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The best scientific, graphing, and CAS calculator apps for Android: Comprehensive comparative review - General Topics

Introduction to my app reviews on the XDA forum
This is the first of a series of such comprehensive app review threads that I have planned (the others will be much shorter however).
While I will publish the reviews later in other places also (like my website and medium.com), I have decided to publish them here first in the hope of getting suggestions for improvement from many interested people, and maybe from the developers of the apps also.
Introduction to this review of calculator apps
In this article, I will attempt to find, evaluate, and compare the best advanced calculator apps for Android, as comprehensively and objectively as possible.
I also include high-quality “basic” scientific calculator apps with features like scientific constants, units, and base-n calculation. Further, I include advanced "learning calculators" like Photomath, but I evaluate only their ability to solve mathematical problems, not their pedagogical value.
I hope the article will be helpful to anyone who wants to do more complicated calculations on Android devices, and also to the developers of the calculator apps, and to programmers considering the development of another calculator app.
I decided to write it because there are now many good and useful advanced calculator apps for Android, but not one thorough review (at least I couldn’t find one). While there are many “reviews” of the best such apps on the web, those lack
systematic search for available apps,
thorough tests of the apps,
comparison of features,
comparison of data from Google Play,
examination of other reviews.
Accordingly, they do not provide an objective overview of the best apps. Also, they seem to be written mostly by people with no special love for math and programming.
While I am myself not a mathematician, I have studied mathematical physics and computer science (PhD), and have developed complex Android apps (an advanced 3D modeling app, and App Finder, a sophisticated search engine for apps on Google Play, which I have used for this review).
Please note that this is a VERY long and detailed review. If you just want to know what the best calculator apps are, you may directly read my recommendations here.
If you are mainly interested in this as an example for the usage of App Finder, you may just read the section about the searches.
If you are new to this forum, please note that you can change the style from dark to light via the "XDA-Dark" button at the very bottom of the page. Also, you can hide the left pane using the three-line button top left.
If you like this article, please read the post at the bottom of this page.

Classification of apps and compilation of features
Kinds of calculators
Since for different people and different purposes, different types of calculator apps will be optimal, let us first make a classification.
Traditional handheld calculators may be classified as follows (excluding completely basic and financial calculators):
Basic scientific calculators
Advanced numeric scientific calculators
(distinguished from the basic ones by e.g. equation solving, calculus, and matrix calculation capabilities)
Programmable calculators
Graphing calculators
CAS (Computer algebra system, i.e. symbolic computation) calculators
(also including the functionality of advanced numeric, programmable, and graphing calculators)
However, if one needs more than a basic scientific calculator at all, it will probably be useful to have symbolic as well as numeric calculation, and also graphing (and possibly programming).
This also seems to be what most calculator app developers have thought, since nearly all good apps with a functionality exceeding basic scientific calculators include at least basic symbolic computation and graphing features.
Therefore, I will classify the apps here simply as “basic” or “advanced” calculators for feature comparison.
Nevertheless, a more detailed classification is useful and will be used to structure this review:
Advanced general-purpose calculators
Apps with a wide range of advanced numeric and symbolic computation and graphing that are convenient for both quick and more complicated calculations.
Graphing tools
Apps specializing in graphing, whether or not they include other functionality.
CAS answer engines
Apps with powerful symbolic computation, that also accept input in natural language, and can give not only calculation results, but also information on mathematical definitions and concepts (WolframAlpha is currently the only such app).
Advanced learning calculators
Apps designed for learning mathematics, often with symbolic computation, showing intermediate calculation steps, and able to recognize written problems from photos.
Advanced calculators of other types
E.g., apps with a “notebook interface” (similar to Mathematica), computer algebra systems with a command-line interface, and apps with programming / scripting.
Intermediate scientific and graphing calculators
Apps with some advanced features like 2D graphing, basic numeric / symbolic calculus, numeric equation solving. Up to the level of the TI-84.
Basic scientific calculators
Apps without advanced mathematics like calculus, that are nevertheless suitable for science and engineering (with features like scientific constants and units, and base-n calculation).
Features and test problems
To be able to objectively compare the apps, I have made lists of important features and some test problems.
The test problems are of course quite arbitrary and cover only a small part of the features, and a still smaller part of the range of important problem types. Nevertheless, I think they give some helpful insight into the power and reliability of the apps.
The features that I consider essential are in blue and will be used as the baseline for the reviews. More advanced features, which fewer people will need, are in parenthesis. Even more advanced features are in double-parenthesis. The test problems are in green.
Advanced calculator features and test problems​As a basis I have taken the functionality of advanced hardware calculators like the TI-89 or TI-Nspire CAS, while considering the capabilities of modern Android devices.
Numeric and symbolic calculation
(in addition to the basic functionality of all scientific calculators):
Complex numbers: Rectangular and polar form, common operations and functions
Symbolic computation essentials:
Calculation with exact values (fractions, roots, pi, etc.)
e^pi/e^(2pi) should be simplified to 1/e^pi or e^-pi
Automatic simplification
2x/(x^2-1)-1/(x-1) should be simplified to 1/(x+1)
(Factorization and expansion of polynomials)
((Equation manipulation))
(Assumptions, e.g. domain constraints)
Equation solving:
Numeric
Ln(x) = -x should be solved as x = 0.567143
sin(x) = x/2 should be solved as x = {0, ±1.89549}
Symbolic
sin(1/x)=0 should be solved as x = 1/(n*pi)
ln(x*y) = y*ln( y) should be solved as x = y^(y-1)
Real and complex solutions
(X+1)^2 = -1 should be solved as x = -1±i
(Equation systems)
x²+y² = 2 and x²*y² = 1 should be solved as x = ±1 and y = ±1
(Specification of variable ranges)
(Inequalities)
Differentiation and integration:
Numeric
Symbolic
(e^x+1)/(e^x-1) should be integrated to 2*ln|e^x-1|-x
1/(1+sin(x)) should be integrated to e.g. tan(x/2-pi/4), or -2/(tan(x/2)+1), or (sin(x)-1)/cos(x)
x/(1+sin(x)) should be integrated to e.g. 2*ln(cos(-x/2+pi/4))-x*tan(-x/2+pi/4)
x/ln(x) should be integrated to Ei(2*ln(x))
Multiple / nested operations
Other calculus and analysis:
Finding minima and maxima, numeric (and symbolic)
Minima of sin(1/x) should be given like 2/(4pi*n-pi)
Sums and products of sequences, also infinite, numeric and symbolic
Limits, also one-sided, numeric and symbolic
(Taylor expansion)
((Differential equations solving))
Matrices and vectors:
Standard operations and functions
(Vector calculus, esp. gradient, divergence, curl)
Basic number theory and combinatorics: random, prime factorization, gcd, lcm, factorial, nCr, nPr
Base-n calculation: conversion and bitwise operations for binary, octal, hexadecimal numbers
Statistics and probability
One and two variable statistics: with frequencies, (histograms, box plots)
Regression: Linear, quadradic, logarithmic, exponential, …, with plots
((Confidence intervals calculations))
((Statistical tests, e.g. t, z, F, chi², ANOVA))
(Probability distribution calculations)
Calculation with units and unit conversion
Scientific constants
2D and 3D graphing
Display of multiple graphs in one coordinate system, also of different types
(Multiple workspaces, i.e. coordinate systems)
Graph types:
Cartesian function plots
2D: Polar function plots
Parametric plots, in 3D both curves and surfaces
(Implicit plots)
4*(x^2+y^2+z^2)+16*x*y*z = 1 (Cayley's cubic surface)
((Differential equations plots))
((Complex plots))
Display:
2D: (Customizable) grid, adapting to zoom (with major and minor lines)
3D: Labeled coordinate axes, (optional semitransparent x-y-plane, optional x-y-grid)
Custom colors for individual graphs
(3D: Surface display: solid with variable transparency, and as wireframe)
(3D: Both orthographic and perspective projection)
((3D: Quality settings))
(Animation of parameter variables)
Portrait and landscape orientation
Navigation:
Equal and independent scale of axes
2D: Simultaneous pan and zoom with 2 fingers
3D: Complete and intuitive navigation, e.g., orbit around center with one finger, pan and zoom with 2 fingers
(3D: Automatic rotation)
Analysis:
2D: Tracing
2D: Display of coordinates of intersections, zeros, extrema
Environment and user interface
Variables and functions:
Saving values to variables
(Custom-named variables for storing values and for use in symbolic computation)
(User-defined functions that can be used in numeric and symbolic calculations)
(Piecewise defined functions), ((Programmed functions))
(Intermediate calculation steps)
((Programming environment))
Input and output:
Display and input of expressions in standard mathematical notation, like in a textbook
Copy and paste, also parts of expressions
Undo & Redo
(Automatic calculation without tapping enter key)
(Multiple workspaces)
(“Quick Info”: Display of various useful information about the entered expression or result with one tap, e.g.: prime factorization for integers, alternative formats for numbers, alternative forms for expressions with variables, solutions for different variables for equations, graphs for expressions and equations with 1 or 2 variables)
History of calculations
Import / export, (sync and share) of variables, functions, (and history)
Adaption and customization:
Convenient interface for small phones, good use of the space available on large phones (and tablets)
Adjustable display text size (and keyboard size)
(Keyboard layouts for different screen sizes), ((Custom keyboard layouts))
(Light and dark mode, different themes, custom colors)
Documentation and source
Complete user guide (with full text search), (in-app and external)
(Function / command reference with full text search)
(Info / description of the algorithms used)
(Open source)
For Basic scientific calculators, I use a separate list:
Basic scientific calculator features​
Calculation
in addition to the basic functionality of all scientific calculators:
Basic number theory and combinatorics: random numbers, prime factorization, gcd, lcm, factorial, nCr, nPr
(Calculation with fractions, roots, pi)
(Base-n calculation: conversion and bitwise operations for binary, octal, hexadecimal numbers)
(Complex numbers: Rectangular and polar, common operations and functions)
(One-variable statistics)
(Calculation with units and unit conversion)
(Scientific constants)
Memories/variables, functions
Enough memories/variables
Using variables directly in expressions, not just inserting the value
(Saving functions)
Input and output:
(Standard mathematical notation, like in a textbook)
Otherwise, multi-line
Copy and paste, (also parts of expressions)
(Undo & Redo)
(Automatic calculation without tapping enter key)
Number formatting:
Custom number of decimal places, round/cut modes
Scientific and engineering formats
Thousands separator
(Repeated decimals)
History of calculations
(Import / export of variables, functions, and history)
Adaption and customization:
(Different keyboard layouts, custom keyboard layouts)
Light and dark mode, (different themes, custom colors)
User guide

The search
To search Google Play, I have used App Finder, an advanced app search engine that has data for nearly 2.4 million apps.
I have also quickly searched the following alternative app stores directly:
Samsung Galaxy Store
Huawei AppGallery
Amazon App Store
F-Droid
Aurora store
APKMirror
AppBrain
SlideMe
Aptoide
However, I did not find additional apps that can be recommended.
App Finder
For our purpose, App Finder has several advantages over Google Play’s build-in search:
Search algorithm: Google Play uses a complex undocumented search algorithm that takes many factors into account, and prefers the apps it thinks “you’ll have a good experience with” (see here). While this is often very good for quickly finding some of the best apps, it is not suitable for a comprehensive search.
In contrast, App Finder matches your search query against the descriptions of the apps in a clear and easily comprehensible way (see below).
Search operators: In addition to the usual search operators, App Finder has some special operators. For example, to require specific words to occur in title or summary, which can be very helpful to exclude irrelevant apps.
Filters: While Google Play’s search has only filters for a user rating above 4 or 4.5 stars and for paid apps, App Finder has a filter for user rating in 0.1-star steps, and many other filters.
Sort options: Like Google Play, App Finder sorts the results by “relevance” by default. That is, by a score calculated from the match with the query, the average user rating, and the popularity. However, App Finder also has the option to sort by a single characteristic like the average user rating or the number of ratings, which gives us better orientation for comparing the results.
Result count: App Finder shows the exact result count, so we can add keywords or filters if there are more results than we want to inspect.
Result list: Unlike Google Play’s search, App Finder shows all essential data, summary, and screenshots directly in the result list.
Additional data: App Finder shows
the average user ratings with two decimals, which is relevant for high ratings (consider two apps rated 4.85 and 4.94 stars respectively, which are both rounded to 4.9 stars by Google Play),
the number of downloads with two significant digits, with is quite an improvement over Google Play which rounds them down to powers of ten times 1 or 5,
World-average user ratings in addition to country-specific ratings.
Here’s a how App Finder matches search queries against the app descriptions:
In the simplest case, if you just enter keywords separated by spaces, it returns exactly those apps where all the words (or forms of them, like the plural) appear in the description (or title or developer name).
.
Words inside quotes are required to appear in sequence (different forms of the words are still allowed).
.
+ in front of a word (or quoted words) requires it to occur in title or summary, not just anywhere in the description.
(The summary is a short description limited to 80 characters that the developer must provide).
.
- can be used as usual to exclude words. It can be combined with + to exclude them from title and summary only.
.
The usual OR operator is supported. Additionally, / (a slash) can be used instead of OR. Contrary to OR, / is evaluated first, which makes it often possible to avoid parenthesis and repetitions. Also, / can be used inside quotes. No spaces are required around /.
Simple Search
Since scientific calculator and graphing calculator are universally used terms, we would expect each app intended as such a calculator to have one of these terms in title or summary.
With App Finder, we can search for this using the query +”scientific calculator” OR +“graphing calculator” (see above). Using the / operator, it can be simplified to
Query 1: +“scientific/graphing calculator”
Without filters, this query gives 432 results.
Note that all searches in this article were done in Mai 2023 for the United States.
To not miss anything, I have looked through all results without filters.
Already from the screenshots, it is clear for most of the 432 apps that they are very low quality, or that they are not what we’re looking for.
Investigating the promising apps further, and quickly testing the still promising ones, I found that all the best apps probably have at least 4.5 stars average rating in the US for the full-featured version, at least 100 ratings, and were updated within the last year.
(Which is of course roughly what one would expect anyway.)
With these filters, we get 33 results. The following screenshots show the result list, ordered by number of ratings, which gives us a good orientation.
I have cut away some irrelevant apps, and placed the ad-supported and paid versions of the same apps together (future versions of App Finder will place apps by the same developer together automatically ).
Reading App Finder’s result list
The numbers left of the colorful stars are the average user ratings calculated by Google Play, the top one for the United States, the bottom one the whole world. (App Finder can also show the ratings for any other country supported by Google Play.)
The stars represent the rating distribution: The size (that is, area) of the stars is proportional to the number of 5-, 4-, 3-, 2-, and 1-star ratings (from green to red). Between different apps, the star-size is correlated with the total number of ratings at a logarithmic scale.
Paid apps without an indication do not contain ads. For apps with in-app purchases, the price range is shown in parentheses.
Spoiler: Result list
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Search by functionality
Since there may be advanced calculator apps that are not called scientific or graphing calculator by the developers, I have done a search by functionality mentioned in the description also.
It is of course very difficult to predict which features a developer would choose to include in the description and what words would be used.
But if we only refer to functionality that is very important and popular, and consider alternative descriptions, we can expect to miss only few good apps, if any.
Choosing differentiation, equation solving, and graphing as such functionality, we arrive at a query like
Query 2: differentiate/derivative equation/algebra graph/plot
(Remember that App Finder equates different forms of a word. E.g., calculate also searches for calculator, differentiate also for differentiation, and integrate also for integration and integral.)
(With the simpler query derivative equation graph we miss two relevant apps, Wolfram Alpha and Algeo.)
Without filters, this query gives 264 results.
Again looking through the list and testing promising apps I found that all the best apps here probably have at least 4.2 stars average rating in the US, at least 1 million downloads for the free version, and were updated within the last two years.
With these filters, the query gives 14 results. Below you see the complete list ordered by “relevance”.
While I had to try some different keyword combinations and filters to arrive at this, the result is quite impressive:
The list probably includes all the best advanced calculator apps, no irrelevant apps, only few apps which I would not recommend, and the app that I would rate as the best overall is first in the list.
Spoiler: Result list
Additional searches
I have also repeated the query with -graph/plot instead of graph/plot to check if there are good advanced calculator apps without graphing, but this seems not to be the case.
I have searched for graphing apps specifically with graph/plot function trace and graph/plot function 3D. The latter query yielded 3 additional interesting 3D graphing apps (Grapher– Equation Plotter, Visual Math 4D, and Graphing Calculator 3D).
I have searched for CAS apps specifically with "computer algebra system", which yielded Maxima for Android and Xcas Pad.

