rumination
Member
OK, I just saw that it is possible to run Pleco on the new Palm Pre. That gives me another good option...
Google Android
- Thread starter westmeadboy
- Start date
And actually, much like the Pre, a lot of newer WM phones have built-in support for mounting their internal storage drives via USB - standard interface, no extra drivers required, so that should be a fine way to transfer files / install software to them via Linux. Doesn't take care of PIM data sync, but since most people keep that stuff in the cloud nowadays anyway it's getting to be less and less significant. (heck, even on Windows the iPhone's PIM data sync is borderline at best)
rumination
Member
Thanks for the tip on that Mike.
I just checked prices on unlocked Palm Pre, and although I'm not sure they're even available yet, it looks like they'll be going for at least $600. :shock:
I'll hang on to my Treo for as long as it's still functional, I suppose, and then I'll probably have to decide between the Pre or a less expensive WinMo phone. The iPhone is probably right out, I don't think I can even get music onto it easily from Linux. Does the HTC Touch Pro mount as a USB storage device?
I just checked prices on unlocked Palm Pre, and although I'm not sure they're even available yet, it looks like they'll be going for at least $600. :shock:
I'll hang on to my Treo for as long as it's still functional, I suppose, and then I'll probably have to decide between the Pre or a less expensive WinMo phone. The iPhone is probably right out, I don't think I can even get music onto it easily from Linux. Does the HTC Touch Pro mount as a USB storage device?
Well there may be cheaper Pres, or other webOS devices, out by the end of the year, but yes, they are kind of pricey at the moment.
I believe the Touch Pro can be mounted as a USB device, yes - I know the similarly-equipped Touch Diamond can, at least. It might require a custom firmware image, but those are pretty easy to find / install, and being a Linux user you might find the ability to customize the contents of your device's ROM appealing anyway - seems like many if not most of the tech-savvy PlecoForums users with HTC devices are running some sort of custom firmware these days. (helps with performance, among other things)
I believe the Touch Pro can be mounted as a USB device, yes - I know the similarly-equipped Touch Diamond can, at least. It might require a custom firmware image, but those are pretty easy to find / install, and being a Linux user you might find the ability to customize the contents of your device's ROM appealing anyway - seems like many if not most of the tech-savvy PlecoForums users with HTC devices are running some sort of custom firmware these days. (helps with performance, among other things)
character
状元
So, there is at least one consumer "Android" PDA/iPod Touch-like device coming:
Creative Zii Egg Plaszma: Android-Wielding iPod Touch
Creative Zii Egg Plaszma: Android-Wielding iPod Touch
character
状元
I would expect Creative to do so.
http://www.ziilabs.com/aboutus/welcome.aspx
"ZiiLABS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Creative Technology [....]"
http://www.ziilabs.com/aboutus/welcome.aspx
"ZiiLABS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Creative Technology [....]"
Right, but the coverage of this on the gadget blogs seemed to indicate Creative was developing this as a platform but weren't immediately planning to make a consumer product out of it (though they were hoping others would). Though Creative's good for pulling Google in the direction of making Android more game-friendly, and game-friendly equals Pleco-friendly for our purposes since it implies better / easier development in native code.
Hi,
Just adding my vote to Pleco for Android also. I currently have a HTC Touch Dual with WM6.1 but want to upgrade to a HTC Hero. Would love to have Pleco running on that too. Otherwise I have to resort back to using the cantodict web page again :-( Nothing against Cantodict (Adam does a great job actually) but Pleco's faster and more complete.
Also an interesting article that says Android is pulling ahead of Windows Mobile:
http://androidandme.com/2009/07/mobile- ... ws-mobile/
I think the same way. Windows Mobile was the OS for hardware vendors that wanted to develop a phone but didn't want to write their own software. WM was the only choice in this space (Symbian is too close to Nokia for most vendors). Now with Android out there and with no licensing costs I see it replacing (or at least) competing in the same space as Windows Mobile.
