3.2.65 Beta

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Is up on Play now (https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.pleco.chinesesystem to sign up for betas).

Main feature - and the reason we're drawing attention to it - is that we've finally added 64-bit support. This may result in modest performance improvements in a few areas - e.g. New OCR - but probably won't make the app feel very different overall; however, it's a Google Play requirement as of August, so we had to hurry up and get it supported now instead of waiting for 4.0. But it's good future-proofing at least - you can now be confident that in 2020 or 2021 when Android OEMs start shipping devices that no longer support 32-bit code Pleco will continue to work for you :)

We also updated our TTS engines, and that may be more noticeable - big update on their end and hopefully some accuracy/performance benefits on the user side. And we bumped the system requirement to Android 5.0, since there are a whole lot of modern Android things that were proving very awkward to support in Android 4.x (in fact Google Play was giving us lots of warnings because things that were required to make our app work on Android 4 - and even used by Google themselves - were forbidden in Android 10).
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Quick fix update out for that beta which addresses some crashes on 32-bit devices. (sorry about that)

However, working through those incompatibilities and researching the numbers of users they would affect has me strongly inclined to drop support for all 32-bit devices in Pleco 4.0. We were never going to support any 32-bit devices on iOS anyway - Apple abandoned them all the way back in iOS 11 - and keeping 32-bit support in our code base just for the sake of a single-digit % of our active Android users is pretty hard to justify.

So while we do intend to keep offering 3.2.x updates on 32-bit devices, we will most likely drop support for them 4.0. (we may also further increase the minimum Android version requirement, since dropping those 32-bit devices will probably also mean dropping most of the users on Android 5)
 

yee

举人
Q keeping 32-bit support in our code base just for the sake of a single-digit % of our active Android users is pretty hard to justify.

How do you know that only single digit % of android users are on 32-bit? I have a Samsung 5 Mini (as such 32 bit). I actively use it but last made a purchase about a year and a half ago with a minor purchase.

Purchases of bundles by new users are likely highly skewed by people with newer phones. I purchased my bundle 4-5 years ago when 64 bit was just starting to make inroads.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
That number comes from Google Play, which gives us detailed statistics about active users (anybody who has our app installed on at least one device, excluding devices that haven’t been switched on in a month so they don’t count a bunch of devices in junk drawers and landfills).
 

yee

举人
I agree that Google Play gives an accurate representation of the number of users but confirms my decision to delete Google Play.

Unlike the typical user of Pleco, my device is rooted and Google Play deliberately removed due to concerns of it being (1) a resource/battery hog and (2) spyware. My usage of Pleco is not included in your statistics (my demographic is a statistically insignificant number).

I will be sad to be left behind at 3.2.x when Pleco goes 4.x but realistically 3.2.x already does absolutely everything I need. Upgrading phones is not an easy option for me since I also require (1) the ability to root the phone, (2) replaceable battery and (3) batteries that I can purchase cheaply.
 

alex_hk90

状元
Upgrading phones is not an easy option for me since I also require (1) the ability to root the phone, (2) replaceable battery and (3) batteries that I can purchase cheaply.

I used to try to do this but given the amount of apps that don't let you root these days and how few phone have replaceable batteries it became futile. :( So instead I try to only plug in my phone when the battery is low and unplug it before it's 100% charged to maintain the battery life, and carry a portable charger if I know I will be using it more without access to mains power. Not ideal but works for me.
 
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