Issues with large databases (and a feature request)

DTTG apparently has its troubles with large databases. My most used DT database is a collection of font specimen, that I like to have at hand for reference. Most files are PDFs, quite a few image files, and an occasional web archive or RTF(D). That amounts to about 1 GB in size, almost all of which is synced to DTTG.
To open the database(s) on the phone takes really long!* That would be a minor issue, if only they would remain open. (This might be an issue with the iPhones memory handling, though.) So, it feels like the app is there in a second, but then takes a minute to open the db.
Then, each sync (that usually copies just a few new files; between some hundred KB and, say, 5 MB at a time) usually takes more than one attempt – DTTG almost always crashes at least once, and usually somewhere near the end of the sync (if the progress bar can be trusted). Also clearing up (or whatever happens, when the progress bar looks like finished, with the name of the last file still showing below) takes longer (much longer!) than the actual copying itself.

Once it is synced and opened, it mostly runs fine, with just a very rare crash on some single file. (That’s still annoying, since re-opening DTTG can take the aforementioned minute, if the db also has to be re-opened!)

One thing I miss is a sync of tags. In DT Pro, I have sorted the font specimen in folders by foundry. To be able to search by classification or appearance, I apply tags to the files (like “grotesque”, “script”, or “geometric”, “lively”). Will tags be supported by DTTG in a future version?

*Tech note: DTTG runs on an iPhone 4S, syncing to DT Pro on a MacBook Pro (2010) over 802.11n.

I also experience significant perf issues with launch with my several GB database. I can basically go make a sandwich while it launches.

We do plan on supporting tags in a future update.

Regarding large databases: right now we’re working on integrating a new sync process. Once that’s done, we’ll be in a better position to work on performance issues with large databases like these.

Good to hear that something is in the works. It just took me almost 10 minutes to sync a total of five new files in one DTP database, because DTTG crashed four times (three times during sync, once while still opening its databases). The startup-time alone (on an iPhone 4S) is about 50 seconds!
I don’t know if that’s a good idea, but perhaps it would help to isolate the launching process of the app itself from opening the databases, especially when you’ve got several databases on the phone, but rarely use all of them.