It started working later, but with ups and downs. I was able to get the queue cleared again, but there’s notably more repetition than with the old client, so even with the ability to skip repeated terms it still takes me a lot longer to get through the same number of items in the due list.
The website seems to present terms in a different order from the app: I logged in briefly there to run a few terms to see if that would clear out the cache (or whatever), and for 10-20 terms there was nothing but tone reviews. The app doesn’t do that, ie, it switches back and forth pretty consistently, but I’ve noticed in the past that the website (I’m talking 2.0 for everything here) tends to be 100% tones or runes for an extended period before switching (I only do tones and runes, not definitions or reading).
Later, I had one instance where the app did its churning thing, then presented a single term (can’t remember which one). I completed it successfully, and the app started churning again, after which it repeated the same item. This happens a lot, but usually there’s a sequence of about 3-4 items that get presented a second time after the app does its check-in with the server. This time, it came back yet again with the same single item, and then had to churn once more. First time I’ve seen that happen, 3 times with a single item.
Also, I added some new lists for the first time since switching to the beta app last year, and I was able to note a clear example how the SRS is definitely messed up: I got a new term (and I know it was new because the app produces a lot of fanfare now when a new term is introduced–a point I’ll address in a minute), 地球村, which I entered correctly and marked as easy. Didn’t see it the rest of the study session yesterday, but it was right back at the top of the line today when I started it up again. This cannot possibly be what “too easy” means. I shouldn’t have seen that term again for several weeks at least, if not months.
To the best of my observation, these issues don’t come up with the legacy app. As I mentioned above, it takes time getting through the daily due list because you can’t skip repeated terms, but even so, the beta adds so much extra BS that it ends up taking even longer. I don’t know why or how, but they seem to operate on entirely different algorithms in regard to calculating and presenting due items.
One more thing: is it really necessary to have a banner drop down every time a new item is added to the list? You have to actually click it away every time it happens. I have a really hard time understanding how anyone would find such a feature desirable, but for those of us who don’t, there should be an easy and intuitive way to prevent this from happening. I haven’t yet found a control for it in the app settings, but I assume it’s in there somewhere.