Summary of the review and recommendations
Since the introduction of Android in 2008, independent programmers from around the world, as well as small and large companies, have developed hundreds of calculator apps (as we have seen, there are currently at least 432 apps with the phrase scientific calculator or graphing calculator in title or summary available on Google Play).
There is currently no single app with as comprehensive, reliable, and convenient calculation functionality as the best hardware calculators (like the TI-89, TI-Nspire, or Casio fx-CG500 / ClassPad).
However, for many purposes there are perfectly suitable apps, which are sometimes even preferable if one has a hardware calculator at hand (e.g., for graphing).
Note that there are also emulators available for Casio’s and HP’s flagship CAS calculators (but not TI’s), which however greatly suffer from emulation related problems.
For almost all purposes, a combination of the best native Android apps (e.g., Hiper Calc, GeoGebra, and WolframAlpha, see below), is probably the best choice.
Advanced general-purpose calculators
There seem to be essentially 3 advanced general-purpose calculator apps currently (see my definition above).
Of these, I would rate Hiper Calc as the best overall. Its numeric and symbolic calculation functionality is rather comprehensive and seems to be quite reliable. It is very easy to use and often very efficient. Important disadvantages are weaknesses with symbolic computation and small bugs, and very limited graphing.
Scientific calculator plus 991 has a more extensive calculation functionality than Hiper Calc (e.g. for statistics), and its symbolic calculation is more powerful in some areas (simplification and integration). However, it has some bugs and inconveniences, not all functionality is well organized and documented, and 3D graphing is missing.
(There are some very similar apps that may possibly be used instead of the Plus 991.)
Scientific Calculator by Philip Stephens may be chosen for 3D graphing (see below), some user interface advantages, and maybe for statistics. Its numeric calculation functionality seems to be good, but symbolic calculation is very limited. While the user interface has some great features, it also has significant issues, and documentation is missing.
Apps for difficult symbolic and numeric calculations
In general, WolframAlpha (based on the leading mathematics software Mathematica) can be recommended as the most powerful tool for difficult calculations on Android. It can also give further information on definitions and concepts, and often show intermediate calculation steps. However, it does not work offline, and expressions cannot be entered in textbook notation.
Maxima for Android is the long-established open-source computer algebra system Maxima with a command-line interface. Xcas Pad is another open-source computer algebra system with a command-line interface .
The best alternatives seem to be GeoGebra, Symbolab, and maybe Maple Calculator, which all support entry in textbook notation. GeoGebra works offline and is based on the open source CAS Xcas/Giac, but does not give intermediate calculation steps or further information. Symbolab and Maple Calculator often give intermediate calculation steps, but no further information.
For equation solving, Hiper Calc seems to work well also, but it has problems with simplification and symbolic integration. For symbolic integration, Plus 991 seems to work well also, but it has some bugs and problems with equation solving.
WolframAlpha sometimes shows the results in a more complicated form than other apps, and in one of my tests it did not return all minima of a simple function, while Hiper Calc did this. So, it may sometimes be a good idea to check with different apps.
Apps for graphing
For 2D graphing, Plus 991, Graphing Calculator + Math, Desmos, and GeoGebra are probably the best, with different advantages and shortcomings.
For 3D graphing, GeoGebra and Scientific Calculator by Philip Stephens seem to be clearly the best, also with different advantages and shortcomings.
GeoGebra and Graphing Calculator + Math may also be used as a “general-purpose calculator”, however the keys are quite small on phones for quick calculations.
Apps for longer complicated calculations and programming
MATLAB Mobile allows to create and execute MATLAB scripts in the cloud. MATLAB is a full-featured programming language, extensive numeric and symbolic calculation functionality is available, and 2D and 3D graphs can be created (but not navigated).
For tablets, a “notebook interface” is also available, where the code is placed on an interactive document together with the calculation results, graphics, and formatted text. While this concept is optimal for longer complicated calculations, there are serious problems with the interface of the app currently.
micro Mathematics is another calculator app with a notebook interface (for phones also). It seems to work reliably, however the input mechanism is quite inefficient, and symbolic computation and programming are missing.
GeoGebra and Graphing Calculator + Math also have kinds of (more limited) notebook interfaces.
Plus 991 seems to have a full-featured programming language, however there are significant issues currently.
Graphing Calculator (X84) includes TI-BASIC programming.
Scientific Calculator Scalar has limited scripting functionality.
The Casio fx-CG500 / ClassPad emulator might also be chosen for a “notebook interface” (eActivity) and for programming, however there are emulation related inconveniences.
The web-interface of SageMath might also be used, however it is quite inconvenient on phones.
An alternative would be to use a general programming environment with math libraries like SymPy, but this is beyond the scope of this review.
Apps for simple calculations
ChampCalc Scientific Calculator is a very sophisticated and customizable "basic" scientific calculator.
TechCalc Scientific Calculator includes formulas for many important mathematical, scientific, engineering, and financial applications.
Scientific Calculator Scalar allows to define custom functions easily, and has some scripting functionality.
Panecal Scientific Calculator may be very efficient for longer simple calculations.
CalcTastic has comprehensive base-n calculation functionality.
Graphing Calculator – Algeo and Jade Scientific Calculator have a simple and convenient user interface and some advanced features.
If more advanced features are needed, Hiper Calc can be recommended as the easiest to use advanced calculator.
Apps that imitate hardware calculators
Scientific calculator plus 991 has essentially the keyboard layout of the Casio fx-991 calculators, while being much more powerful.
Graphing calculator plus 84 83 has essentially the keyboard layout of the TI-84 calculators, while being much more powerful.
Graphing Calculator (X84) imitates the TI-84 quite closely, still making use of the touch-interface of Android devices.
If you find this review helpful, please read the note at the end of this page.
Introduction to the reviews of individual apps
I list all apps that looked promising to me from the store descriptions (as described in the section about the searches above, I have looked through several hundred apps).
For the apps that I would not recommend after testing, I only give the Play Store data and quickly explain the problems.
For the apps that I would recommend, I give screenshots and more information.
For apps that I would recommend for regular use, I give complete “feature lists”. For the others, I only note distinguishing features.
Reading the feature lists
In the feature lists, I take the “essential” (blue) features from the above lists as the baseline.
As advantages, I note especially good implementations and additional features. As disadvantages, I note bugs, bad implementations, and missing “essential” features. This may be a bit confusing, but I see no better way.
So, to make sense of the feature lists in the reviews, you must read the blue in the lists above.
If you are looking for apps with a specific feature, just use the search of you browser, all reviews are on this page.
I always review the full-featured and ad-free versions. For the good apps these are all available at a very fair (or more than fair) price.
Reading the Play Store data from App Finder
The numbers left of the colorful stars are the average user ratings calculated by Google Play, the top one for the United States, the bottom one the whole world.
The stars represent the rating distribution: The size (that is, area) of the stars is proportional to the number of 5-, 4-, 3-, 2-, and 1-star ratings (from green to red). Between different apps, the star-size is correlated with the total number of ratings at a logarithmic scale.
Paid apps without an indication do not contain ads. For apps with in-app purchases, the price range is shown in parentheses.

Advanced General-Purpose Calculators
Hiper Calc​
This app stands out with quite comprehensive, reliable, and powerful functionality, and an exceptional user interface.
It seems to be very good at equation solving and minima / maxima finding (however there also is a bug).
On the other hand, there are significant problems with simplification, more complicated integrals cannot be solved symbolically, and statistics is very limited.
Graphing is very limited but still useful.
The functionality is very well organized and efficient and easy to use, but it still has some inconveniences, see the feature list.
Numeric and symbolic calculation​
Symbolic computation essentials:
Bad Already some easy simplifications are not done, e.g., ln(2)+ln(3) is not simplified to ln(6), and 2x/(x^2-1)-1/(x-1) is not simplified to 1/(x+1)
Bad In results, polynomials are always given in expanded form, which not always is the simplest one
Feature Factorization, but works only with one variable.
Equation solving:
BUG In some cases it incorrectly returns “No solution exists”, e.g., for sin(1/x) = 0, and for ln(x*y) = ln( y)
Feature Equation systems, entered one equation per line
Feature Inequalities
Good Apart from some special cases (see above), equation solving seems to work very well, and quite complicated equations and equation systems can be solved symbolically, and even more complicated ones numerically. Periodic solutions are handled well.
Differentiation and integration:
Bad Some more complicated integrals cannot be solved symbolically even if they are elementary, e.g. (e^x-1)/(e^x+1). Nonelementary integrals cannot be solved symbolically.
Other calculus and analysis:
Feature Symbolic minima and maxima, also for periodic functions.
Good It correctly found all minima of sin(1/x), what WolframAlpha did not
Statistics and probability:
Missing Only one-variable statistics
Bad Input of data is inconvenient, especially with frequencies.
Missing No regression
Feature High precision calculation with up to 100 digits significand and 9 digits exponent
2D and 3D graphing​
Missing Graphs are only shown in the “calculation details”, and only one graph can be drawn at a time (or two for equations)
Graph types:
Missing No parametric plots
Feature Implicit plots in 2D, but for equations involving periodic functions only one “branch” is shown, e.g. for sin(x+y) = 0
Display:
Good Both 2D and 3D graphs are high quality
Navigation:
Missing 3D: No complete navigation: Rotation only around z axis, inclination cannot be changed
Bad 3D: One must change between rotate and translate/zoom “modes” (one finger for rotate and 2 for translate/zoom would be more convenient)
Bad Equal / independent scale of axes in 3D does not to work well
Analysis:
Missing Tracing
Environment and user interface​
Variables and functions:
Feature Custom-named variables
Feature User-defined functions that can be used in numeric and symbolic calculations
However, note that variable names other than x and y and function names cannot be typed but must be inserted from a menu. Also, variables other than x and y must be defined in this menu before they can be used in symbolic computation. While this is an inconvenience, one may get used to it.
Input and output:
Missing Parts of expressions cannot be selected and copied, only the whole input or result can be copied.
Missing No undo & Redo
Good Keyboard is well designed.
Bad Since recently, the equal sign must be selected from a menu.
Feature Automatic calculation without tapping enter key
Feature Good “Quick Info”
Adaption and customization:
Feature Tablet layout that makes good use of the space available (but only in landscape layout)
Feature Different predefined keyboard layouts and custom keyboard layouts
Feature Many high-quality themes
Bad For larger calculations (e.g. equation systems) the small display area is inconvenient. When the display text size is reduced, the display becomes also smaller (and the keys larger) so that no vertical space is won.
(When multi-line display is enabled the keys are much too small on phones. A solution is to define a custom keyboard with more columns which makes the keys smaller and thus the keyboard lower.)
Documentation and source​
Good There is a well-organized complete in-app help.

