pda with a keyboard ?

Y

youpii

秀才
hi

I used to carry a small paper dictionary with me but more and more words I look up aren't in it. I saw many korean & japanese classmates with nice electronic dictionaries but they don't seem adapted to english speaking people.
So it seems that plecodict is a nice option, but I don't think I'll like typing pinyin with a pen, so is there any plecodict compatible pda that comes with a folding keyboard (like the electronic dictionaries) ? I saw that the palm phones have one but i think it's too small.
 
L

lmcjipo

榜眼
youpii said:
hi

I used to carry a small paper dictionary with me but more and more words I look up aren't in it. I saw many korean & japanese classmates with nice electronic dictionaries but they don't seem adapted to english speaking people.
So it seems that plecodict is a nice option, but I don't think I'll like typing pinyin with a pen, so is there any plecodict compatible pda that comes with a folding keyboard (like the electronic dictionaries) ? I saw that the palm phones have one but i think it's too small.
Click to expand...

I use a Treo 650 (PalmOS based PDA with integrated keyboard). The keyboard is small on this device and takes some time to get used to. However, for PlecoDict, the Treo 650 (as well as Treo 600)'s keyboard works fine. I don't recommend using the Treo to type/reply to an e-mail but for typing pinyin into Plecodict, it is fine/great/fast.

Most PDAs (PalmOS as well as Windows) work with a special PDA external wireless (infrared or bluetooth) keyboard. Most of these keyboards fold up so that they are no larger than the size of a large wallet. My friend has one for his Palm TX. I found that it works very well on his TX (although I'm not to crazy about the TX itself).

Simple search on Yahoo produces: http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8 ... 20keyboard
 
G

goulniky

榜眼
I'm the same, I haven't used Graffiti input for over a year and I wouldn't want to go back.
I have a Sony UX50, I just love the 'form factor' similar to the QTEK 9000 aka Orange SPV M5000), swivel hires screen (320x240) and small but proper keyboard , much better than on the Treo in my opinion (my wife has a 600 which I occasionaly use) but it's only a Palm PDA, not a smartphone.
Trouble with UX-50 is they no longer sell it in the US or Europe but you should easily find it on eBay or such like. I actually bought a second one (2nd hand) in case this one breaks. Only drawback with Sony is battery life, so I have an add-on battery I stick on when I travel. It has plenty enough memory but I still have an external memory stick. Also has WIFI, Bluetooth and a small camera, but I almost exclusively use it for Chinese nowadays, i.e. Pleco with CJKOS, CartTXT and more recently, PalmPDF. I use full screen handwriting recognition with Pleco and it works wonders. I also have installed an app. that let's me switch between landscape and portrait for cases I don't need the keyboard.
BTW, this is the Sony PEG-UX50, NOT the more recent Vaio UX50, which really is a UMPC.
 
Y

youpii

秀才
the additional keyboards are too bulky
the sony clie looks neat and there are a few other models availlable but they all look like discontinued
anyone know where I can buy theses in Shanghai for a good price ?

sometimes I feel like I should buy a Sharp Zaurus and write my own software...
 
G

goulniky

榜眼
can't help with the 上海 part but I would think it's not to hard to come by. True, the UX has the same form factor as the Zaurus, except smaller. As to writing your own software, what can I say... :?
 
mikelove

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
As to writing your own software, what can I say...
Click to expand...

Well it worked out pretty well for me :)

You certainly might want to try eBay for a used UX50 (or UX40, which has the same keyboard but lacks WiFi) - there are plenty of US-based sellers on there offering them, and most of them would probably be willing to ship to Shanghai as long as you covered the extra shipping costs (and paid them using a fraud-resistant method like a wire transfer).
 
G

goulniky

榜眼
uh Mike, when did you start writing your software and how long did it take again :lol: not to mention licensing deals and all the rest of it
 
mikelove

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
I was mostly kidding there, it did work out well for me but just getting version 1 out the door took a year and a half and most of my life savings to that point. So I wouldn't really recommend it... you could always try porting an existing Linux Chinese dictionary to a Zaurus, though; ZDT for example.
 
Y

youpii

秀才
Haha :)
I don't think making my own small dictionary would be such a problem but after a quick search, I believe that linux chinese IME don't have handwriting recognition and that's a major obstacle, I can't program that myself, I know nothing about those neural networks you need to implement the "quick stroke" algorithm MS IME 2003 seems to use.
 