Cheers
Mark
PS: I've read through the thread. I understand your limitations and reluctance in doing an Android port (or more than one platform anyway). But wanted to post this anyway. WM may not be a viable platform in the long term.
Just adding my vote to Pleco for Android also. I currently have a HTC Touch Dual with WM6.1 but want to upgrade to a HTC Hero. Would love to have Pleco running on that too. Otherwise I have to resort back to using the cantodict web page again :-( Nothing against Cantodict (Adam does a great job actually) but Pleco's faster and more complete.
Also an interesting article that says Android is pulling ahead of Windows Mobile:
http://androidandme.com/2009/07/mobile- ... ws-mobile/
I think the same way. Windows Mobile was the OS for hardware vendors that wanted to develop a phone but didn't want to write their own software. WM was the only choice in this space (Symbian is too close to Nokia for most vendors). Now with Android out there and with no licensing costs I see it replacing (or at least) competing in the same space as Windows Mobile.
Cheers
Mark
PS: I've read through the thread. I understand your limitations and reluctance in doing an Android port (or more than one platform anyway). But wanted to post this anyway. WM may not be a viable platform in the long term.
Well I'm not prepared to bury Windows Mobile unless and until Windows Mobile 7 is considered a disappointment too (and probably not even then, since it'll be sharing enough code with the desktop Windows version to make sense even if its sales dwindle to what Palm OS' are now) - they may be hurting at the moment, but nobody's ever made money betting against Microsoft, and personally I have a lot more confidence in their commitment to native software developers than Google's, given the existence of Chrome OS and the fact that it's very much in Google's corporate interest to have everybody move entirely to web-based software. Not to mention the fact that what we do is similar enough to what they do that the idea of a Google Chinese dictionary web app is well within the realm of possibility - heck, they already sort-of have one.
Interesting that you mention the web-based Cantodict rather than one of the offline Android Chinese dictionaries, though - a web-based version of Pleco would be a heck of a lot easier than a native Android port, and with the rush to upgrade networks the "faster" argument may start to fade too. One native platform would be enough to satisfy the people who were frequently out of network coverage, I think. And of course with a web-based dictionary we'd get Symbian and BlackBerry support as an added bonus.
Interesting that you mention the web-based Cantodict rather than one of the offline Android Chinese dictionaries, though - a web-based version of Pleco would be a heck of a lot easier than a native Android port, and with the rush to upgrade networks the "faster" argument may start to fade too. One native platform would be enough to satisfy the people who were frequently out of network coverage, I think. And of course with a web-based dictionary we'd get Symbian and BlackBerry support as an added bonus.
westmeadboy
榜眼
For anyone in China, interested in buying the best Android phone out there at the moment, you can get the HTC Hero from expansys here:
http://www.expansys.cn/d.aspx?i=185175
http://www.expansys.cn/d.aspx?i=186339
Promise I'm not getting commission!
I just ordered mine - can't wait
http://www.expansys.cn/d.aspx?i=185175
http://www.expansys.cn/d.aspx?i=186339
Promise I'm not getting commission!
I just ordered mine - can't wait
character
状元
http://gizmodo.com/5334773/dell-android ... e-in-china
"Dell is expected to draw back the curtain on the "Ophone mini3i" in the next few days."
"Dell is expected to draw back the curtain on the "Ophone mini3i" in the next few days."
rumination
Member
Hi Mike,
Have you given any more thought to the Android platform? It seems to be building up some steam with a number of manufacturers now. Might be a good next step once you've got the iphone version finished.
Have you given any more thought to the Android platform? It seems to be building up some steam with a number of manufacturers now. Might be a good next step once you've got the iphone version finished.
