How many of you use FullRecall as aid to learning on your PC, Mac, Linux box or N900? (Or Android?) Here it is on the N900:



Now you can install it on the N9 as well, and the N9 can join the N900 as having the distinction of being the only handheld device(s) that runs the full desktop version of this software:



Please note that although I helped the developer out, David Calinski, by doing lots of testing and reporting back (he doesn't have access to an N9), this is not my work, and he deserves all the credit. I'm just reporting the results (with his blessing and permission).

Now, there are some caveats:

(1) Because of the complications presented by the N9's virtual keyboard, there is no keyboard input and there isn't likely to be for a while. The VK input framework for the N9 is quite different from previous maemo devices, and presents very specific headaches. You might think that using FullRecall without keyboard input is useless, but if you use it the way I do, inputting all your data on a desktop machine and syncing the database file to the N900/N9 for review and testing only, it is not a dealbreaker. (The app natively supports sync, by the way.) Also, in an emergency, you could use a text editor in the N9 to edit the database files directly; they are text files and easy to understand.

(2) This version of FullRecall, being basically a port of the N900 version, is not designed for finger input. It can be extremely tedious and difficult opening menus, scrolling, etc. (This was never an issue on the N900 with its stylus, of course.) However, again, if you just use it on your handheld device for review and testing, once you have the font sizes set up, etc, you don't really need to go back into the menus again or scroll around anywhere, so it is less of an issue than it might seem. The buttons for review and testing are quite big, and the screen fonts can be resized. Once you have it all set up (and the default settings are pretty good) you can pretty much leave it alone.

(3) Again being a straight port, it doesn't yet support portrait mode, it's landscape-only. I'm hoping this will change soon, but for now, that's how it is. (The N900 version by the way doesn't natively support portrait either, but it works just fine in forced-portrait mode, so I'm hopeful we'll have portrait in this version soon, too.)

(4) There is a grey bar at the bottom of the screen (visible in the screenshot above) which is actually an unused toolbar that is automatically added by the framework. It is not clear how to remove this, but it is mostly cosmetic, as there isn't really a problem with screen real estate for this app on the N9.

The latest builds for Harmattan can always be retrieved from this download location. Be sure to download the latest build because earlier ones may not install/work properly. Also the very latest build (tested tonight and upon which I'm basing all these comments) may not actually posted there yet; check tomorrow if you have issues.

There will be no notifications of newer builds by the way, you just have to check back on that site. However since all the versions of the software are updated more or less at the same time, if you get a notification on another device (N900, PC, Android etc) that an update is available, there will probably be a newer version here as well.

Note that if this is your first time using this application, you should go to the main site first to get more information, and later on, to perhaps buy a license key (which will work across all installations) to release limitations in the free version.

If you're not familiar with this application, I would recommend you take a look. It's basically a flashcards system, where you input the question/answer pair for the flashcards (which can be reversed), and the system learns, from your past mistakes and successes, the optimal order and frequency of future questions to suit your learning (and forgetting!) pattern. If you use it consistently it's very effective. It's been invaluable in helping me with the (not trivial) task of learning Hungarian.

If any seasoned coders are willing to help out the developer by assisting with the keyboard input issue (the most pressing problem), I'm sure he'd welcome the offer. One thought was implementing some sort of custom VK like the current unofficial Meego build of Opera has. The developer can be reached on the contacts page of the FullRecall site.