HTC TyTN II - Pleco Compatible?

[thph2006]

http://www.htc.com/product/03-product_tytn_II.htm

I've been looking for an all-in-one travel device to give me phone and internet connectivity as well as the ability to listen to my Chinese learning mp3s, use PlecoDict, find my way around China using GPS and look up unfamiliar Chinese characters on street signs/shop signs by handwriting the hanzi into the PDA. After a long painful research process I think I'm ready to take the dive and get the new HTC TyTN II smartphone. My question is, given it's new and a Windows Mobile 6 device, has anyone actually tried it on a US or mainland Chinese phone network or used it with PlecoDict? Does it work? How well?

Thanks for the feedback!
Tom

 

[mikelove]

At the moment, PlecoDict is not fully compatible with Windows Mobile 6; it seems to launch/run well enough, but pretty much any time you select text in the definition field it crashes, and there are a couple of other definition-field-related actions that also seem to cause crashes. So it should be usable on WM6, and plenty of people are using it successfully, but it's annoyingly crash-prone and there are a couple of functions you basically have to avoid using.

This problem will be rectified in Pleco 2.0, but while the first beta-test version of that is scheduled for release next week, that test version will have a lot of bugs in it; for a (nearly) crash-free version you'd have to wait a few more months.

So basically, the TyTN II should be a fine choice for the long term, but you'd have a less-than-ideal Pleco experience on it in the short term.

 

[xiaoruiming]

hi, i have a tytn II and i´m wating for 2.0 to come out cause 1.0 crashes and i don´t have money to pay 1.0 and then 2.0 when release... i urgently need a kind of this software (have exames and stuff), do you think while i'm waiting the release i could use beta version? i ll definility buy it when release.... ;P

 

[mikelove]

Actually, you get all of 2.0 except for the new dictionaries as a free upgrade if you buy the Professional or Complete version now; if you buy the Basic version the upgrade costs $10 but since we're raising the price of the Basic by $10 when we release 2.0 it all evens out. And that includes access to the beta, so if you buy the software now you can immediately go in and start using the beta version (and also see if 1.0 is stable enough to work for you - it's not really that bad on most WM6 systems).

 

[bdwaldie]

I am looking at getting the TyTN II as well and am wondering if outside of just pleco dict there is any problem viewing and typing chinese characters. I've read that with the software the phone comes with internet pages and sms messages with chinese just show up as blocks and you can't type in chinese characters for contact names etc. Has anyone rectified this problem or know of any software that can? I need to figure this out before I buy the phone. Thanks for your help.

 

[Shadowdh]

I am looking at getting the TyTN II as well and am wondering if outside of just pleco dict there is any problem viewing and typing chinese characters. I've read that with the software the phone comes with internet pages and sms messages with chinese just show up as blocks and you can't type in chinese characters for contact names etc. Has anyone rectified this problem or know of any software that can? I need to figure this out before I buy the phone. Thanks for your help.

If you get the TyTN II in China (or Taiwan I guess) you might get a chinese character program with it (sorry it escapes me which one it is right now) but even if you dont you can get CEStar (or even Monster Chinese) that would work no problems, this is on mine and I used it in China for several months with no problem. I also use pleco and pleco 2 and have no problems with either (except for the bugs in the beta of pleco 2 of course). I had dozens of sms's from my Chinese friends (and teachers) and 中国联通 in Chinese, with no problems...