G

goulniky

榜眼
Yeah, start small and easy and do it to suit your own needs, but this little thing will quickly become bigger and you'll wish you had all these 'little' features pleco or others have, search or performance will become an issue, you name it (thousands of embedded knowledge=man-hours).
Just go find a UX or some such, buy pleco and get on with it would be my advice (I guess what you want is a tool that works now so you can concentrate on improving your Chinese)
 
Y

youpii

秀才
Is the internal memory of the UX enough to run Plecodict ?
The manual says: "if it’s manufactured by Sony, you’ll want to purchase a Memory Stick – make sure that you purchase an “original” Memory Stick and not a “Pro” or “Duo” type", but it seems that anything bigger than 128MB in the shops is a Memory Stick Pro (Plecodict V2 with sound files will require 1GB).

What about speed ? Is the UX as fast as the newer Palm when searching with wildcards ?
 
mikelove

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
The UX's internal memory is fine, yes. The Memory Stick comment in the manual should probably be updated - the reason we have that stipulation about Pro actually has nothing to do with PlecoDict but rather with the fact that most Clies are too old to support MS Pro/Duo sticks - for the ones that do use it, it's perfectly OK to use with PlecoDict, so you should have no trouble with that 1 GB stick.

Speed-wise, the UX is less-than-stellar but should be plenty fast for wildcard searches - faster still once the ARM-accelerated 2.0 comes out. Not as fast as newer Palms, I'm afraid.
 
G

goulniky

榜眼
I'd love to do a printscreen on the UX but I don't think I can, unless you point me to a palm-based freeware utility that does it as I don't want to dig out the good old emulator and re-install PlecoDict on it. But I can guarantee that's it's really great, you just have to find the button config that works best for you. In fact, when you look at the 'official' screenshots, just imagine you have an extra 50% width with space for more function icons at top.
I use it mostly in landscape mode, now increasingly with list display on the right (the larger you set it obviously the less space you have for definitions), which I constantly toggle with handwriting recognition, something I always do full-screen.
Memory-wise, the UX has 64 MB of NAND Flash (called Int.Media) that is formatted and can be used as an internal memory stick, enough dictionaries (ABC 18Mb, NWP 2.5Mb). CPU performance is generally more than enough, though you might experience occasional issues doing open searches such as @<hanzi>
 
G

goulniky

榜眼
On the MS side, you have the QTEK 9000 smartphone, I had a chance to play with it recently, it's bulky and heavy but has a VGA screen, full keyboard and same form factor as the UX50.
 
Y

youpii

秀才
Thanks you for your help.

After a long investigation, I think I will buy a chinese "off the shelf" dictionary.
Most likely the 快易典 V680. It has a keyboard, a nice color screen, chinese handwriting recognition, 现代汉语词典（汉英双语） chi-chi-eng dictionary and a 朗文英汉双解活用词典 eng-chi dictionary. Menus can be in english or chinese.
For me the only drawbacks are
- lack of pinyin in the 朗文 dictionary but the cross references makes it easy to search in the 现代汉语词典 for the few characters I don't know
- pinyin input are by characters and not for entire words, but I guess I can live with that.
The biggest advantage is the price: about 1300/1400RMB street price, much lower than any PDA with keyboard.

I think pleco V2 will be great, but it's not availlable yet and is way above my budget if I want a PDA with keyboard and chi-chi dictionary.
 
G

goulniky

榜眼
Obviously, no smartphone can compete with such prices.
Anyway, just to say I had a chance to play with the QTEK 9000 last week, a VGA device with keyboard and all. I wouldn't go so far as saying it's the first UMTS pda phone with wifi as they claim. After all, it still has very limited storage, but it's certainly an amazing tool. Quite bulky though, and I'm not sure about the future of those hybrid devices. Their new WM5 smartphone with sliding keyboard (Qtek 9600 / HTC TyTN) would be a better choice in my view. Note that both are in the €750-€1000 price bracket.
 
G

gato

状元
Most likely the 快易典 V680. It has a keyboard, a nice color screen, chinese handwriting recognition, 现代汉语词典（汉英双语） chi-chi-eng dictionary and a 朗文英汉双解活用词典 eng-chi dictionary. Menus can be in english or chinese.
Click to expand...
It probably doesn't have a text reader, though, which means you can can't read electronic texts on it and do lookups. And what about flashcards, which is one of the biggest selling points of PlecoDict for many people?

A Palm Zire plus PlecoDict would together cost about US$200 (or RMB1700), with the only drawback that it doesn't have the keyboard.
 
G

goulniky

榜眼
Found this device online but I wasn't able to determine screen resolution other than it being a 3.6 inch screen (320x320 on the Zire).That's an important point to consider in my view :roll:
 
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