Feature request...Chromecast Support ! :)

[thefriendlygeek]

I would like to suggest Chromecast support for pleco in a future release. It would be useful in a few different usage modes.
1) Screen Mirroring - I believe this can already be done on phones with supporting hardware, but is there a way to get our older devices to mirror with a different chromecast method?
2) Dual or second screen modes:
A) Flash card lists on phone/tablet for teacher, chromecast displays one card at a time for learner.
B) Chromecast displays pin yin, or says voice sample, each learner's android phone/tablet used as character input device. There could also be a method to buzz in to give a spoken answer to seeing text on chromecast.
C) Use android phone/tablet as voice input, and text input for app on Chromecast in all modes.

If anyone else has good ideas of how the chromecast could aid in shared learning, let us know.

I currently use a android device with HDMI out and bluetooth input devices to approximate some of these teaching/learning modes, but it is a fairly clunky compared to how some gamified chromecast apps work.
Also, many media apps deliver a great second screen experience for remotely controlling, and providing easy ways to access additional info on the media without interrupting the presentation of the media on the chromecast.
This could facilitate helping learners who learn at different paces. For example, the Chinese traditional style of listening to the teacher while he/she presents the lesson, could be supplemented with the learners curiosity to explore more example sentences, synonyms, antonyms, etc, with letting the learner stray too for from the vocabulary list. Suggested feature 2A would likely best suited for this type of use.

Thanks again Pleco developers for continuing to make your awesome product better. I still recommend all my friends to get Pleco if they have any interest in learning Chinese.
BTW - I will be starting a Chinese conversation class in my home soon, so you'll likely have a few more customers from this

 

[mikelove]

Possible, but I think we'd have to narrow the feature list down somewhat initially - it might actually play off of / share some elements with what we're thinking about doing for smartwatch apps (ironic given that they're at opposite ends of the screen size spectrum, but actually somewhat logical in terms of simplified / multi-screen UI). Main question would be whether to start out focusing on classroom or home use.

 

[Taichi]

One feature that might helpful is auto-play flashcard/history words. Auto-play means first play audio then followed by displaying the headword of the word (optionally with definition), then automatically continue to the next word. In that way user can paasively review flashcards and practice the pronunciation.
Actually this can be done on phone as well. Similar thing can be already achieved by flashcard test with show=audio setting, but user needs to push the button manually. If I can do this on the phone (or smartwatch), I can passively review flashcards while walking or exc, or my idle time.

 

[mikelove]

Yeah, that's been on our radar for quite a few years actually - originally we though we'd make it purely voice-driven but a small wrist screen certainly adds some interesting possibilities. (even if only as a monitor / status report for what's mostly happening in your ears)