Scientific calculator plus 991​
This app stands out with very extensive and quite powerful calculation functionality.
However, it has some worrying bugs (see below).
Simplification and symbolic integration seem to be very good, but there are problems with equation solving and minima / maxima finding. Its statistics features are quite comprehensive.
2D graphing is good but has inconveniences. 3D graphing is missing.
The user interface is sophisticated, but some functionality is not well organized and documented, and there are many inconveniences.
Numeric and symbolic calculation​
Symbolic computation essentials:
Feature Domain constraints, but they are not exploited sometimes, e.g., Ln(x*y)-Ln(x) with x>0 and y>0 is not simplified to Ln( y). (Input: Simplify(Ln(x*y)-Ln(x), x>0 and y>0))
Equation solving:
BUG When trying to solve an equation by just entering it or using SHIFT-SOLVE, inexact results are often returned, e.g., for sin(x) = x, something like [x=-0.0000083, x=-0.0000017] is returned. Using the Solve function, [x=0] is correctly returned.
BUG Even with Solve, equations involving periodic functions are often not correctly solved, e.g.:
For sin(x) = 0 only 0 is returned as solution; for sin(x) = cos(x) two complicated (although correct) numerical expressions are returned instead of the simple exact solution.
For sin(x) = x/2, sometimes [x=-1.89…, x=1.89…], and sometimes [x=0] is returned.
Feature Equation systems
Differentiation and integration:
Good Powerful symbolic integration, even some nonelementary integrals can be solved with special functions, e.g., logarithmic and exponential integrals and Fresnel integrals (however these functions cannot be plotted).
Also, for complicated integrals like x/(1+sin(x)), for the same input, sometimes operation is not supported is returned, and sometimes the correct solution.
Other calculus and analysis:
BUG Minima and maxima are often not correctly calculated, e.g., for x^4-x^2, only x=-1/4 is returned as minimum, for periodic functions also only one minimum and maximum is returned.
Bad No one-sided limits
Statistics and probability:
It may take some time to learn to use the statistics features, but they seem to work quite well.
Bad Data editor shows no row numbers.
Feature Extensive distribution calculation functionality with many distributions (I did not test this much).
Feature Statistical tests (at least in the Plus 84 83, see below)
Feature Confidence intervals calculations (at least in the Plus 84 83)
Feature It has hundreds of advanced functions that are named as in WolframAlpha and Mathematica, e.g., Series, Fourier, PowerExpand, ApplySides(~600 documented, ~300 I could find in the menus). However,
I did not test them and don’t know if they work reliably.
The inconvenience of the interface (e.g., that parts of expressions cannot be copied, and that equation systems must be entered in one line) makes more complicated calculations tedious, so that I question the usefulness of many of them.
The functions cannot be typed, and there is no alphabetic list from which they can be inserted.
Feature Programming:
It seems to have a full featured programming language that can interface the calculation functionality (Symja). However, the print function and graphics output seem not to work (only the result for the last line is printed automatically). Also, files cannot be saved.
2D and 3D graphing​No 3D graphing.
Bad The functions to draw must be entered in linear form (i.e. not textbook form), or all in one line separated by :
Feature 3 workspaces
Graph types:
Feature Implicit plots
Display:
Bad Grid is quite coarse (and cannot be adjusted)
Navigation:
Feature Independent scale of axes
Bad No simultaneous pan and zoom with 2 fingers
Analysis:
Good Tracing is well implemented, tangent can also be shown
Good Derivative can also be shown, inflection points can also be shown
Environment and user interface​
Variables and functions:
Feature User-defined functions that can be used in numeric and symbolic calculations
Input and output:
Missing Parts of expressions cannot be selected and copied, only the whole input or result can be copied
Missing No undo & Redo
Feature Automatic calculation without tapping enter key
Feature Good “Quick Info”
BUG When copying expressions from the history, it often returns incorrect results, even if it retuned the correct result the first time the expression was entered.
Missing No import / export
Adaption and customization:
UI is good for both small and large phones, but not tablets
Feature Many high-quality themes
Bad Not convenient for symbolic computation, e.g.,
Variable x and equal sign are not accessible with one tap
For most symbolic computation one must switch between the main and a 2nd keyboard, whose keys are not well organized
Equation systems must be entered in one line
Documentation and source​
Bad Help is not well organized
Feature Help can be searched (but not full-text)
Feature Function / command reference with search (but not full-text) and examples
Source: Although the developers do not state this, the app is based on the open source CAS Symja, “inspired by Wolfram Language built-in functions”, and implemented in Java.
Scientific Calculator 300 Plus,
Graphing calculator plus 84 83,
Scientific calculator 36 Plus,
Scientific calculator 30 34,
Calc 991 Scientific Calculator
These apps clearly share much code with the Plus 991, even if different developer names are used: Essentially all UI elements other than the keyboard are the same in each of them, and the Symja CAS library is also used (see above).
Thus, it can be expected that they share most of the advantages and disadvantages with the Plus 991.
The main difference seems to be that they are modeled and named after different Casio and TI calculators, and some have a more limited functionality.
Scientific Calculator 300 Plus seems to be essentially the same as the Plus 991.
Graphing calculator plus 84 83 has a significantly different layout, resembling the TI-84 often very closely. It may be better for statistics. Also, it has an alphabetical function catalog.
Below you see the first three.

Scientific Calculator (by Philip Stephens)​
This app stands out with very powerful 3D graphing and some important user interface features that are missing from most or all other calculator apps (see the feature list).
Numeric computation seems to be good, and the statistics and probability functionality is extensive.
Symbolic computation is very limited however.
There are great graphing features (e.g. implicit surfaces), but also problems with graphing.
While the user interface has some great features, it also has significant inconveniences. Documentation is missing, and many things are not obvious.
Numeric and symbolic calculation​
Symbolic computation essentials:
Bad Calculation with exact values mostly does not work:
E.g, pi²/pi gives pi, but (pi²+pi)/pi already gives a decimal or is not simplified at all. Using the sym() function from sym-menu helps sometimes but not for more complicated expressions
Bad Similarly, expressions with variables are only simplified in very simple cases
Equation solving:
Bad The expected problems with simplification
Bad Equations with parameter variables cannot be solved
Feature Equation systems (up to 3 equations), but maximal one solution is shown
Feature Specification of variable range, but only for equations in one variable
Differentiation and integration
Bad Only very simple integrals can be solved symbolically. Integrating e.g. Ln(x)², or 1/(1+x)^2 returns “undefined”
Specific multiple / nested operations, but special templates must be selected
Other calculus and analysis
Missing No min / max finding,
Bad Sums and products of sequences only numeric
Bad Limits only numeric
Feature Taylor series
Matrices and vectors
Feature Vector calculus
Statistics and probability
(I did not test this much)
Missing No plots
Feature Confidence interval calculations
Feature Many statistical tests
Feature Many probability distribution calculations
Feature Random number generators for normal, Poisson, binomial distributions
2D and 3D graphing​
Graph types:
Missing No parametric surfaces
Feature Implicit plots with high quality
Feature Spherical, and cylindrical graphs
Feature “Inverse” and implicit plots also for polar, spherical, and cylindrical coordinates
Feature Inequality plots
Feature Complex plots where real and imaginary parts are shown in two separate 3d graphs.
In these plots it is however difficult to relate real and imaginary part, especially since rotation is not linked.
Feature Many special functions like Error and Gamma function can be used for graphing
Display:
Good Both 2D and 3D graphs are high quality
Good 2D: Grid with major and minor lines that adapts to zoom by fading lines in and out
Missing No landscape orientation
Navigation:
Feature Independent scale of axes
Good Individual translation in coordinate directions
Good Individual scale of coordinate axes by using two-finger-pinch on the axis-controls, this is not documented!
Bad No translation perpendicular to view-direction
Missing 3D: No equal scale of axes. Two-finger zoom does not work to change the drawing area.
Analysis:
Bad Tracing works very poorly
Environment and user interface​
Variables and functions
Only x, y, z can be used as variables. Additionally, there are 5 memories, and 5 constants can be defined.
Feature User-defined functions
Input and output:
This is the only app where parts of expressions can be selected and copied in textbook notation. This generally works as expected but could be improved. Pasting at a specific location is inconvenient or impossible because long-tap triggers selection.
Missing No undo/redo
Feature Automatic calculation without tapping enter key
Good Keyboard is well designed for numeric calculations
Bad History limited to 10 calculations
Missing No import / export
Adaption and customization:
Good Multi-touch display zoom
Feature Scalable keyboard
Feature Custom colors for all UI elements
Documentation and source​
Missing No help document, only a few hints when using some features for the first time.

Casio fx-CG500 / ClassPad Emulator​
This emulator of Casio’s flagship CAS calculator is clearly one of the most comprehensive and powerful calculator apps.
However, it greatly suffer from emulation related problems, e.g.
Graphs cannot be navigated with multitouch and are low-resolution.
Input of expressions is very inconvenient since the physical keyboard is not emulated, and one has to switch between different virtual keyboards often, which requires much tapping, and the keys are very small on phones.
HP Prime Emulator​
This emulator of HP’s flagship CAS calculator is not quite as comprehensive and powerful as Casio’s.
It shares with it most of the emulation-related problems like low resolution. While it supports multi-touch and the hardware keyboard is emulated, the display area is much smaller than Casio’s.

Graphing Tools
GeoGebra​
This app stands out with exceptional 3D graphing (however there are problems with implicit surfaces).
2D graphing is also good, but tracing is missing.
It may also be used as a “general-purpose calculator”, however the keys are quite small on phones for quick calculations.
Numeric and symbolic calculation seems to be very well in general, but there are problems with simplification, and statistics, scientific constants, and unit conversion are missing.
The user interface is sophisticated and intuitive to use. However, a complete user guide is missing, and some things are not obvious.
Note that GeoGebra consists of several apps (mainly Graphing Calculator, 3D Calculator, CAS Calculator, and Geometry), that are available as a suite or singly.
Numeric and symbolic calculation​
Symbolic computation essentials:
Bad Some simple expressions are not simplified automatically, e.g., e^pi/e^(2pi), or e^x/e^(2x). The Simplify function does simplify them however.
Feature Factorization, expansion, substitution
Feature Domain constraints
Equation solving
Equation solving seems to be quite powerful in general, but there are some problems, e.g., sin(x)=x can only be solved numerically
Feature Equation systems
Feature Inequalities
Differentiation and integration
Good Symbolic integration is powerful, quite complicated elementary and nonelementary Integrals can be solved.
However there are sometimes problems with the simplification. (E.g., for the integral of x/(1+sin(x)), a very complicated expression is shown while the solution can be written much simpler. When differentiating the retuned solution, an even more complicated expression is shown, not the originally integrated expression)
Other calculus and analysis
Feature Taylor expansion
Feature First and second order ordinary differential equations solving, numeric and symbolic.
Matrices and vectors
Bad Matrices must be entered in linear form
Statistics and probability
Missing No statistics
Missing No regression
Feature Probability distribution calculator with graphical UI
Missing No base-n calculation
Missing No scientific constants and unit conversion
2D and 3D Graphing​
Graph types
Feature Implicit plots, however it does not draw more complicated implicit surfaces like 4*(x^2+y^2+z^2)+16*x*y*z = 1 (Cayley surface)
Feature Slope field plots for differential equations
Display
Feature 2D: Customizable grid with major and minor lines
Feature 3D: optional semitransparent x-y-plane and x-y-grid
Feature 3D: variable transparency and wireframe surfaces
Feature 3D: Orthographic and perspective projection
Feature Animation of parameter variables with sliders
Navigation
Feature 3D: Automatic (continued) rotation, parameters can be changed while the graph is rotating
Feature 3D: Augmented reality navigation
Analysis
Missing Tracing
Environment and user Interface​
Variables and functions:
Feature Custom-named variables for storing values and for use in symbolic computation
Feature User-defined functions that can be used in numeric and symbolic calculations
Feature Piecewise functions
Input and output:
Missing Parts of expressions cannot be selected and copied, only the whole input or result can be copied.
Feature Automatic calculation without tapping enter key
Feature GeoGebra is also available for iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, and as web interface. Documents from one device can be saved to the cloud and opened on another.
Adaption and customization:
Bad The keys are quite small for phones
Good Quite optimal for tablets
Documentation and source​
Missing No complete user guide. This is a real problem since some things are not obvious.
Feature Function / command reference with search (but not full-text) and examples
Bad Help is fetched from the internet on demand and takes sometimes long to load (several seconds)
Open Source GeoGebra is essentially open source and uses the open-source CAS Giac/Xcas.

Desmos Graphing Calculator​
This app stands out with very good 2D graphing and “flexible” regression.
However, it has no 3D graphing and no advanced calculation functionality (Desmos Scientific Calculator also has no advanced calculation functionality).
Good Navigation is intuitive and very smooth.
Feature Animation of parameter variables with sliders.
Feature Regression is not limited to fixed functions as in most other calculators. E.g., for a logarithmic model, not only the function y = a+b*ln(x) can be used, but additional parameters can be used, e.g., y = a+b*ln(x-c).
Feature Also available for iOS and as web interface. Documents from one device can be saved to the cloud and opened on another.
It is very easy to use and has a good user guide.
Grapher – Equation Plotter​
This is a good 2D and 3D graphing app, however it has important disadvantages against, for example, GeoGebra and the app by Philip Stephens, e.g.
No “textbook notation”, and no keys for functions like sin(), they must be typed letter by letter
No implicit surfaces
When navigating in 3D, the graphs are updated only after the fingers are lifted
Feature It can draw complex functions using domain-coloring. Also, it can draw both real and complex parts for functions of a real variable.
Visual Math 4D​
This app can produce beautiful 3D graphs, however it has important disadvantages against GeoGebra and the app by Philip Stephens, e.g.
Variable ranges cannot be changed by touch-navigation
Implicit surfaces are not reliably drawn, the algorithm seems not to adapt to the selected variable ranges
Feature It can draw 3D vector fields.
Graphing Calculator 3D​
This is a 3D graphing app under development. It cannot currently be recommended because e.g.
Variable ranges cannot be changed by touch-navigation
Only one graph can be drawn at a time
Problems with Implicit surfaces
For complex plots, only one component is drawn at a time
No “textbook notation”, and no keys for functions like sin(), they must be typed letter by letter

