App Profile: Greek-English Lexicon

whshep

Rating: 4/5

There's no question that having a portable LSJ is a great boon for reading Greek. Kudos for a fine job of porting this classic work to the iPhone. I would have preferred, however, to see LSJ come to iPhone as, well, more iPhone-ish. Despite the screenshots, the app takes up the whole screen, covering up the status bar at the top; there's really no need for that, and I for one like to keep an eye on the time and the battery meter. The problem with the lack of a splash screen or set of instructions is simply that the app blanks the screen and takes a long time to load, so perhaps what we really need is some indication that that is precisely what is going on. Finally (and I think worst of all), this app, like its Lewis & Short Latin Dictionary counterpart, has a name that is longer than the iPhone can display, which makes it an ugly duckling as it sits next to other apps on the main screen. But the good news is that the developer is obviously responsive to user feedback posted here (to any who have missed it, you can change font size, keyboard click, and keyboard format under "Settings"). Let's hope this app continues to evolve.

CorydonCorydon

Rating: 4/5

This app fills a real need. Students of ancient Greek will find it very useful to have L&S in such a convenient format. Unfortunately, the application itself has some flaws. The lack of a final sigma is distracting. (If this is a coding issue, maybe the developer should consider switching to a lunate sigma?) Worse is that I sometimes have problems getting the keyboard to appear, in spite of multiple taps. Restarting my iPhone seems to help here. And cross-referenced words are only sometimes hyperlinked; it would greatly increase the app's utility if all cross-references had links. Despite these issues, it's a useful app, and at $1.99, the price is right. I'd happily pay a little more for an updated version that was a little more functional. I'd also be curious to know whether the abridged L&S (the "Little Liddell") is out of copyright. If so, it would be worth converting to the iPhone: with its expanded collection of morphological forms, it would be even more useful for Greek students wondering whether something is an aorist or a perfect.

aretephora

Rating: 4/5

Update - the final sigma was added in a recent update, which is great. And I'm not having a problem with the keyboard anymore, which is good. I would still like some sort of opening menu or cover page. It just feels unfinished. I'm extremely glad to have a Greek Dictionary on my iPhone. I have been waiting for this since the App Store was released! However, I do agree with the earlier reviewers on a couple points. Namely 1) no final sigma. I mean, we have an L&S on our phone and we can't get the alphabet right? 2) a list of abbreviations used would be great for most people. 3) a cover page. It isn't very nice to look at when the opening screen comes up; confused me the first time. 4) fix the bug that doesn't bring up the keyboard. 50% of the time I have to re-launch the app. I'll improve my rating if some of these get addressed. Overall, I'm glad to have it.