Windows Phone Thoughts: Sprechen Sie (Insert Language Here)-MobiLearn Talking Phrasebooks Reviewed

Quizzes
Since I haven't traveled outside of North America for a few years, I haven't tried to speak German in years. The MobiLearn Talking Phrasebooks also come with a Quiz mode. It gave me a chance to see how my long-term memory has kept up.


Figure 3: Pick an answer, any answer.

I had a lot of fun with the Quizzes. The phrasebooks keep track of your score and you can see how you are doing over time. But I quickly learned that some of the multiple choice answers make the correct answer stand out too easily. This is not a deal-breaker by any means. I'm not sure how this could be handled better either. Since you can choose multiple categories for a quiz, sometimes you do need contextual hints.


Figure 4: An easy choice.

My only other complaint with the Quizzes is the sound choices. The phrasebooks have great samples for each and every phrase but, nothing special for Quizzes. If you get a question right, you hear the default Pocket PC "ding" sound. Get one wrong and you get another stock sound. Very boring.

Other Features
So, you're in a foreign city and are trying to find some lunch. What do you do? If you have a MobiLearn Talking Phrasebook, just fire up the Find feature and you're on your way. With Find you can search for phrases in your native language. You can search using a foreign language as well. The search is fast and easy to use.


Figure 5: Finding food.

Once you've found your favorite phrases, you can bookmark them. This makes it easy to pull up a quick list of phrases you think you'll need. Also, when you are in the regular phrasebook, you'll see an icon next to your bookmarked items.


Figure 6: My list of favorite phrases.

The Find and Bookmark features, like everything else in the phrasebooks, are easy to use. The interface for these applications really stands out. I spent most of my time using the English-German version since I know some German. I tried the English-French version out as well and found it to be just as user friendly.

Conclusions
The MobiLearn Talking Phrasebooks are great additions for a traveler's Pocket PC. They are very simple to use and make learning a new language fun. Although the quizzes can be a bit too easy they help enhance an already great product. Add in the find and bookmark features and you've got a winning combination.