CAS Answer Engines
WolframAlpha​
This app stands out with exceptional calculation capabilities and the possibility to show in-depth information on mathematical (and other) definitions, concepts, and data.
Intermediate calculation steps can often be shown.
Graphing is very limited but still useful.
The user interface is unique in that natural language can often be used to input problems.
Numeric and symbolic calculation​
Symbolic computation essentials
Feature Factorization and expansion
Feature Assumptions
Equation solving:
Feature Equation systems
Feature Specification of variable ranges
Feature Inequalities
Differentiation and integration
Good Very difficult integrals can be calculated. If the result involves special functions, these can be defined
Other calculus and analysis:
BUG Finding minima and maxima: For some (even easy) problems, it returns not all solutions, e.g., for minimize sin(1/x), it returns x = -2/(277pi)
Feature Taylor expansion
Feature Differential equations solving
Matrices and vectors:
Feature Vector calculus
Statistics and probability:
Feature Histograms and box plots
Feature Confidence intervals calculations
Feature Many statistical tests
Feature Many probability distribution calculations
2D and 3D graphing​
Graph types:
Implicit plots, but more complicated implicit surfaces like 4*(x^2+y^2+z^2)+16*x*y*z = 1 (Cayley's cubic surface) cannot be drawn
Feature Complex plots, but not with domain-coloring
Display
Bad Plots are quite small and cannot be enlarged
Missing Navigation
Missing Analysis
Environment and user interface​
Bad Internet connection always required
Good Nevertheless, results appear very fast
Missing Values cannot be saved to variables
Feature Intermediate calculation steps
Input and output:
Missing No input in textbook notation (however the web interface at wolframalpha.com has this possibility).
Missing No undo/redo
Feature Quick info
Adaption and customization:
Missing No dark theme
Documentation and source​
User guide seems not necessary
Feature Very many useful examples

Advanced Learning Calculators
Please note that as I said in the introduction, I evaluate also these apps only for their ability to efficiently solve mathematical problems, not for their pedagogical values.
Symbolab​
This app stands out with powerful symbolic computation and an easy-to-use and quite efficient interface.
Equation solving seems to work well, and many difficult integral can be calculated.
Intermediate calculation steps can often be shown.
3D graphing is missing and 2D graphing very bad.
Numeric and symbolic calculation​
Missing Polar coordinates for complex numbers seem not to be supported
Symbolic computation essentials:
Feature Factorization and expansion
Equation solving:
Bad Some simple equations cannot be solved, e.g. sin(x) = x/2.
Good Apart from some cases (see above), equation solving seems to work very well, also for periodic functions
Feature Equation systems
Feature Inequalities
Differentiation and integration:
Good Symbolic integration seems to be powerful, quite complicated elementary and nonelementary Integrals can be solved.
(the complicated integral of x/(1+sin(x)) is not well simplified)
Other calculus and analysis:
Bad Minima and maxima often cannot be calculated, e.g. for sin(1/x)
Missing For infinite sums, it only returns if it converges, not the value, e.g. for 1/n².
Feature Taylor expansion
Feature Differential equation solving
Missing No random numbers and prime factorization
Statistics and probability:
Missing Only one-variable statistics, no data editor
Missing Regression
Missing No Scientific constants and unit conversion
2D and 3D graphing​Missing No 3D graphing.
Missing Most important 2D graphing features are missing. Graphs are not always correctly drawn (try sin(1/x)). Navigation is juddery and inconvenient. Input of functions in the list does not work well.
There is also a separate app called Symbolab Graphing Calculator, but it does not work better.
Environment and user interface​
Bad Internet connection always required
Good Nevertheless, results appear very fast
Missing Values cannot be saved to variables
Feature Intermediate calculation steps
Input and output:
The keyboard is quite well designed for phones and leaves a large area for the display. The fly-out keys work well.
Missing No copy and paste
Missing No undo/redo
Feature There is also an iOS app and a web interface. Problems can be synced across devices.
Adaption and customization:
Missing Display text size not adjustable
Documentation and source​
Missing No complete user guide
Feature Very many useful examples

Maple Calculator​
This app stands out with powerful symbolic computation and an easy-to-use and quite efficient interface.
Complicated integrals can be calculated, but there are sometimes problems with simplification. There are significant bugs and problems with equation solving. No calculation of minima and maxima.
Intermediate calculation steps can often be shown.
Graphing is very limited but still useful.
Numeric and symbolic calculation​
Symbolic computation essentials
Bad Expressions are not always displayed in the simplest form, e.g., for 2x^2=pi, it shows the positive solution as √(2)√(pi)/2 instead of √(pi/2) (although in the solution steps, it shows ±√(pi/2) as “intermediate step”)
Equation solving:
BUG Equations involving periodic functions are not correctly solved, e.g., for sin(x)=1/2, only one solutions is shown (i.e., not even all solutions between 0 and pi are shown), for sin(1/x)=0, it shows the empty set as solution
Feature Equation systems
Feature Inequalities
Differentiation and integration:
Good Powerful symbolic integration, nonelementary integrals can be solved with special functions, but no further information is given and no graph is shown. There are sometimes problems with simplification, e.g. for x/(1+sin(x)).
Other calculus and analysis:
Missing No minima and maxima finding
Feature Differential equation solving
Missing No base-n calculation
Missing No random numbers and prime factorization
Statistics and probability:
Missing No data editor
Missing No regression
Missing No scientific constants and unit conversion
2D and 3D Graphing​
Missing Only one 3D graph can be drawn at a time (in 2D, multiple functions must be entered in a vector)
Graph types:
Missing No polar plots, not parametric plots
Display
Missing No custom colors
Navigation
Missing Ratio of axes scale is set by the app and cannot be changed
Missing 3D: No complete navigation, graphs are drawn in a fixed variable range that cannot be adjusted
Missing No analysis features
Environment and user interface​
Bad Internet connection required for most calculations. Even for the simplest problems, it takes about 1 second until the results are shown, sometimes a bit longer.
Missing Values cannot be saved to variables
Feature Intermediate calculation steps
Input and output:
Good The keyboard is well designed for phones. It is quite efficient to use while leaving a large area for the display.
Missing No copy and paste (although there is a special mechanism to select parts of expressions)
Feature Automatic calculation without enter, even graphs are shown and updated automatically.
Feature Quick Info
Missing No history
Bad When the app is closed, previous calculation is not restored
Feature Calculations can be copied to desktop Maple (did not test this)
Adaption and customization:
Missing Text size cannot be adjusted
Missing No dark mode
Bad Sometimes the app enters fullscreen mode for no reason
Documentation and source​
Missing No user guide, just a FAQ that cannot be searched

Graphing Calculator + Math​
This app stands out with very good (although not optimal) 2D graphing, quite good 3D graphing, and some useful user interface features that are missing from most or all other apps.
Its calculation capabilities are quite limited however (e.g., simplifications are often not done, more complicated equations cannot be solved, no symbolic integration).
While the user interface has very useful features, it also has significant inconveniences.
The user manual is comprehensive and excellent for people just learning math.
Numeric and symbolic calculation​
Symbolic computation essentials:
Bad Limited calculation with exact values (e.g., logarithms are always evaluated numerically)
Bad Limited simplification, e.g. e^(x+1)/e is not simplified
(however, it simplifies 2x/(x^2-1)-1/(x-1) which Hiper does not simplify)
Feature Polynomials are displayed in both expanded and factored form
Equation solving:
Bad Equations involving periodic functions cannot be solved symbolically
Bad Equations with parameter variables cannot be solved
Feature Inequalities
Differentiation and integration
Bad For symbolic differentiation the simplification problems are an issue, e.g., the derivative of ln(√x) is given as 1/(2x^(1/2)* √x) instead of 1/(2x).
Missing No symbolic integration
Other calculus and analysis:
Bad Sums and products of sequences only numeric
Bad Limits only numeric
Statistics and probability
Missing Only 1 variable statistics, no data editor
Missing Only linear regression
Missing No bit-operations
2D and 3D graphing​
Missing In 3D, only one graph can be shown at a time
Feature Multiple workspaces
Graph types:
Feature Implicit plots in 2D and 3D.
Good Also more complicated implicit surfaces can be drawn, e.g. 4*(x^2+y^2+z^2)+16*x*y*z = 1 (Cayley's surface), which GeoGebra does not draw. However, Scientific Calculator by Philip Stephens draws implicit surfaces in much better quality.
Display
3D: Perspective projection only
3D surfaces display: Wireframe only
Navigation
Feature Independent scale of axes in 2D, well implemented.
Missing No simultaneous pan and zoom with 2 fingers
3D: Complete navigation, but not very efficient (and unusual)
Analysis
Good Tracing is well implemented, also “reverse” tracing with a horizontal line
Environment and user interface​
Variables and functions:
Feature Custom-named variables
Feature User-defined functions that can be used in numeric and symbolic calculations
Input and output
Bad Much functionality is hidden behind unlabeled keys (e.g., for integrals and derivatives, long-tap the x^n key!)
Missing Input of expressions in linear notation (simultaneously, they are displayed in textbook notation, which can also be tapped to position the cursor). The advantage over most other calculators is that parts of expressions can be selected and copied at least in this way.
Bad Very limited undo
Feature It has a limited “notebook interface” where elements can be rearranged and comments can be added.
Feature Multiple workspaces, however all variables and functions are shared
Adaption and customization:
The keys are quite small for phones (the keyboard can “resized” to fewer, larger keys, but then important functionality is missing).
Bad User interface does not adapt to different screen sized and orientations
Documentation and source​
Good The user manual is really comprehensive and excellent for people just learning math, available online and as PDF.

Photomath, ​
Mathway, ​
Microsoft Math Solver​
These apps are similar to Symbolab and Maple Calculator (they also recognize problems from photos and show step-by-step solutions), however their calculation capabilities seem to be more limited, as the following comparison shows.
SymbolabMaplePhotomathMathwayMicrosoftsolve sin(1/x) = 0correct not simplifiedwrong (empty set)xxcorrectsolve ln(x) = -xcorrectcorrectxcorrectxsolve sin(x) = x/2xonly 1 solutionxcorrectxsolve ln(x*y) = y*ln( y) for xcorrectcorrect not simplifiedxcorrect not simplifiedcorrectintegrate (e^x+1)/(e^x-1)correctcorrect not simplifiedcorrectxxintegrate x/ln(x)correctcorrectxxxintegrate 1/(1+sin(x))correctcorrectcorrectxcorrectintegrate x/(1+sin(x))correct not simplifiedcorrect not simplifiedxxx
HiEdu Scientific Calculator,​
Scientific Calculator He-580​
These apps may be good for learning math, however their capabilities are very limited, e.g.:
No symbolic computation
The equation solver can only give one solution
Graphing is limited to simple polynomials
Also, they hide status bar and action bar, and there seems no way to show them permanently.

Advanced calculators of other types
MATLAB Mobile​
This app allows to create and execute MATLAB scripts in the cloud.
Feature MATLAB is a full-featured programming language, extensive numeric and symbolic calculation functionality is available, and 2D and 3D graphs can be created (but not navigated).
The standard editor seems to work well and provides a custom keyboard, autocompletion, and syntax highlighting.
A command-line is also available.
Feature For tablets, a “notebook interface” is also available, where the code is placed on an interactive document together with the calculation results, graphics, and formatted text.
While this concept is optimal for longer complicated calculations, the app has serious issues with this currently. E.g., a stable internet connection seems to be always required while editing, the cursor cannot be moved with the arrow keys, and when text is selected, the keyboard disappears.
Already for working with the standard editor, the dependence on the cloud may be a disadvantage of course. Even with Wi-Fi, the connection gets lost from time to time, and one has to wait until the program is executed, or until one can continue editing.
Maxima on Android​
This is the long-established open-source computer algebra system Maxima (with roots going back to the 1960s) with a command-line interface.
Sadly, it was not updated since 2018, while Maxima is under continuous further development.
Features include
Autocompletion of commands
Results in LaTeX
2D and 3D graphs using Gnuplot (which cannot be navigated however )
User guide for Android and complete Maxima manual
Xcas Pad​
This is the open-source computer algebra system Xcas/Giac with a command-line interface.
Compared to Maxima, it lacks graphing and a user manual (a command reference is available).
Note that GeoGebra is based on Xcas/Giac.
micro Mathematics​
This is a calculator app with a “notebook interface”:
Feature Definitions of variables and functions, calculations, 2D and 3D graphs, text, and images can be placed on an interactive document.
While this concept is optimal for longer complicated calculations, the interface of the app is quite inefficient. For example, to enter sin(x)^2+1, you have to
Type sin(x
Long-tap sin
Type ^2
Long-tap sin
Tap the “expand selection” button
Type +1
(This could admittedly be done more efficiently by starting with the outermost operator, i.e. + in this case. But note that when modifying an expression, e.g. adding a summand, this will not work.)
The calculation and graphing capabilities are quite limited:
No symbolic calculation.
The equation solver cannot find more than one solution and does not work reliably.
Graphs cannot be navigated by touch, the variable ranges, and view angles for 3D, must be typed.
The z-range for 3D plot cannot be defined.
No implicit plots.
A good user manual is available.
Open Source, see here.
DYsolve Math Solver​
This is another calculator app with a “notebook interface”.
While expressions are typed in standard linear notation, which is faster than the method of micro Mathematics, there are serious problems currently, e.g.
Selecting, editing, placing and moving elements does not work well, and sometimes not at all
A bug on newer devices, the whole screen becomes blue sometimes and working on is not possible
The keys are very small on phones
The calculation and graphing capabilities are quite limited as well. I has a numeric solver for equation systems and ordinary differential equations (I did not test this), however
No symbolic calculation
3D graphs can be navigated using sliders only, which is inefficient, and view changes are not persisted
Z-range for 3D plot cannot be defined.
No implicit plots.
It is stated that it supports if/else blocks and for and while loops, however this is not described in the help and I did not find examples.
The app is aimed at engineering students, and there are worksheets for example problems available online.
I will include screenshots when the user interface is improved.
SMath Studio​
This is a further calculator app with a “notebook interface”.
It seems to support differential equation solving and programming, however the user interface is very limited, and I could not find out how to enter more complicated expressions.
TechCalc Scientific Calculator​
This is a uniquely comprehensive “multi-function calculator” with many specialized calculation modes for mathematical, scientific, engineering, and financial applications.
Feature It includes many important mathematical, mechanical, electrical, chemical, financial, and other formulas, ready for calculation. Further custom formulas can be added.
Feature It also has reference sections, e.g. differentiation & integration rules, statistics formulas, the periodic table, etc.
Feature There are several further useful features, it is appropriately called a "Swiss Army Knife".
While it has some advanced functionality like symbolic integration and 3D graphing, it is in general unsuitable for advanced mathematics:
The calculation functionality is distributed over many modes and sub-modes, e.g. for symbolic derivatives, numeric derivatives, symbolic integrals, numeric integrals, limits, etc.
Expressions involving derivatives, integrals etc. are not supported, so that for example the divergence or curl of a vector field cannot be calculated in one step.
Similarly, the graphing functionality is distributed so that for example a function graph and an implicit graph cannot be plotted together.
Further, textbook-style input is not supported, and editing expressions is inconvenient: To make changes in places other than the end, one must switch to an “edit mode” by long-tap, and switch back again before the result can be shown.
The interface is idiosyncratic, but well-organized comprehensive help is included.
Scientific Calculator Scalar​
This is a calculator app with a command-line interface, some advanced calculation features, some scripting functionality, and limited 2D graphing.
Feature Advanced calculation features:
Expressions can be saved to variables (“arguments”) and reference each other
Functions can be defined and can reference each other, also recursively
Variadic and piecewise functions can be defined
Sums and products with conditionals
“rep” statement for repetition with a fixed range of variable values
“if” function for simple alternatives
Very many special functions, like gamma, log-gamma, and digamma function, error function, etc.
Prime-counting function using the sieve of Eratosthenes, and approximations
Arbitrary-base numbers
Random variables for different ranges and distributions
Feature Scripts can be created, and the editor works well. However, the possibilities are quite limited since there are no flexible loops, no GOTO, and control structures cannot be nested.
Feature 2D graphing is well suited for discrete functions.
Otherwise, the calculation and graphing capabilities are quite limited:
No symbolic calculation
The equation solver cannot find more than one solution
Graphs cannot be navigated by touch, the variable ranges must be typed
(they can be zoomed and then moved by touch, but are not recalculated by this)
Only 3 functions can be drawn at a time
No parametric and implicit plots
No 3D graphing
The keyboard is quite well designed, with scrollable key rows. It is efficient for phones while leaving a large display area. However, it does not adapt to tablets.
The app is easy to use, and there are many in-app hints, examples, video tutorials, and a long user manual, which is quite repetitive however.
Source The expression parser is open source, see here.

