Pleco for Android 3.1 Beta 1

[stephanhodges]

Could you put a colored (red) thin line/bar UNDER the app bar, then?

(I won't keep pursuing this idea, but thought I'd mention the above as one thought for giving a good visual indicator rather than leaving it as an "unexpected" (for many) behavior.)

 

[mikelove]

The top left corner of the screen already is a visual indicator, in fact it's the official Android-approved visual indicator for this particular situation.

 

[Lijie]

Also wondering if you could make pleco available during 超省電模式on Samsung Galaxy S5.(don't really know what the qualifications are for it to be available during that mode but whatsapp and line manage to be available.)

 

[mikelove]

There doesn't seem to be an API for that, actually - I'm guessing it's something Samsung has to specifically decide to authorize your app for.

 

[kiraven]

• It doesn't crash if I first deinstall the old version and then do a clean install, although I would prefer to keep my settings.
• Filereader is working for me, I can open and read text files, but when I want to open a text file in Pleco via an external application, Solid explorer in my case, Pleco crashes
• also have the crash when playing an example sentence via TTS
• search button doesn't switch the focus to the search bar and open the keyboard anymore, I know that new cellphones don't have that button anymore, but if it exists its nice to use it and is part of my workflow - especially as it worked as a kind of back button / new search button before, so that it wasn't necesarry to hit the back button several times
• same for the hardware menu button - as Pleco doesn't seem to have a classical menu anymore, couldn't the menu button always open the side menu, or at least on the start page when the three bar icon is visible?

 

[ohlordamen]

I was finally able to get my wife’s phone and see that I was wrong on the way that the flashcards and dictionary (and others) worked between the two versions. The old version also has the Flashcards and Dictionary as separate tasks, sorry about that. So I guess I will be keeping the “Split” option on.
1) One bug I’ve noticed is that if I have started a flashcard test, leave and do other things, open the dictionary then swipe out the menu and click “Continue test” the multiple choice options are name (Img 4) “MC Button 1-5”. (Img 3) I’ve also had the MC buttons take up most of the screen in landscape.
2) Bug: (Img 2) In non split mode I had two flashcards tests going at that same time. Stated a flashcard test, clicked the home button, did things, opened Pleco, did things, then swiped to get the menu and click continue test. I then brought up running tasks and noticed I had tests going, one named “Pleco” and named “Pleco Flashcards”.
3) Bug: While editing a cards text when you click save button you get the same prompt as if you click the cancel button, but it Does save if you click yes.
4) I’ve had this happen before in Reader where part of the screen is black. (Img 1)
5) For the menu, it would be nice to be able to change the display order. I don’t use the OCR or Reader very often. So for me the order I would like would be Dictionary, Flashcards, Reader, Settings, OCR and Support
6) there is also a bug with the launchers, but I'll have to explain later.

 

[wibr]

quick thoughts:
- system: gnex with stock 4.3

- some crashes which are not really reproducable, e.g. when switching to night mode or loading the app
- I think alogcat only works on rooted phones, so is there any other way to send a crash log from not-rooted phones?

usability:
- the new back button behaviour takes some time to get used to but I think I got the pattern now...
- I think swiping from the very left inside handwriting should also draw out the menu, because most people won't use the edge area for writing I guess
- in character view I really have the tempation to swipe between DICT, STROKE, ...
- I use flashcards with 1-6 grading and the buttons really shouldn't be any smaller since I do this one-handed in all kinds of situations like on a bus, train etc.
- performance is worse than previous version (I think) but not much

aesthetics:
- not a big fan of using iOS7 icons on android, but it does make sense brand-wise...I still like the iOS6 icon
- also the blue glow around the icon when tapped is not 100% symmetric...a bit more on the bottom
- the flashcard grading button labels could be arranged with a little bit more care, e.g. centered
- I think the parenthesis around the tradional/simplified version don't use the custom font?
- I prefer the android menu over the iOS version (which closes across the screen and slides back out of sight to reopen for the next view)

iOS:
- in the description for Duogongneng there is a typo, "comparisions"

