Andriod Chess on a Gingerbread Tablet

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NaughtyKnight
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Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:09 pm

Andriod Chess on a Gingerbread Tablet

Post by NaughtyKnight »

Hi All,

I notice there has been a couple of Android discussion on the forum.

As an Xmas gift I'm getting an Andriod Tablet running gingerbread OS.

Can someone tell me what the best chess program is for playing over games and pgn files with nested variations?

All the best,

NK
sockmonkey
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Posts: 72
Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2008 3:50 pm

Re: Andriod Chess on a Gingerbread Tablet

Post by sockmonkey »

NaughtyKnight wrote:Hi All,

I notice there has been a couple of Android discussion on the forum.

As an Xmas gift I'm getting an Andriod Tablet running gingerbread OS.

Can someone tell me what the best chess program is for playing over games and pgn files with nested variations?

All the best,

NK
ChessBase just released their DB software for Android a few days ago. It supports annotations and variations. I haven't had much time to spend with it yet, but I'm pretty impressed with what I've seen so far.

jb
fdimeglio
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Location: California

Post by fdimeglio »

Please change the title Andriod ==> Android

Yeah I have downloaded ChessBase from the Android Market and it is nice. There are definitively some bugs here and there but it is a good start. It may be a good idea to compare it to the iOS one which is also available.

Last, I could NOT recommend you to buy any Gingerbread (Android 2.3.x) based tablets as IceCreamSandwich (Android 4.0) is out and you would probably never be able to update it to ICS. The Kindle Fire is a Gingerbread one but I am pretty confident they have a lot of incentive to update it later on to 4.0 (but nobody can be sure unfortunately).

If you can wait a bit, just buy an Android 4.0 tablet.
Looking for a nice Fidelity EAG or A/S and a Odin Encore. Please send me a private message.
SirDave
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Post by SirDave »

That's some good advice from fdimeglio. I would also add that, especially when it comes to looking for something like chess apps, you have to be careful that the Android OS used is not proprietary. The Kindle Fire Android 2.3 (gingerbread) is and does not allow access to generally-available Android apps. And since Amazon probably wants to keep its audience captive, it's likely that even if the Kindle Fire Android version is upgraded, it will be proprietary as well.

Unfortunately, at the moment, even with the most optimal Android-based setup, the availability of chess apps is dismal compared to the iPhone/iTouch/iPad iOS.
fdimeglio
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Post by fdimeglio »

For being more precise, the currently "available" Android 4.0 tablets are limited to one:

http://www.ainovo.com/

which is built around a MIPS processor and that would be slower and less compatible than a usual ARM processor. Dont forget it is only $99 and thus a real interesting low cost product.

Please note that the Motorola Xoom and Xyboard will get Android 4.0 as an update very soon too. Those device have the real Google Experience and should be not clobbered. This is probably the best options so far.

See: http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN ... es/Tablets

Personally I think that the Xyboard 8.2 will be a very nice device. Light and slim and powerful and with a good battery life. Sure it is more expensive than a Kindle Fire but there would be not comparison at all.

Last, Stockfish is available on Android since a while and that is probably the best you can find. Dont forget that it is free too.

Fabrice
Looking for a nice Fidelity EAG or A/S and a Odin Encore. Please send me a private message.
NaughtyKnight
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Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:09 pm

Post by NaughtyKnight »

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll go for the chessbase app and chess genius.

It's all a little too late, as I'm getting a cheap Archos/Arnova G2 7 to supplement my Ipad 2, I can't really complain, can I??

NK

:D
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