Intermediate scientific and graphing calculators
I use the feature list for basic scientific calculators as baseline here (scroll down this post).
Graphing Calculator – Algeo​
This app has a simple user interface but some advanced features like 2D graphing.
The textbook-notation input and the always visible calculation history are very convenient.
Calculation:
Missing Random numbers, prime factorization, lcm
Feature Fractions
Feature Complex numbers
Feature Very limited equation solver (returns NaN for sin(x) = 1 and 1/x = -1)
Feature Symbolic differentiation, Numeric integration, Taylor series
Feature One variable statistics
Feature Calculation with units and unit conversion
Feature scientific constants
Graphing:
Feature 2D cartesian, polar, and parametric plots with tracing
Memories/variables, functions:
Bad Only 4 memories, saving is inconvenient
Input and output:
Feature Input in textbook notation
Feature Automatic calculation without tapping enter key
Number formatting:
Missing No custom number of decimal places
Jade Scientific Calculator​
This is another app with a simple user interface but some advanced features.
The textbook-notation input and the always visible calculation history are very convenient.
It has some useful customization options.
Calculation:
Missing Random numbers, prime factorization, gcd, lcm
Feature Calculation with exact expressions like fraction, roots, pi
Feature Simplification of expressions with variables
Feature Numeric and symbolic differentiation and integration,
1/(1+sin(x)), but not others
but no equation solving
Feature Complex numbers (rectangular)
Feature Scientific constants
Input and output:
Feature Input in textbook notation
Number formatting
Missing No custom number of decimal places
Adaption and customization
Feature Different keyboard sizes
Missing No user guide, and some things are not obvious
Graphing Calculator (X84)​
This app is designed to closely resemble the TI-84, while making use of the touch-interface of Android devices.
It seems to do this really well, but graphing could be implemented better.
Also, it seems to include virtually all functionality of the TI-84 calculators, including programming in TI-BASIC (but not Python).
Calculation:
Feature Complex numbers
Feature Calculation with fractions
Feature Base-n calculation
Feature Numeric equation solving (1 real variable)
Feature Numeric differentiation and integration
Feature Numeric minima and maxima finding
Feature Sums and products of sequences
Feature Matrix calculation
Feature Base-n calculation: conversion and bitwise operations for bases 2 to 16
Feature One and two variable statistics with histograms
Feature Statistical tests
Feature Probability distributions
Feature Confidence intervals
Feature Regression with plots
Feature Unit conversion
Feature Scientific constants
Graphing:
Feature 2D cartesian, polar, and parametric plots with tracing
Bad No equal-axes-zoom, no simultaneous pan and zoom with 2 fingers
Bad Quality is unnecessarily low (visible for functions like sin(1/x))
Bad Grid not adapting well to zoom
Programming
Feature TI-BASIC
Memories/variables, functions
Feature Saving expressions
Input and output:
Feature Input in textbook notation
Feature Undo & Redo
Bad Status bar is hidden and cannot be shown permanently
Feature Function / command reference
Class Calc Graphing & Statistics​
This app has a quite sophisticated interface, and statistics and regression seem to be implemented well.
However, it has serious bugs and problems, e.g.:
For the derivative of e^x, it returns something like (1196457)^-x*(32535443)^x (a fraction-approximation of e^x)
For the integral of 1/(1+sin(x)) it incorrectly returns ln(1+sin(X))
It seems not possible to solve equations
No complex numbers
Zooming of graphs does not work well
The web interface has the same problems.
NumWorks Emulator​
This is an emulator of a good intermediate scientific graphing calculator, however it is quite inconvenient since it supports input over the emulated keyboard only.
Scientific Calculator Advanced​
This app has some advanced features like 2D graphing, matrix calculations, and equation solving. However, the user interface is inconvenient for this functionality. Also the status bar is hidden and cannot be shown permanently.
Taculator Graphing Calculator​
This is another app designed to closely resemble the TI-84.
Serious problems are immediately evident:
Lag between tapping a key and the reaction, getting worse with using the app (restarting helps)
Entering 2π gives 23.1415…
2D graphing: when zooming, the graphs are not recalculated, so that they get jaggy.
(The iPhone version has fewer problems.)
Also, the lifetime Pro version costs $64 (against $2 / $4 for the best apps).

Basic scientific calculators​
I use the feature list for basic scientific calculators as baseline here (scroll down this post).
ChampCalc Scientific Calculator​
This is a very sophisticated and customizable basic scientific calculator.
Memory/variable management is better than in most advanced calculators. Also, it has advanced base-n calculation and a large and well-organized library of units and scientific constants. There is a comprehensive user guide.
Calculation:
Missing gcd, lcm
Feature Fractions
Feature Advanced base-n calculation for different integer sizes
Feature Complex numbers
Feature One variable statistics
Feature Many scientific constants
Feature Many unit conversions
Feature Large numbers and high precision with up to 100 decimals of significand
Memories/variables, functions:
Feature Memory and variables manager
Feature Storage of expressions
Input and output:
Feature Syntax highlighting and highlight of matching brackets
Feature Automatic calculation without tapping enter key
Number formatting
Feature Repeated decimals
Feature Quick info with prime factorization and value as fraction, mixed, DMS, Roman, BIN, OCT, HEX
Adaption and customization:
Feature Many useful settings like long-tap time
Feature Many high-quality themes and custom colors
Panecal Scientific Calculator​
This app may be very efficient for longer simple calculations.
In contrast to most other apps, parts of expressions can be selected and copied.
Calculation:
Missing Random numbers, prime factorization, gcd, lcm
Feature Base-n calculation
Feature Many scientific constants
Feature Many unit conversions
Input and output
Feature Parts of expressions can be selected and copied
Feature Large multi-line display
Scientific Calculator by CalcTastic​
This is a quite sophisticated basic scientific calculator with advanced base-n calculation and a stack-interface.
The always visible history is convenient, however, the cursor cannot be moved within the input, and copy and paste seems not to work, so previous calculations cannot be modified.
Calculation
Missing Prime factorization, gcd, lcm
Feature Advanced base-n bitwise and bit operations for different integer sizes
Feature Calculation with fractions
Feature Complex numbers
Feature One variable statistics
Feature Unit conversion
Feature Scientific constants
Memories/variables, functions
Missing Variables cannot be used in expressions (only value inserted)
Input and output
Missing Copy and paste does not work
Bad History, but inputs cannot be modified
Adaption and customization
Feature Special keyboard layout for tablets
Feature Many high-quality themes
MathsApp Graphing / Scientific Calculator​
This is a quite sophisticated scientific calculator with some advanced features.
The always visible history is convenient, however the keyboard seems to be unnecessarily small.
The price for the full version is quite high comparably.
Calculation
Feature Advanced base-n calculation for different integer sizes
Feature Complex numbers
Feature One variable statistics and Probability distributions
Feature Matrix calculation
Feature Scientific constants
Graphing:
Feature 2D cartesian and polar plots with display of coordinates of intersections, zeros, extrema, but no tracing
Feature Import / export of history
Adaption and customization
Missing No light theme
RealCalc Scientific Calculator​
This is a basic old-style one-line scientific calculator. Its more “advanced” features include result history, 10 memories, unit conversion and physical constants, and fraction calculation.

reserved

If this review was helpful to you, I would appreciate if you would check out App Finder.
The review was in this form only possible with it, and it will enable the creation of comprehensive reviews of other kinds of apps, by me or by other people.
Further, App Finder can help anyone to find Android apps with specific features easy, fast, and reliably, as I show here and in the following post. This will also help the developers of innovative high-quality apps that are not yet very popular.
Note that I provide this review and possible future reviews for free and without ads, and the essential functionality of App Finder is also free and without ads.
However, operating App Finder is quite expensive (since Google does not provide an API, the data must be scraped regularly, a page for each about 2.4 million apps for 180 countries = 430 million pages, plus more pages do discover new apps, which is about 73 TB of data. Further, a high-performance database server is needed to handle the search queries), and the creation of App Finder and this review obviously took a lot of time.
Therefore, I would appreciate a review on Google Play and the purchase of an App Finder Plus license, it would contribute to the operation and improvement of App Finder and the creation of other innovative high-quality software.

