Android Phone .. Which one to buy?

[mikelove]

Frankly I dont remember. Everybody is talking. I expected iPhone5 in June, but then I found some news doubting that it will come in 2011 (while others suggested something like September).
I happen to care about the camera, and it is being said that it wont be upgraded.

The most widespread reports now suggest it'll launch in the fall with iOS 5 - that's been their standard operating procedure for years, debut a new iOS version along with a new phone that takes full advantage of it. It would be very strange to see a new OS and no new phone alongside it.

There've also been quite a few reports regarding the iPhone 5's camera sensor and it seems highly likely that would be upgraded - the technology gets better every year, there's almost no reason for them not to. The only reason I could think of would be that they were pushing the envelope thickness-wise (an iPhone 5 that's as thin as an iPod Touch, though that seems unlikely for battery life reasons) and are applying the extra year-and-a-half worth of technological improvements towards a smaller camera rather than a higher-resolution or lower-noise one.

I am now regretting not buying a contract-free SGS2. I have learned that IMEI is sent to operator at every call and that many apps access this hardware identifies and sent it online.
I do not like this because in the case of a contract phone, the IMEI is related to your real identity, and this is a major privacy issue.
I will be trying to change my IME after I get the phone, now my question is, will I have problems with Pleco if I change the IMEI?

We do use the IMEI number, so you'd need to re-register Pleco if you change it, but that's just a matter of entering your Registration ID again. For what it's worth, though, we never do anything with the IMEI directly, we scramble it (using a one-way hashing system) before it ever reaches our server so that there's no possibility it might be traced back to your identity. Most responsible developers do likewise, though it's a bit odd that Google makes the raw IMEI accessible to apps at all - even way back in Windows Mobile 5 Microsoft locked it down so that you could only access a scrambled version of it.

But, the Desire is an already older phone. The upside is you can probably pick it up cheap(er), the downside is it will probably get one more upgrade to 2.3 and that will be it. If you can live with that, great phone!

That's true, though you can already run 2.3 on it with CyanogenMod, and it's popular enough that it seems more likely than not that it'll be unofficially upgradable to Ice Cream Sandwich too.

 

[kribu]

Hi,

I would like to buy Samsung GT-S5830 Galaxy Ace (OS Android 2.2 )? I was wondering if I could run Pleco with it? Maybe somebody have some experiences to share ?

Thanks!

 

[Wan]

I held the Motorola Defy in my hands today. Apart from other features, it specs a 3.7" screen, which happens to be bigger than my Touch Diamond's 3" screen.
I used the app Draw(er) to just write some random characters in full screen using my index finger.
I now know that I will never buy the Sony-Ericsson Xperia Mini /Mini Pro (which I like for their size and technical specs), because they have a 3" screen, which will be horrible to use. My Touch Diamond came with a stylus and I enjoy this feature very much. It's so much more accurate! Even on the small input field, complex characters are easily writable, no problem. But with my clumsy fingers, I have problems writing even on 3.7" full screen a character like the family name 殷. The strokes sometimes glitch and are drawn towards the end of the screen. So, since stylus controlled devices are hard to be found nowadays, a 3.7" screen is the minimum I am willing to use, though the devices are bulky. Sorry, I just had to vent my anger…
The Defy / Defy+ are nice, though.

 

[dng88]

I wonder whether it make sense to have a phone like this

Samsung Galaxy M Pro ( http://thisismynext.com/2011/08/24/sams ... ng-scheme/ )

I like my old Palm Treo and even though I have bought over the years (for the family) about 10 iphone/ipad device, I am thinking about getting a keyboard ... with that I wonder whether

a) this is useful for pleco (and Chinesepod) which I use a lot
b) as a andoroid device in general (as I saw some comment that it is too small to have 3" and how that is even smaller than 3")

Just wonder as it is cheap only US$170 for the M Pro with front camera (which I think I can use skype for ChinesePod lessons).

New to Android and any advice would be welcome.

BTW, is the Voice Recognition only for Android device?

Dennis Ng

 

[mikelove]

BTW, is the Voice Recognition only for Android device?

At the moment, but there's a lot of reason to think that Apple's adding built-in voice recognition in iOS 5, and assuming they do (and that it supports Chinese) we'd probably have Pleco hooked in to use it soon after iOS 5 launches.

 

[dng88]

Thanks for the emperor's reply on VR. Just wonder whether it might be paid option under iOS5. I am not sure about Apple built in Chinese related feature. They take a lot time and still does not have the easy Cangji input. Their character recogn. in handwriting is very annoyingly bad. Yours are much better. (The only issue I do not switch to yours purely is that yours does not have predictive text input and hence really require to write all strokes. Being a Trad. Chinese guys, it is very tiring. Hence, I switch to yours when the Apple cannot recogn. certain characters. That happen quite a lot.)

Back to our original post, may I ask anyone advice to get this keyboard one Galaxy M Pro.

Or should I get a cheap tablet with 2.3. It is mainly for my Putonghua learning and hence do not want to invest too much. I get a i3GS for mainland calls and hence the idea of the M Pro (for Chinese Pod Lessons). I carry a iPad 1 and hence the alternative idea of switch to this tablet. ...

