Advice on PDA?

[Mads]

I am in China right now studying chinese. A friend introduced me to your program. I was impressed, but i have a few questions:

I have never used a PDA before and wanted to know what to look for when i go to buy one.

Since I'm in China, the PDA that I have been looking at all used Chinese in the operating system. Do I have to purchase the English version separately or would I be able to obtain the English version free of charge?

I have thought about purchasing a PDA on Ebay, and was wondering if there was any difference between the PDA's made for the American market and the China/Europe market?

If I order your program, could I have it shipped to me here in China and how much would it be and how long would that take?

As well, what exactly is included in the package?

Hope someone can help me out!

 

[haraldalbrecht]

I have thought about purchasing a PDA on Ebay, and was wondering if there was any difference between the PDA's made for the American market and the China/Europe market?

Yes. It starts with different ROMs for the American and European markets; the American ROMs are usually smaller and contain an english-only PalmOS. The PDAs for the European market support multiple languages and thus have a larger ROM. For some particular devices I've even heard that the American ones contain a ROM and European ones a Flash ROM (but I don't remember the exact devices now anymore).

Also, the power supplies might be different for older devices, albeit Palm for some time ships an all-continent power supply where you just put on the right plug adaptor for your region (it comes with three or four different ones).

There can also be differences with respect to the accompanying software. You can find some hints about this in the c.s.p.pilot newgroup; goggle, as usual, will be your friend in turning up such information.

Since I'm in China, the PDA that I have been looking at all used Chinese in the operating system. Do I have to purchase the English version separately or would I be able to obtain the English version free of charge?

As far as I know there are currently no native Chinese PalmOS devices -- but I might be completely wrong here. For PalmOS, the Chinese "OS" is programmed and installed separately -- and it does not come from Palm since they don't offer such a beast at this time.

Basically you start with an english PalmOS device and then install a Chinese PalmOS Extension on top of it (there are several vendors available). It does not matter whether it's an American or European PalmOS device. However, if you are using a non-english locale setting (such as German), most of the local umlauts and other special characters will turn into Chinese (probably what a native english speaker will regard German nevertheless...). But an English-only speaker will probably not care :wink:

-- Harald

 

[mikelove]

There actually is a native Chinese Palm OS now - there aren't too many devices that use it and they're pretty much all sold in China, but they do exist; I've got a simulated one running on my desktop now. I believe at the moment that it's Simplified Character only, and I'm not sure if it includes built-in handwriting recognition but I imagine that most OEM's would bundle it. Unfortunately, though, a Chinese-only Palm probably won't be capable of switching back to English but will only display its interface in Chinese.

However, there should also still be some Palms out there that use a Chinese extension as Harald described, and with those it should be possible to use English simply by disabling the Chinese extension (or more specifically, its localization features). The best way to tell is to try one out in a store and look for a program called CJKOS or ChineseOS - if you find it, you should be able to open it and disable the Chinese localization.

Also, the last time I was in Beijing (in August) there were also a number of places selling English-language Palms and Clie's brought up from Hong Kong, so if you can find one of those it'll be even easier to get it working in English as it will include English-language documentation etcetera.

You could also just buy a Palm on eBay, which will probably be cheaper; the Sony Clie's generally include AC adaptors that work with world voltages, while Palm models generally don't, though you can easily find a world adapter for $8 or $9 for just about any Palm model.

And one more thing, you'll want a PDA with 8 MB or more of memory (so NOT the original Palm Zire) in order to completely accommodate the current version dictionary. Better still, get one with an SD Card or Memory Stick expansion slot; this will allow you to add additional storage memory to accommodate more software later on (such as our upcoming 200,000-entry ABC Chinese-English Dictionary

As far as shipping, the program is delivered electronically, so you should receive a download link and serial number within a few hours of placing your order. Included in the download are the English-Chinese and Chinese-English halves of the dictionary, along with traditional and simplified fonts, radical tables, and handwriting recognition.

If you have any more questions feel free to post them here or send e-mail to support@pleco.com.

 

[SandRunner]

Any news

Rather than start a new thread (or perhaps that's the culture on this board? I'm still acquainting myself..), I wondered if there was any follow-up to this discussion. Especially - any news on PalmOS devices made locally, rather than with Chinese extensions added to an English product.

Also, are prices comparable to those in the US, or is this potentially one electronics category where it's possible to get a better deal in China?

Thanks!