in landscape as well as portrait
This new app that replaces it does neither so it feels like a step backward at the moment.
This new app that replaces it does neither so it feels like a step backward at the moment.
Bad
Agree with others, not organized by date. A very juvenile error. Why do this? They actually made the app worse.
Too bad
The new app is a step down in at least two respects: 1) articles are not grouped primary by date, but by category. So the most recent political article, for example, will flow to political articles from earlier dates, which the user has already seen, and not to current releases in other categories; 2) The iPad version does not switch to landscape view when the iPad is rotated—a very basic feature for any iPad app.
The old app was very basic, but it worked fine. This new app was apparently designed by a non user.
The old app was very basic, but it worked fine. This new app was apparently designed by a non user.
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Response from developer
We have corrected these features in recent updates. Landscape mode now works on iPad and other devices. You can also listen to full episode which are organized by date, just like on our website.
Best for listening comprehension
Awesome podcasts, great for increasing your listening comprehension and expanding your vocabulary, as they have transcripts of the clearly spoken podcasts with new words defined for you.