Related

Please note that this roundup contains a LOT of tips and tricks never published elsewhere. That is, if you already own a WordNet-based application and don't want to switch, you still want to read the roundup because you may learn a LOT of new tricks and tips (for example, using some of the features present in your application, updating it etc.)
WordNet is a well-known (please do read this Wiki entry to see what WordNet is all about and how it compares to other dictionary databases if you don’t know what it’s about) project is getting better and better and, now, in 2006, really high-quality, useful and pleasing dictionaries can be constructed based on it.
For example, while the MobileTechReview Palm OS dictionary roundup, in 2003, still found the value of WordNet-based dictionaries questionable, times have indeed changed. Now, WordNet-based dictionaries can be very useful, particularly when you compare the wealth of information stored in them to, say, the Pocket Oxford Dictionary of English (the dictionary most alternate Pocket PC dictionaries are based on). The latter, now, is clearly worse than the WordNet database - not only because of the links between the words, but also because of the vast differences in the vocabulary size and the size of the description of each word.
Also, WordNet is far better than most other, publicly available, free word dictionaries. For example, one of the often-used databases, OPTED, is a public domain version of Webster's 1913 Unabridged English dictionary. That is, about 100 years old – this, unfortunately, also means it’s pretty outdated. Wiktionary isn’t the best either (yet?). Its main strength lies (as opposed to WordNet) in not English-language explanations of English words and expressions, but in multilingual links and translations. That is, it’s of little use for someone that only needs English explanations.
Note that it’s up to you whether you find WordNet useful and better than, say, the excellent American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language (which also has a Pocket PC version). Most people do, but there may be exceptions. If you don’t, don’t read this roundup further but wait for the next parts – in here, I will only review Pocket PC dictionaries solely based on WordNet and will only review dictionaries based on other databases in further parts of the series. This article is only the first in a series of a roundup of all (notable) Pocket PC dictionaries (including both English and bilingual ones). (Actually, I’ve already written most of the other roundups too but wanted to separate strictly WordNet-based dictionaries into a separate article to keep the complexity and the “information overloading factor” down.)
On the Pocket PC, there are ten notable WordNet implementations (or front-ends – again, they all use the same database and, therefore, there are only differences only in the user interface, its capabilities and additional features). In this roundup, I review and compare them all.
Please note that it’s in the comparison chart that most of the (comparative) feature information and screenshots (there are some 200 of them!) can be found. In the following list of the reviewed applications, I’ll be pretty terse. Check out the comparison cart (and the explanation for it) for really extended information.
UPDATE (08/29/2006): Part II of this series can be found here.
The official desktop Windows WordNet client
Anyone who used the official, free desktop Windows WordNet client knows how bad it is. It lacks even the most basic wildcard searching capabilities (it only supports substring searches) and doesn’t even provide links with related words. Are the Pocket PC, WordNet-based implementations any better, you may (rightfully) ask.
Fortunately, even the worst Pocket PC implementation is much better in almost every respect (links, advanced searching capabilities).
Incidentally, there is also a Web interface to the WordNet database, assuming you just want to run some Web-based lookups.
(Some additional screenshots of the desktop client using the definition of “charm”: Definition of word "charm" in the Windows (official) client; Related nouns; Related verbs; Noun hypernyms. It’s worth comparing these screenshots to those I’ve provided with every Pocket PC-based WordNet front-end to see how those applications render the same information.)
AbsoluteWord / RoadLingua WordNet 4.0.7
I had high expectations before starting to use this client. The developer is well-known for some of their quality (“UltraLingua”) databases also used by, for example, Paragon in one of their German dictionaries also available on the Pocket PC.
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"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
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Unfortunately, this title was really disappointing. It not only lacks advanced functionalities, but also completely gets rid of even the basic inter-word connections (except for synonyms). In this respect, it’s clearly worse than anything else on the market. It’s a very bad buy for the price, I would say. Certainly not recommended.
A quick note on installation: if you download the CAB file (instead of the desktop-based installer EXE), you’ll also need to separately download the RoadLingua viewer available here.
WordBook 3.6 b50612 by TranCreative
As opposed to the AbsoluteWord / RoadLingua WordNet, this application turned out to be one of the best WordNet front-ends. It has really powerful add-on capabilities, which really make using the WordNet database fun. It’s, in my opinion, only Lexisgoo that is better, feature-wise.
Note that the same developer has been developing Magic Button, probably the best, highly recommended, free (!!!!) task manager for the Pocket PC.
MDict 2.1.3 by Octopus Studio
This free, not well-known but really worthy dictionary is pretty good, as long as you don’t need to look up the additional WordNet relationships (that is, there are no hyponyms / hypernyms / antonyms), wildcard searching, studying support, pronunciation or non-open-class words (the latter two can be found in alternate, free dictionary databases, easily desployable and usable under MDict). It supports additional databases (not as well as SlovoEd), of which there are quite a few (all public domain-based: OPTED, Moby Thesaurus etc.) The multiple database support, albeit not as sophisticated as that of SlovoEd, is a definite plus with the application. In addition, it’s the only application to have a desktop-based dictionary converter/creator tool, “Mdx file builder”, if you want to create your own dictionaries.
It has pretty good (similar to Lexisgoo and WordBook), text selection & icon-based word lookup capabilities usable in other applications. They are much better than those of most other applications.
Note that if you have more than one dictionary database files and want to avoid adding them one-by-one in Library / Open Library, you can just add them with Library / Add All Library File to List.
I really recommend this title because of the availability of multiple dictionary databases (which you can create yourself too), the speed and the easiness of word lookup from other applications. All this if you don’t need the additional relationship information stored in the WordNet database or wildcard lookup, that is.
Compared to the other free title, WordNetCE, this title certainly excels at speed, the size of the database and multiple database support. It, however, doesn’t have any kind of wildcard search capabilities (one of the main strengths of WordNetCE) and doesn’t display the WordNet relationship (which is a real letdown). If you don’t need these, however, go for it – you won’t regret your choice.
Lexisgoo English Dictionary by PPCLink
This dictionary, feature-wise, is clearly the best WordNet front-end. It’s a real pleasure to use.
Note that the other, just (in July) released dictionaries of PPCLink include the Concise Oxford Duden German Dictionary and the Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary, which will be reviewed in a later part of this series.
PocketGenius 3.0 by Maction Technologies, Inc.
This (unfortunately, except for some capabilities like full in-text searching, pretty mediocre) dictionary engine has a LOT of additional, mostly Chinese- (and, to a lesser degree, Japanese-) centric dictionary databases available here (Chinese!) (Babelfish "translation" here).
Of them, some English-English dictionaries (including a WordNet 1.x-based, and, therefore, really outdated compared to WordNet 2.0, which all the other tested apps / databases are based on) can be found in the Dictionaries section. Note that, in order to make downloading English dictionaries easier (Babelfished pages don’t offer downloading capabilities), you will want to go to the original page and look for dictionaries that have the
icon next to them. As far as downloading the WordNet dictionary is concerned, go here and click the
icon.
As has already been pointed out, the dictionary engine is pretty mediocre and only recommended for Chinese (Japanese) speakers. English-only folks or people looking for English to/from other non-oriental language dictionaries should look elsewhere – there are much cheaper and better alternates. The (very few) English dictionaries that can be useful for non-Chinese speakers are pretty outdated (particularly the WordNet-based one).
Note that it’s because of the uselessly old WordNet version that I’ve disqualified this product in the Verdict (while, of course, I’ve included all the necessary information in the comparison chart.)
TomeRaider3 3.2.00
TomeRaider (please read this review of the latest version; in there, I’ve thoroughly compared it to other dictionaries in general) is a pretty good, albeit, in some respects, incapable and buggy book reader engine.
Unfortunately, its WordNet database is one of the databases that lack extended relationship information. Because of this (and a lot of other reasons, which the advantages – for example, the full in-text searching capabilities – of the engine can’t really outweigh), I don’t really recommend this engine either for strictly WordNet-based work (note that this has nothing to do with Wikipedia reading; for that, it’s TomeRaider3 that I recommend the most).
SlovoEd 2005 by Paragon
Along with the Merriam-Webster Collegiate talking dictionary with extended thesaurus (which is, as you may have guessed, based on the Merriam-Webster Collegiate database), Paragon, well-known for their language extenders and dictionaries, also offers a WordNet-based dictionary. The former costs $49.95 with the 10 000-word speech module, the latter $29.95. By leaving out the speech module you can save $10. (Note that the speech-less WordNet dictionary is promised to contain the 14 665-entry Acronym dictionary by Hein van Steenis (which can also be purchased separately for $5.95). I, however, couldn’t find this module in the trial version (the lack of it may be an oversight on the part of Paragon).)
Advantages of the SlovoEd engine
SlovoEd’s main strength lies in the engine’s ability to use several dictionaries at the same time – in a much more sophisticated way than, say, BEIK's BDicty (another engine that supports several databases used by the same engine). Under the same engine (that is, a single executable file), you can have any number of databases. This approach is vastly superior to that of, say, LingvoSoft. The latter uses separate executables for all the different databases. This not only takes up more storage (the executable .EXE file, as the different database instances don’t share them, needs to be had multiple times in the storage) and adds a lot of icons (if you install a handful of dictionaries on your PDA), but also makes it impossible to implement any kind of interaction between these dictionary databases.
In handling several databases at once is the definite, unmatched advantage of the SlovoEd engine no other database engine provides. If you install more than one database of the same language (pair), you will have access to all the information in them at the same time, unlike with any other applications with more than one databases.
For example, sticking with English, you can deploy (if you are ready to pay for them both) both the WordNet and the Merriam-Webster database on your PDA (along with other languages, if you like). Then, the Dictionary Direction menu in the main menu will be something similar to this. Here, English - English (3/3) means, after clicking the Details button (or if you just go to if English is active) that there are two official dictionaries and your user dictionary. You can freely (de)activate any of them and/or move up/down the priority list (if you prefer one of them to be presented results from first) in this dialog.
Real-world examples showing the strength of this all
First, the number of searchable items is increased if you activate more than one dictionary. For example, the Webster dictionary contains these words starting with ‘slow’, while the WordNet dictionary these (second page). As can be seen, there are a lot of words in both dictionaries that aren’t present in the other: for example, slowcoach, slower, slowest in WordNet and slow-footed in Webster. If you don’t activate both dictionaries at the same time, you won’t be able to search for the words not accessible in the currently active one. However, if you do activate both of them (as is the default if you install them both), all words from both dictionary databases will be visible and searchable as can be seen in here. Yes, slow-footed (only contained by Webster) and slower/est (only contained by WordNet) are all here.
Upon a search for a word that is present in both dictionary databases, you can easily switch between the results contained by both of them – separately. You only need to use the
and
icons to switch between them like in here and here (where the results for ‘slow’ is shown for both dictionaries). (Note that the icons will be grayed out when not accessible.) This is much easier than with other dictionaries – even with ones that support using more than one database in the same executable. For example, check out the BDicty section on how complicated it is in there to get the descriptions out of more than one database at a time.
As you’ll see in later parts, scrutinizing multilingual dictionaries, this will be a definite advantage with other languages too. For example, German, Russian and some other languages have more than one SlovoEd-compliant database. You can maximize your effectiveness by accessing them all at the same time. (An example of German: words around ‘abberufen’. With the two dictionaries (UltraLingua and Arsenal) available, the full list is like this; with Arsenal only this and with UltraLingua this. As can clearly be seen, access to multiple databases at the same time is a definite advantage.
Also, it’s the only engine that allows for adding individual, searchable records (not to be mistaken for simple notes). User-added records are treated and displayed the same way as “official” ones – that is, you can even search for them.
Finally, another real strength of the application is the (English-only) sound engine, which isn’t a synthesized one but contains human speech. This also means excellent quality and no pronunciation problems (unlike with all synthesized speech). It isn’t particularly cheap and “only’ contains 5/10/20 000 words (depending on the version you purchase) but is much-much better than any synthesizer-based engine.
… and the cons…
Unfortunately, the SlovoEd engine also has some drawbacks compared to Lexisgoo and WordBook, the two best WordNet-only dictionary apps. For example, it contains no pronunciation information (in the WordNet database; the Webster database does have it but it must be purchased separately and uses non-IPA pronunciation notation), it contains no non-open-class words, no anagrams, no user notes, its study support is much weaker than that of Lexisgoo / WordBook (and doesn’t support the real VGA mode, not even in the latest version, unlike all the other WordNet apps.)
Version differences
The WordNet version comes with release 5 of SlovoEd 2005. Much as I haven’t spotted any differences between it and the latest, release 9 of SlovoEd 2005, you may still want to upgrade it to the latest version. Note that, under operating systems prior to WM5, you will get the “not a valid Windows CE setup file” message upon trying to install the CAB file. In this cases, you can just extract the 0SlovoEd.001 file from the CAB file, rename it to SlovoEd.exe and just overwrite the old version on your Pocket PC with it (it’s in \Program Files\SlovoEd by default; you can safely relocate it to anywhere else, as has also been pointed out in the comparison chart).
Unlike with, say, BDicty, the new engine can’t be downloaded from the developer’s site. You can either get it directly from my database back-end or by downloading for example the .exe]English-Estonian, English-Hungarian or English-Russian talking Gold (this contains “MultiLex” engine, which is exactly the same as SlovoEd 2005, except for being 2 hours newer and having some different bytes in the EXE file) dictionaries, starting them but canceling the installation right before the programs are installed on your PDA and getting the CAB file from c:\Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync\SlovoEd\ SlovoEdPPC.ARM.CAB - or, by just installing the engine itself and nothing else: just untick the non-engine checkboxes in the desktop installer as can be seen for example in here.
Again, as has been pointed out, I couldn’t find any differences between version 5 and 9. However, you may run into significantly older engines, for example if you install other languages. For example, in some German dictionaries directly linked from Handango, I’ve found the 3.5-year-old version 3.0.1 engine, which is really-really outdated and should be avoided. In these cases, you will really want to update. (Paragon’s not updating the engine in their products is a bit problematic!)
Verdict
If you plan to purchase both the Merriam-Webster and the WordNet database OR you want an excellent (non-synthesized) speech engine, you will want to check out the SlovoEd version first. Access to several databases at the same time, the killer feature, is really worth the higher price (and the lack of goodies like anagram support).
If you, on the other hand, only plan to utilize the WordNet database and don’t care about the speech, you may want to give a try to “real” WordNet-only dictionary applications first (Lexisgoo or WordBook). Their additional features (anagrams, pronunciation info etc.) may appeal to you better.
Lextionary 2.4 by Revolutionary Software Front
I had very high expectations of this application – after all, it has been developed by the author of PalmGB, a WinCE / Pocket PC port of Marat Fayzullin's well-known Virtual GameBoy emulator, which, back in the WinCE times, was the best Nintendo GameBoy (Color) emulator.
Unfortunately, after thoroughly testing and comparing it to the alternatives, I was pretty dissatisfied with Lextionary. It’s clearly less powerful (and less colorful – this is what one notices at once) than most of the other alternatives.
Note that the same developer has also been developing Lexipedia, a Wikipedia port currently with 550,000 articles and reflecting the August 2005 state of the Wikipedia database. Also, they have a Pocket PC port of the Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. I’ll compare both of them to the alternates in my forthcoming lexicon / database roundup.
BDicty English Pro (part of English Heritage Bundle for Pocket PC) by BEIKS
Unfortunately, BDicty too eliminates almost all the additional relation information present in the underlying database. This means there are absolutely no relations between words. The engine itself isn’t pretty sophisticated either. There are no additional goodies like study support, wildcard search, anagram support or favorites.
The only real nicety I could find was the easy switching to the other, installed dictionaries. For example, if you purchase the English Heritage Bundle (right now, the only way to acquire the WordNet-based English Dictionary Pro), you not only get the WordNet-based English Pro dictionary, but also the English Gold dictionary and a thesaurus.
Note that, as with Paragon’s excellent dictionaries, the executable (the 3.5+ years old version 5.0) bundled with the dictionaries is a bit outdated (for example, it has messed-up icons on VGA devices). You may want to manually update it to version 5.5 if you don’t need the features no longer working in the latter version. (See below.) The new, 5.5 version can be downloaded from HERE (direct link of the CAB file here) and freely installed on top of an already-installed 5.0 version.
However much the BDicty engine (as opposed to Paragon’s SlovoEd 2005, which is the best in this respect (too)) can’t display the words available in all the installed dictionaries at once in the word list (this means you will need to switch between all your dictionaries if looking for a word not contained in one of them, but is listed in another), when you switch between the installed dictionaries, the current word (if it exists in the newly-activated dictionary) will still be highlighted. This is a nice feature of the engine (and pretty similar to the even better approach of SlovoEd 2005.)
An example of this is as follows. The WordNet-based English Pro displays the definition of ‘charm’ this way. If you switch to the English Gold dictionary, it will already have the input field filled in; then, you’ll only need to quickly switch to something else (for exaple, “goodly”) and, then, back in order for the definition to be seen.
