PDA language, key size, screen size

[feng]

Hi,

I'm thinking of buying one of these PDA things for the sole reason of using Pleco. As it's a lot of money 'just' to save time looking up words while reading, I have a few questions about PDAs that relate to Pleco. I've never used these things before, so my questions may reflect this fact.

1) PDA language. Are PDAs monolingual like Windows or can you switch OS languages like Macs? I may end up buying one in Korea (long story), but I don't know Korean, so if I need to I will buy one in the US before I go.

2) The keys on these things are mighty small! The Japanese style electronic dictionaries are ok, but the PDAs I've seen have unbelievably small keys, made more for a small child's hands. I could deal, reluctantly, with cell phone sized keys. Are there any models out there that fit my wants? I do not want a separate keyboard as the whole point to my getting one of these things is to just grab the thing and type while I am reading a book.

What about the touch screen ones? Neither Circuit City nor Best Buy will turn them on for me! Can someone recommend an electronics/computer store with a large selection and where they will turn stuff on for you? And will the touch screen models make a difference for my complaint about key size as far as ease of using the stylus with the on screen keyboard? Is that gray space in the bottom of the E2 where you write?

3) Screen size. Seems like most have 320 x 320 and one has 320 x 480. Does Pleco allow for using the extra screen size? Can I set (once) my own default font size or is it preset at a single size?

And here
http://www.pleco.com/pdscreenshots.html
I get the impression that I'm going to get more screen from a Palm thingy than a Windows thingy? Not surprising ...

Any other helpful purchasing hints you wish to share with a PDA newbie are very welcome and appreciated

Thanks!

 

[gato]

Most PDA, particularly the lower-price ones, don't come with keyboards. But you can easily the onscreen keyboard to type what you needs (see this screenshot of the PalmOS onscreen keyboard).

Palm is usually in English by default. Palms that are sold in China/HK/Taiwan typically comes installed with the software CJKOS, which allows the display of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters (i.e. CJK). Perhaps those sold in Korea are installed with CJKOS as well.
http://www.dyts.com/en/cjkos.html

To be on the safe side, since you don't know Korean, it might be best to buy your Palm in the US and install CJKOS on it. Otherwise, you might end up with a Korean interface that you don't know how to change.

I'd recommend a Palm with a larger screen like the TX if you want to read e-books, which in all likelihood you would want to do because it is so easy with the integrated dictionary lookup.

 

[feng]

Thanks, Gato.

Most PDA, particularly the lower-price ones, don't come with keyboards.

The Treos are just smart phones? They don't run Palm OS?

Palm is usually in English by default. Palms that are sold in China/HK/Taiwan typically comes installed with the software CJKOS,

So they likely are in English, but allow for typing in East Asian languages (trad and simp?)? Where would I get CJKOS in the US and for how much? Would I need it to do stuff with Pleco like add words and such?

I'd recommend a Palm with a larger screen like the TX if you want to read e-books,

Wasn't really planning on forking out a bunch of money (more than a paper based book?) every time I want to read a book. Also doubt my tastes are available for Palm, but tell me, where can I browse a listing of Chinese titles and prices for books on Palm?

Can you change the size of the display font for Pleco? I mean, am I getting something more with 320 x 480 than I would with 320 x 320?

What sort of Pleco using gizmos have you owned and how do you feel they compare?

 

[gato]

The Treos are PalmOS-based smartphones, but since you mentioned that you want to save money, I told you the cheaper PDAs don't have keyboards. I current use a Treo, but I feel that it doesn't work that well as a phone. If I were to buy a PDA now, I would probably buy a Palm TX, though Palm is supposedly coming out with new models in May. But if you are just using the Palm for PlecoDict and as a reader (and not for watching videos, for instance, or browsing the web), then I think the TX would be quite a good choice.

You can download CJKOS from its website and get a registration key with an online payment. I included the website in my post above. Here it is again:
http://www.dyts.com/en/cjkos.html

Since copyright is not strictly enforced in China, you can find many Chinese books (including newly published ones) online.

Here are some sites:
http://www.white-collar.net/wx_hsz/hsz_mjyj.htm
http://www.oklink.net/newfl.html

 

[mikelove]

Greg,

Nice to see you here.

PlecoDict uses whatever screen size it's given, so it'll stretch to fill the extra space on a TX (and will also let you dock a mini version of the handwriting recognizer screen there so you don't have to go into it separately), and there are two different font sizes available, the larger of which looks a bit cramped on a smaller screen but works well on the TX's. Still, if you want to save some money you don't lose too much by going with a square-screen model like the Tungsten E2. (the gray space at the bottom of the E2 is indeed the writing area)

The best chain retailers I've found for trying out PDAs are Staples (they'll be buried in a back aisle somewhere but will likely be on and running continuously) and CompUSA. Though in general PDAs are not an easy thing to find in stores anymore, the electronics retailers seem to be going out of their way to marginalize them (perhaps in part because they make so much more money off of cellphones). I agree with gato on the value of buying in the US, though, if for no other reason then because PDAs tend to break a lot and it's much easier to ship one back to Palm in the US than to try to negotiate a replacement with some electronics distributor in Pusan.

It's almost impossible to find a non-cellphone PDA with a keyboard nowadays, the last decent one was the Palm Tungsten C - great machine in a lot of ways, and it would still run our software (including the upcoming version 2.0) beautifully if you can dig one up on eBay. A Treo 650 smartphone might also be available there for around the same price as a TX, you're still carrying around some unnecessary bulk if you're not using it as a phone but they do have surprisingly usable thumb keyboards for such small devices.

 

[feng]

Thanks to both of you. Staples is close by and I will check them out. Looking at Comp USA's website I was surprised to see so many negative reviews there, especially for the E2. Amazon reviewers were kinder, though again people seem happier with the TX than the E2. Perhaps I will wait to see if May brings new models.