Who should get it: Anyone considering getting an electronic dictionary or who needs to reference words in Japanese/English.
Recent Price: $9.99 USD
Midori can replace your electronic dictionary for a fraction of the price. A full-featured dictionary with everything you’d expect, plus some delightful features that make it a really polished app:
Entries include a “see also” section listing kanji using similar radicals or with similar pronunciation.
Relevant example sentences and word lists.
- Realtime lookup. Suggestions pop-up as you type or draw.
- Excellent content. The dictionary and search function doesn't bury you in a lot of unneeded vocabulary, yet it also manages to have words you would need to do difficult translation.
- Japanese name lookup. Look up names phonetically or with Kanji. Includes common, uncommon and historical names.
- Bookmark your favorite entries. A dog-eared dictionary is best!
- Character Drawing feature. I feel compelled to single out and praise the handwritten character lookup feature: There is realtime lookup as you write, you can undo incorrect strokes, and it has excellent cursor calibration, which is a *must* for this kind of function. I’ve too many apps where the cursor doesn’t draw where I want it to, and the character lookup ends up being too frustrating to use. Midori’s character drawing & lookup is spot-on.
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| Well-calibrated character recognition, suggestions by shape & stroke count and undo your drawing one stroke at a time. |
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| Real-time lookup and "gee that's handy" words. |
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| Entries have the kanji that make up the words and word lists that use them. |
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| Get familiar with the kanji, stroke order, and where you'll see it. |