The same is the case with switching to the Thesaurus: the word will be filled in. A quick down/up and the definition will be seen. Again, it’s still a far cry away from Paragon’s approach but is still better what the other, multiple dictionary-capable engines do (or better, don't do).
Note that this feature, for some reason, is missing from the newer, 5.5 engine, while still present in 5.0. Also, in 5.0, Edit/Paste (even with Ctl-V) to the definition search input field works, in 5.5, no longer does. The same stands for quick word highlight: in 5.0, you can quickly highlight a word by double-clicking it (and an entire paragraph by triple-clicking); in 5.5, this is no longer the case. This must be a bug in version 5.5.
All in all, the BDicty engine isn’t really the best when compared to almost all the other reviewed engines. However, taking into account that you can get three dictionaries for $24, you may want to consider getting it.
(Note that, as there are several other (for example, bilingual) dictionaries for BDicty, I’ll also elaborate on it in later parts of this review series and compare to the bilingual alternates.)
WordNetCE 2.7 by Troy Simpson
It’s pretty similar to the desktop version (and makes use of its (uncompressed) database). However, fortunately, it has some additional searching goodies (for example Widcard/regex and Anagram/Scrabble search).
Note that it requires the Compact Framework 1 SP3 (which also means it’s also PPC2k/PPC2k2 compatible). SP3 is also available, as individual CAB files, here.
For a free program, WordNetCE is pretty OK (my personal favorite is, however, as far as free WordNet implementations are concerned, MDict - please see the section on it for more info and a comparison to WordNetCE ). It, feature- and speed-wise, is not comparable to the best commercial solutions (most importantly WordBook and Lexisgoo), though.
Comparison chart
Due to the space constraints, I had to put it in my Web server back-end as a stand-alone, full-sized HTML table. It’s available here. Don’t forget to click it – AGAIN, it’s there that you will find most of the comparative information and screenshots!
Comparison chart explanation and comments
Trial restrictions?: in general, all the trial versions are pretty usable except for Lextionary, which is almost useless in trial mode (it does random lookups) and BDicty, which only lets for browsing words starting with A and B.
Requirements: none of the dictionaries have any special requirement except for the Compact Framework (CF) 1-based, free WordNetCE. It’s very important that you install Service Pack 3 (SP3) if you have an older, WM2003 or WM2003SE device shipped with an earlier Compact Framework version. The SP3 CAB files are available for download here (for PPC2k MIPS, PPC2k2 ARM and WM2003+ ARM.)
Memory?: how much storage they consume and whether they can be entirely installed onto storage cards. Note that apps with resident modules (for example, Lexisgoo, which has a module started from \Windows\Startup – that is, right at booting) will need to store some dozens of kilobytes in the main storage (RAM with op. systems prior to WM5).
Compatibility group: in here, I’ve tested the compatibility with VGA devices in both standard (SE) and native VGA mode. I also tested landscape compliance. I’ve conducted tests on three different Pocket PC’s: a WM2003SE Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 720, a WM5 QVGA HTC Wizard and a WM5 VGA Dell Axim x51v with ROM version A12. As can be seen, only SlovoEd is close to useless in native VGA mode and two (lower-end) applications need to be forced to VGA in SE VGA.
WordNet feature support group: in this group, I elaborate on whether all the inter-word relationships are implemented and available in the specific WordNet implementation.
All relations displayed?: a generic catch-up test – a summary of the next two rows.
Synonyms / antonyms (latter tested with “good”): does the given app support synonyms and antonyms. All of them do, except for AbsoluteWord WordNet, MDict and BDicty, which painfully lack antonyms.
Wider (hypernyms) / narrower (hyponym) definition links? : The WordNet database is excellent in that it also has hypernym and hyponym relationships. In here, I’ve elaborated on the particular clients’ supporting this. As can clearly be seen, it’s again only AbsoluteWord WordNet , MDict and BDicty that don’t support them at all.
Example of Charm: example screenshots of the applications showing the definition of the word ‘charm’ so that you can see how the (same) information is presented by the individual front-ends.
Additional features group: here, I’ve collected additional features that really can enhance the usability of a given WordNet front-end.
Easy to further search in the answer text?: many times, you’ll want to make further searches for words in the descriptions. If you “only” want to search links (all WordNet clients support this, as opposed to the desktop Windows client, which has no links), it’s a no-brainer. Things, however, get complicated if you want to search for words not linked. Then, you’ll need an app that provides the easiest possible way for this. Some applications (here, WordNetCE and SlovoEd) let the user just (with SlovoEd, double-) click a word and, then, run a search on that (this is the easiest way but, in cases, may be problematic, for example, if you want to search for a two-word expression or you want to copy something to the clipboard for future use). Some applications (WordBook, Lexisgoo) display a context menu after you make any selection with the, among other things, lookup option. BDicty requires the user to highlight the text to be looked up (this works with a double-tap in the 5.0 engine version) and, then, a separate icon clicked. Finally, Lextionary , MDict and AbsoluteWord WordNet require the user to select, copy the given word(s) to the clipboard and paste it back to the input field – the most tiresome approach.
Lookup history?: more advanced applications store the history of past lookups, preferably persistently, over restarts too. In here, I've elaborated on the persistence and the "can the list be accessed freely, or only in a serial manner" issues.
Favorites?: WordBook and Lexisgoo also offer favorites (links that you would like to keep in one place). Of the two, Lexisgoo has a really nice, structured (just like the folders in any (decent) Web browser’s favorites system) and time-constrained (“I only need the favorites I’ve added today”) way of storing favorites. WordBook’s approach isn’t this sophisticated, but at least it still exists, unlike with all the other dictionary front-ends.
User notes?: making additional notes for records has always been in high demand among dictionary (or, for that matter, e-book reader) users. Unfortunately, only Lexisgoo and BDicty make this possible (with textual notes only – that is, no freehand drawings are possible, unlike with, say, Microsoft Reader). Of the two, Lexisgoo ’s approach is far better because it even keeps a central list of all the added user notes.
Speech synthesis?: SlovoEd has a separately purchasable and installable, high-quality speech pack.
In addition to this, two of the applications (WordBook and Lexisgoo) use the FLITE engine (a free speech synthesis engine by Carnegie Mellon Univ.), making it possible to read both the active word (expression) or any kind of text (with Lexisgoo, even from other applications, if you use “Read” in Lexisee).
Note that this is a synthesis engine. That is, while it’s still much better than a lot of other speech synthesis engine (including the English support in the speech engine of the LingvoSoft dictionaries – more on them later, in the next installments of this series), it’s in no way as good as native speakers’ spoken English (the way for example Paragon offers real speech on the Pocket PC). For example, while it’s able to (correctly) pronounce ‘adobe’ (unlike, say, the LingvoSoft engine), it’ll find for example ‘these’ difficult to pronounce.
Also, as it’s an external library called from the dictionary front-ends, once started, you won’t be able to stop it. This is particularly painful if you, for example, start one than more instance of Flite, reading a looooong text, by double-tapping the speaker icon. Then, two Flite instances will be started. You will only be able to help this by explicitly killing WordBook / Lexisgoo from a task manager. Keep this in mind when you use it.
English grammar tutorial built-in? : Lexisgoo has an excellent grammar summary in its help section. It’s much better than most in-app grammar summaries I’ve seen on the Pocket PC (make sure you check out the provided screenshots to see how cool it is!). As WordNet doesn't even contain a list of irregular verbs, I've also scrutinized whether the given front-end lists them (for example SlovoEd does).
User-added, searchable, new database records as in, say, SlovoEd 2005?: unfortunately, none of the dictionaries (except for, naturally, SlovoEd) allow for adding additional records.
Dynamic scrolling with, preferably, hiding all the entries that are surely not looked for?: it’s preferable to have a dictionary application that, when you enter a new word to look for, dynamically scrolls the available word list to the position of the word. This makes it very easy to see what other words there are starting with the same, already-entered character sequence and, in cases, makes input much faster.
It’s only WordNetCE and Lextionary that don’t support any kind of dynamic scrolling. WordBook, SlovoEd, MDict, BDicty and Lexisgoo do, but they simply scroll down/up the wordlist and don’t restrict the displayed words in any way. It’s only AbsoluteWord WordNet that doesn’t display words that start with different letters than those already entered. This, however, isn’t a showstopper, as far as SlovoEd, MDict, WordBook and Lexisgoo are concerned.
Multiple dictionary database support group: in here, I’ve compared and elaborated on the unique feature of some of the dictionaries (for example, SlovoEd, MDict and BDicty). Please read the mini-reviews of all these three applications for more information on what the four tests mean in this group.
Search group: in here, I’ve elaborated on what kind of searching capabilities the reviewed applications have. It’s (also) in this respect that a dictionary application can be really different from the rest of the WordNet front-ends because this, as with the rest of the user interface, is completely independent on the underlying WordNet database. With, for example, support for regular expression-based search, puzzle-solving capabilities or anagrams, a front-end can really excel and can add a lot of additional functionality.
If you have ever used the desktop Windows client, you know it is pretty bad in this respect – it doesn’t even let for wildcard searches, let alone other, even more sophisticated searching types. In this respect, all the tested applications are considerably better (as was also the case with linking words in the descriptions.)
Best match search support? (Wildcard searches (AKA puzzle helpers)?): Does the application make it possible to do wildcard searches? One of the most important usability areas of this is puzzle solving (see the provided screenshots for some examples!)
Phonetic searches?: while some of the applications also have phonetic search (“it sounds like”) capabilities, I’ve found them pretty useless, compared to the other ‘closest-match’ search capabilities.
Approximate match? Type (intelligent typo-checker / first match)?: in here, I’ve examined how “intelligently” the reviewed apps try to find the best matches for a given word. To do this, I’ve run searches for two deliberately misspelled words (aproved (approved) and propably (probably)) to see whether the applications do any kind of intelligent ‘closest-hit’ searches.
Interestingly, in this question, WordNetCE proved to be the best (and by far the slowest). Lextionary proved to be the second (and very fast). It was orders of magnitude faster than WordNetCE and also listed the well-spelled word in the first position. Unfortunately, the other dictionaries have proved to be far worse in this respect. That is, in this respect Lextionary is the best application (taking the time needed also into account).
Anagrams; tested with ‘listen’: WordNetCE, WordBook and Lexisgoo have anagram capabilities. This add a great deal of fun factor to these three applications – this feature can be used for delighting time-killing. Unfortunately, the other two applications don’t have anything like this.
Full text search (all occurrences of a given word)?: only one of the tested applications, AbsoluteWord WordNet, is able to run (very slow) full text searches in the entire database.
Communication with outside world group: is it easy to highlight a word in another application and look up its meaning in the tested dictionaries? In here, I’ve also elaborated on the copy (from the definition) / paste (to the ‘search this word’ text input field) capabilities.
Icon and/or other means (for example, monitoring the clipboard)? If not, other means of quick, preferably Clipboard-based quick paste upon activation?: Does the given dictionary have an icon you can just tap when you’ve selected (and, possibly, copied to the clipboard) some text? If it does, does it need to user to place the given text to the clipboard (as is the case with AbsoluteWord WordNet and BDicty), or, is just highlighting (selecting) sufficient (as is the case with the, in this respect three best applications, WordBook , MDict and Lexisgoo?) If it doesn’t have an icon (as is the case with WordNetCE and Lextionary - and SlovoEd, but the latter supports auto-invocation when something is double-copied to the clipboard), does it at least support quick, preferably hardware button-based invocation and auto-paste-to-the-input-field capabilities?
Copy/paste: Pasting into the input field?: interestingly, the otherwise best Lexisgoo is the only application that doesn’t support any kind of pasting to there (and BDicty if you use the 5.5 engine, as opposed to 5.0). You will not really feel the lack of it, though: Lexisgoo has other means of searching for text inside the definitions it displays (and its word lookup capabilities from other applications are also excellent).
Copy definition (or parts of it) to clipboard?: all the applications support this operation. That is, you will be able to export them to, say, a mail message if you need it.
Study support group: everything related to studying with the Pocket PC – another usability area the Pocket PC can excel at with, say, randomly generated word lists for each day.
Study?: Here, I’ve elaborated on the means the tested applications have for making self-study easier. As can clearly be seen, the two best applications (Lexisgoo and WordBook) both have excellent study support capabilities, Lexisgoo being the better.
Explicit random word display?: Some applications (also) offer the ability to display a random word (upon request). This can also help people that need a word to study. Nevertheless, it’s much inferior to the great study list configuration capabilities (with the separate dictionary text files of different language exam level) of WordBook and Lexisgoo, let alone the Today plug-in of the latter.
Not in the WordNet DB group: everything belongs here that, originally, isn’t contained by the WordNet database but is still very important in everyday life. Currently, there are three main areas of this kind of information: pronunciation, syllabification information and non-open-class words.
English pronunciation displayed?: all dictionaries except for BDicty, SlovoEd, the free MDict and WordNetCE contain add-on pronunciation information.
There are vast differences in the phonetic alphabet used. Some titles (WordBook, Lexisgoo) strictly use the International Phonetic Alphabet for English, which is the standard for teaching English in all countries where English is taught as a foreign language (this is what ALL dictionaries should do). AbsoluteWord WordNet uses something very similar, but not exactly the same. Finally, Lextionary, unfortunately, uses a completely different phonetic alphabet, which will be a pain to read for anyone that is used to the standard IPA alphabet.
Note that not all words have added pronunciation. For example, the “problematic” ‘adobe’ or ‘vehicle’ have but the more standard ‘adobo’ doesn’t. The same stands for words that also have a pair with given pronunciation; for example, the ‘adolesce’ and ‘adolescent’ pair. With them, you’ll need to look up the longer word so that you get the pronunciation of the shorter one. All the dictionaries seem to share the same words with pronunciation (the developers may have used the same add-on word list to import them) – that is, there are no dictionaries with more frequent pronunciation information.
Syllabification?: WordNet, unfortunately, doesn’t contain syllabification information either (which would be pretty important with English) and none of the client have this as add-on information.
Non-open-class words (determiners, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, and particles)? Tested with ‘this’.: As section 3.2 of the WordNet FAQ also states, WordNet only contains "open-class words": nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Thus, excluded words include determiners, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, and particles. Most of the dictionaries (including the Windows desktop and the online one) don’t have them as add-on words. (For example here, some people have also complained of, in this case, Lextionary’s not having simple words like these.) That is, you won’t find for example ‘this’ in them. It’s only Lexisgoo and BDicty that do include these words.
Verdict
In my opinion, Lexisgoo is the best WordNet implementation on the Pocket PC. Its only problem is the definitely weaker (compared to Lextionary 2.4 or, speed issues aside, WordNetCE 2.7) approximate searching mode. It’s, however, much better than the other applications in everything else. Highly recommended!
Close second is WordBook. Of the two, I would prefer Lexisgoo; your mileage, however, may vary. Compare the two apps to find out which one suits your needs better. (For example, some people at the AximSite forums have gone for WordBook because the low-res Lexisee icon doesn't look good on a VGA device, while the Word Picker icon of WordBook is hi-res and, therefore, looks better. Yes, choosing from between apps can depend on such subtleties.)
SlovoEd is also a worthy application to be considered. It entirely depends on your needs (do you want multiple, parallel database support? A really decent speech engine? If you do, this application is the way to go) whether you should go for it (see the SlovoEd section above for a more thorough comparison.)
The free MDict is also a very nice application assuming you don't need any extra capabilities. Please read the MDict section above for more in-depth comparison and elaboration on the cases when it may prove excellent.
Unfortunately, Lextionary, which is a favorite dictionary of many, feature-wise, didn’t excel at all. The inter-word relationship (this is what WordNet is all about…) support its homepage emphasized is also supported by all the other applications (except for the, in this respect, absolutely poor AbsoluteWord WordNet, MDict and BDicty). This means there is not a single feature in Lextionary that WordBook or Lexisgoo wouldn’t be capable of; except for, maybe, the great “like” matching, in which Lextionary is clearly better than the two latter applications. That is, if you need the best matching capabilities and can’t stand the snail-like speed of WordNetCE, you may want to consider getting Lextionary. Otherwise, I don’t really recommend it: both WordBook and Lexisgoo have much more superior features (and IPA pronunciation).
The free WordNetCE 2.7, while having certain drawbacks, is still better than one of the commercial (and most expensive) alternates (AbsoluteWord / RoadLingua WordNet 4.0.7). That is, if you must use a free application, you need the WordNet relationships (which the other free front-end, MDict, doesn't support) and can’t pay for a much better commercial one, WordNetCE is an acceptable solution.
BDicty is another 'also-run' application. Its only strength is the three separate databases coming in the English Heritage Bundle (thus, driving down the price), the easy switching between them (which is in no way as easy as with SlovoEd) and the support for non-open-class words. Otherwise, it's a pretty mediocre product not really recommended for purchasing - WordBook or Lexisgoo are far better, as far as pure, real WordNet support is concerned (for example, there is absolutely no support for antonyms / hypernyms / hyponyms in BDicty). If you need multiple database support (or, you want to deploy other language modules under BDicty), you may want to consider it, though. (Still, as far as multilingual / multi-database engines are concerned, I'd go with Paragon's SlovoEd 2005 instead.)
The absolute loser of the roundup is AbsoluteWord / RoadLingua WordNet 4.0.7. Except for the ability to (very slowly!) to a full text search (all occurrences of a given word) in the entire database, it is clearly the worst commercial WordNet-based application. I’d say it’s even worse than the free WordNetCE, particularly if you need antonym / hypernym / hyponym information (which AbsoluteWord WordNet painfully lacks). Also, as far as the other free client, MDict is concerned, I'd definitely go for it instead of AbsoluteWord / RoadLingua WordNet.
Acknowledgements
Without Hal Goldstein’s inviting me last (and this) year to be a judge in the Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards judge board, there would be no dictionary roundup. That is, thank Hal first if you like the roundup(s)

