We all have used a dictionary some time or the other. Be it the old school paperback Oxford dictionary, or one of the new age online ones. A dictionary is a handy tool, not only for students, but for anyone who like to read. Online dictionaries have an advantage of being updated all the time. Most of them now offer an iPhone site, which makes it easy to access them from your iPhone’s Safari browser. However, you need to have a data plan for that and be within coverage area. Plus, they are slow. This gives stand alone dictionary apps an edge over online versions.
The WordDigest English Dictionary, Thesaurus & Spell Checker for the iPhone/iPod Touch is a hefty app at 17.6 MB. But it is definitely worth it. Read on to find more.
Features
- Dictionary containing more than 147,000 words
- IPA pronunciations for 87,000 words
- Built-in hyper linked thesaurus for more than 28,000 words
- Built-in hyper linked intelligent spell checker
- Set bookmarks to favorite words
- History of previously searched words
- Built-in Web search for Wikipedia, Wiktionary and Answers.com
- Option to show the etymology (word origin) for a word. This feature requires active Internet connection.
- Option to alter the text size
The dictionary takes some time when you launch it for the first time, as it unpacks the data onto your iPhone. After that, it starts up pretty quick and directly takes you to the search page:
The search is pretty fast. Even though all the words are loaded onto a contacts like screen, there is no lag in the real time search. However, flicking through the words might have some lag sometimes:
Clicking on the word opens the word page which takes about a second to load:
The page is pretty neat and simple. It has the pronunciation of the word (text only, no audio), the word type and its meaning with a few synonyms displayed at the bottom. There is a star to add the word to your favorites and small blue arrows to go to the word’s Thesaurus page. You can come back to the page using the navigation buttons on the top:
The spell checker is pretty fast and intuitive too. It doesn’t search in real time though. The correct spelling of the word and a few alternatives are displayed:
The web tab lets you search the word on one of the 3 online dictionaries – Wikipedia, Wikitionary or Answers.com. Here is the best part – when you go to the web tab from the Dictionary tab, it auto searches the word you searched last. You do not have to type it in again:
The More tab gives access to your favorites list (something which should be on the main page), history and settings. Settings page, among other things, lets you configure the text size & the default online dictionary to search from the web tab:
Verdict
A combination of huge local words database with the ability to search the web from within the app, coupled with an intuitive interface makes this app a great buy. People who are in the habit of reading ebooks on their iPhone/iPod touch as well as bookworms will find this app very useful. We give it 4 stars out of 5. The price of the app is $3.99, however, as introductory offer, the app is selling at a discounted price of $ 1.99. You can download it from iTunes using the link below:
WordDigest English Dictionary, Thesaurus & Spell Checker [$1.99]
We also have 3 promo codes for this app which we will be giving away in a contest soon. Stay tuned.
WordDigest is brought to you by GlobalDelight and can be purchased here for $1.99. Thanks to GlobalDelight for the review copy!
One response to “Review: WordDigest English Dictionary, Thesaurus & Spell Checker [iPhone apps]”
Very useful app for the such low price. I want to add in wish list more languages, at least Spanish. Built-in spellchecker is really silly, I still need to use online spell checker: http://www.spellchecker.net/spellcheck/
Thanks God that iOS 3.0 and higher has copy and paste function.