Overall nice update (like all updates before), although I am more anticipating the upcoming flashcards improvements and a German dicitonary

 

[mikelove]

@kiraven - which add-ons had you installed in the old version? Any user dictionaries? (trying to narrow down which specific old files might be causing problems on updating, as we haven't managed to sort that out yet)

Hardware menu buttons are actually still quite common thanks to Samsung, though I'm not sure if there's a straightforward way to intercept them and redirect them to the sidebar instead. (we do still have a classical menu in a few screens, but we may be able to force that to show as a popup even on devices with hardware buttons)

@ohlordamen - on 2), had you just switched out of multi-task mode? 5) is already an option, in Settings / Miscellaneous.

@wibr - if you download the Android developer tools you can easily extract them with an "adb logcat" command - lots of other useful things you can do that way too (direct installs/uninstalls of apps, remote access to a standard Unix shell on your phone to easily manage files, etc). Next beta should also be available on Google Play (which has automatic log collection) now that they've fixed their crash collection tools.

DICT/STROKE/etc swiping was something we thought about but we feel like it confuses metaphors a bit since you've already got the search screen to the 'left' and potentially additional definition screens to the 'right' - even swiping within STROKE was borderline but that one we felt was justifiable since it works so nicely in other respects.

Understood on smaller buttons, we switched to the 'smaller buttons' option by default but perhaps we should retain the checkbox to bring back the original button sizes.

iOS 7 icon is indeed a branding necessity - a considerable part of the financial justification for our Android app's continued development is that it eventually leads people to our iOS app (which is where we make most of our money), particularly these days with Android increasingly acting as a sort of a 'starter platform' for new smartphone users, so the icon like the new design is an attempt to create a consistent Pleco look / experience across both platforms.

With parentheses, we do use your custom Chinese font but that was a mistake - on iOS we use the (much narrower) versions of those parentheses from our built-in font even if you're using a different Chinese one and that's what we'll be doing on Android as well in Beta 2.

I agree on the slide-out Android menu but it also makes it harder to have a smooth transition - c.f. all of the complaints about lag; that full-screen bounce makes it much easier to hide the fact we're loading something else in the background. (though iOS' superior animation multitasking helps a lot on that front too)

 

[HW60]

The user dictionary is only deleted from within Pleco after a new start.

The information in DICT and WORDS is different from the information in 2.4.18. I disabled all dictionaries except PLC in Manage Dictionaries from dictionary, Reader, OCR etc. and deleted my user dictionary. In DICT I can find the information of PLC for the entry 学, but the informations from UNIHAN are also displayed. In WORDS I get information from ABC, GF, HDD, CC etc though they are disabled. I deleted the dictionaries from within Pleco - again a new start is required. Only then the information in WORDS is reduced to PLC information.

 

[mikelove]

This sounds like the expected behavior in WORDS (though the dictionaries should be disappearing immediately on deletion); there's an option in Settings to hide those UNI definitions if you don't want them (under definition screen interface), but in general in WORDS we now show you merged results from all dictionaries rather than filtering to just one. There's an option on iOS to exclude specific dictionaries from that list in WORDS, and we'll be bringing that option to Android as well in Beta 2, but we're not currently planning to bring back the dictionary switch button for that screen.

 

[Wan]

Not sure if this has been reported yet (sorry, not skimming through the whole thread): when inputting characters in the search field, I can only see the lower halfof tthem, they appear to be "elevated"and "crash through the ceiling" of the screen. Characters are flawlessly displayed in dictionary entries though.

edit: running Plecodict on an unlocked, rooted Xperia Mini running ICS.

 

[kiraven]

I think I also could get used to swiping the menu in, didn't know that was possible would it be easier/feasible to intercept the hardware search button?
I had user dictonaries, mainly MOE, the greatest free dictionary available
Besides, I have OCR, TTS (Hui), Reader, Flashcards, Stroke Order, Extended Audio and a lot of paid and free dictionaries.