creating new Mdict file
Hello,
I'm trying to create a new Mdict file fro; a Star dict file, and I have a little problem.
The explaination files says :
Steps to convert Star dict dictionary files into mdx format:
1) download the dictionary files in tarball format from http://stardict.sourceforge.net/Dictionaries.php
the following steps will use file in http://stardict.sourceforge.net/Dictionaries_ja.php as example
2) download both "JMDict-en-ja dictionary" and "JMDict-ja-en dictionary"
One dictionary file is enough, but we will show you how to merge two dictionary into one file, so need to download two dictionaries here.
3) extract the file into a temporary directory for example: c:\temp
There should be 4 files in c:\temp now:
2003-07-04 01:47 1,414,385 jmdict-en-ja.dict.dz
2003-11-12 19:38 2,392,521 jmdict-en-ja.idx
2003-11-12 19:38 351 jmdict-en-ja.ifo
2003-07-04 01:47 2,702,509 jmdict-ja-en.dict.dz
2003-11-12 19:38 3,732,514 jmdict-ja-en.idx
2003-11-12 19:38 352 jmdict-ja-en.ifo
4) copy the "convstar.exe" and "star_style.txt" into c:\temp too.
5) run:
a) convstar jmdict-en-ja.ifo e2j.txt
b) convstar jmdict-ja-en.ifo j2e.txt
c) copy e2j.txt+j2e.txt all.txt /b
if you don't need to merge two dictionaries into one, you can stip b) and c)
but I'm locked on 5) because each time I run convstar.exe , a windows pops up and the close immediatly. It is impossible to write anything (I'm using windows XP, english version).
It must be the kind of problem a novice like me is bumping into...
I would appreciate your light to solve this problem !
Thank you very much

how to : build your own dictionary with Mdict
I found the solution eventually
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=290503
cheers

Hello,
I' m looking for a mathimatical software for my HTC S620. It's pretty hard to find something for wm5 smartphone edition.
I could't install qdCAS, because it's for ppc the same as TI Emulator.
I've also found some j2me apps jasymca (compatibel to maxima) and FnattLabME (compatbile to Matlab). But I could not get it to run. there is just a blanc screen. other java apps are working just fine, so my java engine isn't messed up. Here's the homepage with the documentation
I tried also MobileMath, but I cant set up the keys properly.
Any help or hint would be great

Hi again,
I've found two programs that are native for windows mobile ppc.
qdcas - a frontend for the well known xcas. the desktop version can also execute texas instruments ti-98 and ti-200 voyage programs, may be the ppc version too. an other (better) frontend for xcas is "math table", but it's not for free. xcas is working on wm5 smartphone (S620), But it has no gui. the input/output works through text files. very unconvinient on smartphone. i believe qdcas is open source.
YacasCE - PPC port from yacas. works whith gnuplotCE and you can switch to xcas as the backend. the gui is better than qdcas, because you can point on the function instead typing the commands. further more it has a console with pocketconsole like MSDOS. it doesn't start on s620 at all. the developer doesnt have time for making a sp editon, but he would give the source code for developing it. unfortunatly I don't have programming skills in c++, eVC, visual studio 2005.
can some one port one of these apps to wm5 sp, please?
regards Joeboy

I wrote simple program for constractions of graphics (Now it is beta version). It includes some functions for analysing graphics (Root, Max, Min, integral...)
Requares Compact Framework 2.0

SGregory said:
I wrote simple program for constractions of graphics (Now it is beta version). It includes some functions for analysing graphics (Root, Max, Min, integral...)
Requares Compact Framework 2.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks,
i'll try it out, but it's actually not what I need.
It seems you've programmer skills. maybe you wanna port qdcas or yacasCE to wm smartphone?
poka

Smart Algebra
I wrote new version of my Qraf program. Now it is Smart Algebra. This program is for construction of schedules and symbolical calculations (i.e. to some extent analogue of desktop mathematical systems like MathCad, MatLab).
Possibilities Smart Algebra (Old name Qraf):
Mode of construction of schedules:
- Works in modes 240*320 and 320*240.
- Construction simultaneously to nine schedules (at each schedule it is possible to choose colour).
- Trace - tracking function allows to move the index under the schedule and to read out values functions.
- Box - will draw a framework round the necessary area, then this area will be increased
- Automatic change of scale
- Out/In scale change according to factors set in Factor.
- QUICK - fast change of scale (Some the set scales).
- Calculator - the unpretentious calculator.
- Graphical solve - a finding of roots, function extrema, and integrals graphically. Also it is possible to find crossings of 2 functions.
- Picture - removal of a screenshot of the screen (Keeps the image in a folder \My Documents).
- Support of construction of schedules in polar co-ordinates.
- construction of schedules set in a parametrical kind. (For this purpose in the field of input it is necessary to enter two functions through a semicolon (";")).
- Supported functions: sin, cos, tg, ln, log, sh, ch, th, exp, acos, asin, atg, int, frac, abs.
Mode of symbolical calculations:
Heap (!) Functions, among the other:
- integration
- differentiation
- decomposition Taylor
- decomposition on a multiplier
- solve of the equations, including transcendental
- calculation of limits
- work with matrixes, vectors-...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For work it is necessary Compact Framework 2.0
Program reflected as analogue of the program of construction of schedules of calculator Casio Algebra FX2.0. At present it beta the version, also is realised not all. At the heart of a symbolical part system xcas. A minus of the given realisation - slow work... As Help I apply a file aide_cas in which there are examples of use and the description of all functions (to Open a notebook). May be in the future I will make normal help in the program.
I will be glad if Smart Algebra to somebody it will be useful.
Download - http://rapidshare.com/files/144661869/Smart_Algebra.cab.html

I am looking for a graphing/scientific calculator program for android with very specific capabilities, primarily related to science and engineering tasks:
1. Standard built-in scientific functions, like exponents, exponential, trigonometric functions, and logarithms.
2. The ability to specify custom functions, which are saved and can be used anywhere in the program
3. The ability to handle complex numbers
4. The ability to do limits, derivatives, definite integrals, and indefinite integrals
5. Equation solver
6. Unit conversion, with the ability to create
7. The ability to create and save custom units
8. Log-log or semi-log axis in plots
9. The ability to use expressions in axes and axes ticks (like being able to set an axis to be from -2pi to 2pi with tick marks in pi/4 steps)
To put it simply, I am looking for something that can do what I consider to be the most critical tasks of my TI-89. The closest I have been able to find is handycalc, but functions are restricted to particular worksheets, and it doesn't have 3, 4, 7, 8, or 9 at all.
Note that I would ideally want an application with all of these capabilities, but could live with 2 or 3 applications that each do part. At the very least I would need an application that can do 1-5, an application that can do 6 and 7, and an application that can do 8 and 9. Obviously a free application or applications would be best, but a commercial one or ones would suffice.
Some extra features that would be nice, but are not deal-killers:
1. 3D plotting
2. The ability to use units in formulas
3. Polar and/or complex plane plotting
4. Differential equation plotting
5. Simultaneous equation solving
6. Binary, octal, and hex mathematics
Thank you very much for your help.

This link may show some science calculator, you can use different search to see if any of them fit you:
https://market.android.com/search?q=science+calculator&so=1&c=apps

After checking through a few different calculators I found this one that could work well for you.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/algeo-graphing-calculator/com.algeo.algeo
Also this page can probably be helpful as well.
http://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-6-calculator-apps-for-android/
From the looks of it the 4th one on the list would probably be the best bet for you.
Hope this helps!

Thanks!
I tried algeo, it lacks most of the features I am looking for. 1 on the list you gave me is handycalc, which as I said had the most features but still lacked some of the critical ones. 4 on the list also lacks most of the features I need, and I can't seem to get a keyboard to use it, either.
However, I think I found one that fits most of my needs called MathScript Calculator (sorry, I apparently cannot post links yet).
It costs money, but it should get the job done. It also supports python scripting, which is good for me in general since that is my preferred language. However, there is apparently a major update coming up so I will wait and see what it is like then.
Thanks for your help

Hello everyone,
I wrote a simple calculator which contain basic, scientific calculator and a unit converted each in different tab and would like ask you to comment it. I was trying to make it as simple as possible, so when user need only basic calculator, he got on screen only them, same thing for scientific calculator and unit converter.
Main features:
-own tab for each part of application
-support for percentages calculating (10+10% = 11 and 10*50% = 5)
-preserves the order of operations (2+2*2 = 6)
-convert: angles, lenghts, time, areas, power and other units
-contains π and Euler number( "e" at scientific calculator) [ i was lacking Euler number in other calculator]
-remember calculations after closing apps
Sreenshots:
Link:Tabbed Calculator
I would be grateful for any comments, suggestions and critisim.
Thanks for advance.

Calculator app's are known to all smartphone users! Today, among many apps, we would like to recommend one of the best daily calculators. This is Big Button Calculator (BB Calc).
Many people must have repeatedly installed and deleted numerous apps to find the calculator app for a long time use after installing it after purchasing a smartphone. There are a lot of calculator apps that have a lot of calculation functions and are excellent. However, it seems difficult to find a calculator that is simple and has essential functions.
In particular, for smartphones, which are relatively small compared to tablets or laptops, it can be said that a calculator app with large buttons and functions that is not inconvenient for daily calculations is more desirable than a complex calculator with many functions.
BB Calc is not a calculator for professionals such as engineering, science and technology, or finance, but a general-purpose calculator app for convenient and useful use in everyday life, and its neat design is one of its strengths. Features of BB Calc include:
1. We made the button size as large as possible by boldly removing unnecessary buttons.
Many apps add many functions to diversify calculator performance, but in many cases, these functions are not used in real life or are used very infrequently.
BB Calc statistically analyzed frequently used functions in real life, abandons the desire to expand functions and leaves only essential functions, thereby maximizing the button size. In particular, it was possible to reduce the number of buttons by overlapping the functions of "(", ")" and "^" (power) on other buttons.
2. Backspace and click editting are available.
Surprisingly, you can see that there are many calculator apps that do not have a backspace function or a click edit function in the input window. BB Calc is equipped with these functions to facilitate correction of input errors.
3. (-) sign can be input.
When performing calculations, there may be cases where a (-) sign input value is required. For this purpose, BB Calc can enter negative (-) signs (eg -2) and calculate negative (-) values (eg 5 / -3).
4. Calculation history can be saved and recalled.
Up to 10 previous calculation inputs can be viewed and recalled.
5. Single/multiple lines can be selected.
Download site: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.b.sange.a