A Great Resource for Older & more Advanced Learners

It is so rare to find a great resource for intermediate and advanced students working on reading skills, I wanted to deviate from the theme and recommend this new product.  Decipher Chinese Reader is a new and excellent resource.

http://www.decipherchinese.com/

Currently available in full version for Android devices and in a trial version on the I Store, it offers reading content for HSK (the mainland Chinese proficiency exam) levels 3-5 divided into three separate applications.  The Beginner level contains 50 articles at the HSK level 2/3.  The Intermediate level features articles at HSK level 4 and Advanced has content at the HSK level 5. 

What makes this product unique?  Each article has a built-in finger tap dictionary/pinyin feature allowing you to get assistance for words you do not know.  The reader can save their progress or mark an article as read.  In the Save Progress mode, you can maintain the "tapped" words with pinyin visible for the next time you review the article. 

Weaknesses:
a.  The product only provides articles in Simplified Chinese. 
b.  You cannot create a vocabulary list or flash card set of the unfamiliar words. 
c.  This is not a product geared for young children (I'll recommend an excellent source of Ipad Chinese Children's audio books in a separate post). The articles are not selected for young children and may contain content the is unsuitable for children.

Strengths:
a.  Interesting articles geared for adults or teens divided by clearly defined levels associated with a recognized Chinese standard for measuring proficiency (HSK).
b.  The application is mobile.  It works on Android phones/tablets and will soon work in the full version on Ipad and Ipod allowing the student to study whenever or wherever.
c.  Finally something for advanced learners!!!!!!

I have only been using the application for a couple days working my way from the beginning through advanced levels and so far I love it.