American Heritage, relax with the copyright note. We can't even copy and paste.
The American Heritage Dictionary recognizes that a good iPhone reference is more than a collection of words. Starting from a direct translation of the print book, this version includes extras; entries are searchable, include a recent look-up history, and nearly always include a spoken pronunciation. Many words include root and history details, and some entries include pictures, such as “Pythagorean theorem” and “geologic time.”
We spun through many of the app’s roughly 300,000 definitions alphabetically, swiping through a list of all of them or gliding to first-letter groupings on the right side of the interface. Or a simple search bar narrowed down our word hunts as we pecked in each letter until tapping the word below. The neutral, American-sounding voices were our favorite extra, helping us sound out nearly every item we found.
A sluggish interface mildly detracts from the rest of the excellent app. The dictionary sometimes ignored our taps, especially when clearing a previous search term. And the otherwise-clear layout includes a useless copyright reminder at the foot of every entry.
Spoken voices pronounce most terms. Bookmarks save favorite words.
History shows recent entries. Occasional graphics add more information. Definitions include word history.
Occasional bugs. Annoying copyright note on each entry. Can’t tap a
word within a definition to look it up. Big picture browsing feels sloppy.