Our next project after iPhone is our desktop companion software, because we've been putting that off for way too long and some of the painstakingly-negotiated licenses for it may expire if we don't get on top of it soon. (not to mention the number of people we've kept waiting)
After that, though, I'm not sure whether we'd do an Android or a web-based version; assuming we can get the licenses together (which looks pretty promising), there's a strong case for the latter, since in addition to supporting Android it would also let us do something for BlackBerry users, who I tend to think are considerably less likely to consider an iPhone / Windows Mobile / webOS phone than Android users, since a lot of them are locked into BlackBerry by their employers. And of course we'd also get to support Symbian, Maemo, weird-proprietary-Samsung-OS, etc. The business case for offline software grows weaker with each passing year, and Android even with its new native code support looks to be a very difficult platform to port to; the small number of people who really need to be able to use Pleco on airplanes / in the middle of nowhere where there's no cell coverage / etc would still have iPhone, WM, and webOS to choose from.
Also, of course, we need to get cracking on new versions of our existing software, since there are a lot of new features in the queue for that - component-based character searches, all sorts of flashcard improvements, sandhi-sensitive audio, better custom dictionary indexing, online dictionary update submission, built-in support for getting a new keyfile / downloading add-ons, etc. Not to mention a couple of categories of dictionary we'd very much like to secure licenses for. We can't put all of our efforts into platform support at the expense of new features.
After that, though, I'm not sure whether we'd do an Android or a web-based version; assuming we can get the licenses together (which looks pretty promising), there's a strong case for the latter, since in addition to supporting Android it would also let us do something for BlackBerry users, who I tend to think are considerably less likely to consider an iPhone / Windows Mobile / webOS phone than Android users, since a lot of them are locked into BlackBerry by their employers. And of course we'd also get to support Symbian, Maemo, weird-proprietary-Samsung-OS, etc. The business case for offline software grows weaker with each passing year, and Android even with its new native code support looks to be a very difficult platform to port to; the small number of people who really need to be able to use Pleco on airplanes / in the middle of nowhere where there's no cell coverage / etc would still have iPhone, WM, and webOS to choose from.
Also, of course, we need to get cracking on new versions of our existing software, since there are a lot of new features in the queue for that - component-based character searches, all sorts of flashcard improvements, sandhi-sensitive audio, better custom dictionary indexing, online dictionary update submission, built-in support for getting a new keyfile / downloading add-ons, etc. Not to mention a couple of categories of dictionary we'd very much like to secure licenses for. We can't put all of our efforts into platform support at the expense of new features.
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Android-based Archos 5-inch Internet Tablet coming September 15 with (you guessed it) an AppsLib store
I for one am frequently out of wifi range when I need to use Pleco (studying on a bus).
I for one am frequently out of wifi range when I need to use Pleco (studying on a bus).
rumination
Member
Thanks for the reply Mike. As much as I am disappointed I do understand.
I will need an offline version of Pleco, for sure. When I'm traveling in China a web based version won't do me much good, and I don't even have a data plan for my US cell phone service. I may just buy another Treo 650 for cheap when the one I have bites the dust and just wait it out to see what developments happen in the WebOS/iPhone/WinMo world. If a GSM quadband unlocked version of the Pre becomes available I might just have to wait for the price to drop to something reasonable.
I will need an offline version of Pleco, for sure. When I'm traveling in China a web based version won't do me much good, and I don't even have a data plan for my US cell phone service. I may just buy another Treo 650 for cheap when the one I have bites the dust and just wait it out to see what developments happen in the WebOS/iPhone/WinMo world. If a GSM quadband unlocked version of the Pre becomes available I might just have to wait for the price to drop to something reasonable.
Well that's not to say it could never happen, just that it'd be a while before we got around to it - desktop really does need to be our next priority, both to provide us with something that doesn't have to be rewritten for Awesome New Mobile Platform #437 every couple of years and in anticipation of 2010 being the Year Of The Touchscreen Netbook / Tablet. (some of which may be running Android, but I suspect the Windows- and OSX-based ones will be more widely available and sell better)
radioman
状元
Just a note that data in China is quite cheap mine is like 3 USD for 150mb, which between wifi free connections (in all the coffee shops including Starbucks) and being out and about on an Edge data connection, suits me just fine. I would prefer a data plan in China to the U.S. any day.
3G plans are a bit more pricey but still reasonable compared to the US, and voice is cheap as well.
3G plans are a bit more pricey but still reasonable compared to the US, and voice is cheap as well.