heh, apparently no one here used their latest version (ATP digital v8).
I've tried the demo version for iPad, which I think gives a good impression of what to expect. The Mac app isn't available in App Store in Finland (maybe you download it directly from BGS website, dunno, but it would be nice to be able to test it as well).
Disclaimer: I'm trying to select between Bristol and Padpilot. I know that the quality of the material itself is very good in both cases. I have an IT background and quite spoiled with good software or ideas of what is considered a good s/w
IMO in 2021 it goes down to taking advantage of modern technologies, providing best usability, user experience and such. So I'm writing my thoughts from that POV.
Cons:
- The ATPdigital app is somewhat laggy (it badly lacks a loading/spinner icon when content is loading as a result app feels irresponsive at times)
- It's locked to landscape layout mode (which in 2021 raises a big question why is it so hard to make responsive design)
- You can't not only highlight any text, you can't even select a word (e.g. to copy-paste it to google or dictionary)
- it doesn't take any advantage of apple pencil
- After each (some?) lessons you get to answer the questions (not progress test), but you don't get to see which answers were incorrect, you only see the total score. This doesn't help to focus on problematic areas, but rather made me go again through the whole lesson and reattempt the quiz (maybe it's done so on purpose, since lessons are relatively short?)
Pros:
- Search function seems to work well (I've been told by one ATO that it was one of the most criticised aspects of Bristol's older s/w, so it's either fixed or just isn't as bad as I thought)
- You have all your course materials, exams, quizzes and progress metrics in a single app, no need to switch apps for that
- Information is presented in a form of slides, not overloaded with text, is easy to read an comprehend
- It's easy to update the content and the app will notify you when there are updates available (however, I still wonder how often is the content really updated, since it's not like fundamentals change every day and CAE books published in 2014 are still very up to date)
Open questions:
- Navigation seems ok, but the Demo version content is limited, so I'm not sure how well it would work with full course content.
- It would be good to see some sort of changelog for version 8 of the app. I've watched a youtube demo of version 6 and couldn't find right away any significant differences. This is important to me, since quite a few people have mentioned how technically outdated the BGS software was before and none of those people have tried the latest version.
- Because I couldn't get the Mac app version, I couldn't test how the sync across devices work, which is advertised as a big advantage of the system
Conclusions:
The app is far from "state-of-the-art" as advertised on BGS website. It's good, but definitely not state-of-the-art from user's perspective. My expectations were set pretty low by Padpilot supporters (all of which actually switched from BGS to PP), but I can't say there's such a huge difference between them in terms of usability.
Even though it's off topic, I'll put my thoughts on Padpilot as well.
It's delivered in form of iBooks, nothing more nothing less. You still are not able to utilise apple pencil except for highlighting words. I couldn't test the PP's learning management system PilotACE, which is a web app (you open it in browser) since there's no demo version I could find.
Comparing these two approaches, I can't say that I find Padpilot so significantly better than BGS as PP supporters claim. It rather seems that the language material is presented in PP is simpler, which isn't a big selling point for me.
I have the CAE books in PDF and find it much better approach, since I'm able to utilise the whole potential of apple pencil by drawing, making notes and such right in the book (and yes, you can use the Search function in those PDFs as well). But those are PDFs, so no videos or any interactivity. They are written in more technical way and go deeper into details which some might seem unnecessary, but is something that I like and consider important.
To sum up, I'd say that none of the systems utilises the modern technology to a full extent. Ideal solution for me would be a combo of all these: a single app with all the materials, tests etc. presented in a clearly structured way, allowing one to draw with apple pencil, working in portrait & landscape modes, being interactive and not laggy as a software.
There's no clear winner. To decide for yourself, just test them all and see which works best for you. So far I'm leaning towards BGS, since I already have the CAE books, otherwise I probably would've selected the PP.