Acid Ape Chess GM Edition - review
This time, an application dedicated to mobile devices came to my review workshop.
Hundreds of chess applications have been created for the popular system named with the friendly term of robot, which are readily available in the Google Play Store.
And while there are so many chess apps for Android, only some of them are worthy of prolonged attention, and the best ones dedicated to serious and ambitious enthusiasts of the royal game - there are even fewer. Among them, the real diamond is Acid Ape Chess GM Edition.
Source: Developer's website
In full name: Acid Ape Chess GRANDMASTER EDITION is a powerful, functional and useful chess suite created for demanding users.
It is a program that has been systematically developed for many years, with regular updates, and has many fans who have expressed their opinions in the Google Play Store.
This review deals with Acid Ape Chess GM Edition version 1.11.1 with an update dated December 27, 2022.
Some data in the table:
Table of Acid Ape Chess GM Edition specifications.
It is worth noting that Acid Ape Chess GM Edition needs Android version 4.4 or later to work, which means that...
...Even very old devices have a chance to be used with Acid Ape Chess GM Edition.
The oldest supported Android system 4.4, code-named KitKat, was released in 2013, which is nine years ago as of the publication date of this review.
I took advantage of this opportunity and for the purposes of the review I used the Asus Transformer Prime TF201 tablet, which premiered in 2012. The aforementioned tablet puts at the user's disposal a 4-core nVidia Tegra 3 processor and, importantly for me, a 10.1-inch screen; working on custom firmware - Android 7.1.2
I also used a modern Google Pixel 7 smartphone (2022 model, Android 13) to among others compare analysis times for specific positions; see the chess engine section of this review for details.
So, is it possible with Acid Ape Chess GM Edition:
Comfortably use on an old (and modern) mobile device?
Efficiently work and analyze with chess engines ?
Conveniently play offline and online ?
Fast using the chess databases provided by the developers ?
Training ?
Let's start with...
FIRST LAUNCH
The application activates the license, which personalizes purchased copy.
Activation takes literally a moment, and then we are greeted by the main screen of Acid Ape Chess GM Edition.
APPEARANCE, ERGONOMICS, RESPONSIVENESS
The first thing that caught my eye was the subdued and non-flashy colors, clear access options grouped in an easy to understand logical way. The app's home screen is not overloaded with information and shortcut icons.
We have three main activities: playing online, using the chess engine(s), and playing a simultaneous game.
After entering the option's menu (icon marked with a red border)...
...There will be a move to the expanded functions that are used most often.
When you click on the button marked with a red border....