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[mikelove]

Thanks for the emperor's reply on VR. Just wonder whether it might be paid option under iOS5. I am not sure about Apple built in Chinese related feature. They take a lot time and still does not have the easy Cangji input. Their character recogn. in handwriting is very annoyingly bad. Yours are much better. (The only issue I do not switch to yours purely is that yours does not have predictive text input and hence really require to write all strokes. Being a Trad. Chinese guys, it is very tiring. Hence, I switch to yours when the Apple cannot recogn. certain characters. That happen quite a lot.)

Honestly, it's unlikely we'd offer a paid / licensed one if Apple has one built-in; there's not as much variation in quality between Chinese voice recognition systems as there is between handwriting input systems (actually a good bit easier to differentiate between ~1000 commonly-used syllable+tone combinations than between 10,000 handwritten characters in a variety of styles / mixed-up stroke orders / etc) and I don't think a system we'd licensed would offer enough benefit to generate a lot of sales. It also seems to be somewhat difficult to license an offline (non-internet-connection-dependent) Chinese speech recognition library on iOS. But if their system doesn't support Chinese (or is so terrible at it as to be almost unusable) I suppose we could consider licensing one.

We actually do support basic predictive input, but it's not on by default - Settings / Panels / Handwriting interface / Show 2nd chars on tap. (another brilliantly-named preference setting, I know...)

 

[dng88]

Omg! That saves me tones of input time just one advice! Not sure I understand what is meant by "show on clear too" but once turn on 2nd char, great ...

Just bought a Asus Transformer today with keyboard. It have a kind of freedom feel after working with iphone original (the 2g) to the Ip4 and ipad1 for "many years". You can even use a mouse with this Asus! I am not attacking Apple - i look around my 10 apple devices around me. But ... I am with one feet on each boat just in case ...

Anyway, no idea yet how to use this tablet, as never use any Android before. I guess it will sometimes before I post any more again - I have to find out how to switch language input (other than the annoyingly need to push the language keyboard icon), get the voice input to work then how to install this Beta.

More priority is to try to find a lisp interpreter to finish my lisp alien book.

Perhaps can check this out in next month, hopefully by the skype would support that front camera

.

 

[mikelove]

Omg! That saves me tones of input time just one advice! Not sure I understand what is meant by "show on clear too" but once turn on 2nd char, great ...

That means that it also brings up the list of second characters when you clear the drawing area by tapping on it with two fingers. (saves an extra tap if your handwriting is good enough that the first result is usually correct, but some people like to clear and then select a character so we don't do this automatically since it would cause problems for them)

 

[Henricus]

What about the smaller Samsung phones?
I have a Samsung Galaxy mini. Will the character recognition work properly on this phone?

 

[mikelove]

What about the smaller Samsung phones?
I have a Samsung Galaxy mini. Will the character recognition work properly on this phone?

I don't think we've gotten a lot of reports on that yet... it will probably work but a screen that small makes it a bit awkward. Since you can try it out in the free demo version, though, I'd suggest that you install that and see for yourself whether or not the ergonomics are acceptable.

 

[dng88]

Omg! That saves me tones of input time just one advice! Not sure I understand what is meant by "show on clear too" but once turn on 2nd char, great ...

Just bought a Asus Transformer today with keyboard. It have a kind of freedom feel after working with iphone original (the 2g) to the Ip4 and ipad1 for "many years". You can even use a mouse with this Asus! I am not attacking Apple - i look around my 10 apple devices around me. But ... I am with one feet on each boat just in case ...

Anyway, no idea yet how to use this tablet, as never use any Android before. I guess it will sometimes before I post any more again - I have to find out how to switch language input (other than the annoyingly need to push the language keyboard icon), get the voice input to work then how to install this Beta.

More priority is to try to find a lisp interpreter to finish my lisp alien book.

Perhaps can check this out in next month, hopefully by the skype would support that front camera

.

Sorry to sidetrack but I cannot find the predictive text feature under android version I finally bought yesterday.

 

[mikelove]

Sorry to sidetrack but I cannot find the predictive text feature under android version I finally bought yesterday.

Go into the Android Settings app / Locale and text; is there an alternate input method selectable there?

 

[sofamensch]

I got the Galaxy I9000. Its a great phone and I tried like every official and unofficial firmware, and Pleco runs just great on anything.

The choice of phone is now just a question of personal taste.
I suggest you to not get a to small screen if you intend to use Pleco a lot.

 

[dng88]

Sorry to sidetrack but I cannot find the predictive text feature under android version I finally bought yesterday.

Go into the Android Settings app / Locale and text; is there an alternate input method selectable there?

The setting seems to be

Android menu
--> Dictionary
--> User Interface
--> Input Methods
--> Handwriting Input
--> Second chars on tap <-- enable

Also,
Android menu
--> Dictionary
--> Search Setting
--> Input processing
--> Enable Suggestion<-- enable

Together this looks like a "normal" Chinese input system .

Also, use Google Pinyin and "Nine Square" can be selected under Key and press the "?123" to select the input method if the built in Pleco one is not what you want.