 

[ohlordamen]

@mikelove on 2), had you just switched out of multi-task mode? 5) is already an option, in Settings / Miscellaneous.
If I do switch the, I bring up the task manager and close all Pleco tasks. So to double check I rebooted the phone and checked the setting, “split tasks” is unchecked. I was able to reproduce it a few times throughout the day. You can see in the pictures, the “Pleco” test and the “Pleco Flashcards” test are progressing differently. But even when I have split tasks checked, If I have a flashcards test going on and click Home, do other stuff, then open Pleco to search for something I’m taken back to the test, and have to then swipe and click on the dictionary. So they don’t seem to be fully split like in the old version. (Img 5-6)
Thanks for the info on #5. Much better.

Bugs: 1) Fill-in-the-blanks & Tone practice. During a test if you click on a word, bring up the popup then click the arrow to the full definition, when you return you now have four boxes where you can fill in the blanks. The Green/Red indications are gone. You can rotate to landscape and back to bring the color back but now the words are missing. (Img 1-4)

2) Fill-in-the-blank test: After you have answered the question and click the paintbrush, once you start to write Pleco crashes.

3) In Tone practice the first card starts with the curse in the pinyin box, but all the rest of the cards you have to click in the box before you are able to select the tone. (Img 7-8)

A few times I’ve gotten a pop up at the end of a test when it is complete as if I had hit the “New test” button. (Img 9)

 

[burdenofhope]

I just installed the 3.1 beta on my Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. After updating, I couldn't open the app, it always crashed (someone here already mentioned that). A clean reinstall solved that problem.

First of all I want to say that I like the layout, it has a nice feel to it. Now to the things I noticed/didn't like.

1. I have been playing around with the dictionary for two hours straight and I still cannot seem to grasp the dictionary search function. I do not like merged dictionary searches and I can't find an option to turn it off. When I disable all dictionary groups I can only search through the dictionary that is listed first under "Manage Dictionaries". I like to toggle through the dictionaries one by one in a two-panel layout, the left bar including all the words starting with the one I was looking for sorted by pinyin+length. Plus, I would like to see only the examples from the dictionary I am currently using and not from all the dictionaries.

2. After I could not find the option to disable merged search, I created my own dictionary group with four or five dictionaries. Now when I disable "All Chinese Dicts" Pleco only looks through the first dictionary in my custom group, when I re-enable "All Chinese Dicts" I can see all of my chosen dicts (see attached screenshots).



3. What is the benefit of putting the name of the dictionary next to the word in the word bar when the word can be found in more than one dictionary?



4. I can confirm the lags, not only upon choosing from the sidebar but also scrolling in the settings or within the dictionary and switching between example sentences, compounds and so forth.

5. The first 20 or 30 times I started the app I always got the welcome screen, this has stopped by now.

6. There are some typos: in the settings it says FLASCHARDS, under "Registration" you get "Active any new items .."

7. How can I remove the up and down buttons next to the input field? The input field itself is too small for my taste ..



Thanks a lot for your constant work on this amazing app.

 

[ohlordamen]

@burdenofhope #7 is a bug, you have close (kill it) Pleco and reopen. I get the same issue while rotating the phone (or it thinks you are rotating, mine seems to be sensitive) and turning the screen off or hitting the home button.

 

[Taichi]

I found the quick input bar quite convenient to trigger the search as I don't need to care about the back button behaviour. However, I think it's better to move the quick input bar to the bottom of the screen as it's closer to the onscreen keyboard.

 

[Taichi]

I just found that the list ui setting of "Organize Cards" is based on "Search screen->List layout" instead of "Flashcards->LIST VIEWS"

 

[mikelove]

@Wan - thanks; this is in landscape orientation, right? Or does it happen regardless of orientation?

@kiraven - the search button is almost never seen on modern Android phones, so it's tough to justify doing much with it.

@ohlordamen - Understood on task switching, still trying to nail that one down. Thanks for the other reports, have to do a better job of saving / restoring the previous state in a few of these flashcard bug cases it seems.

@burdenofhope - on #1, after disabling dictionary groups you have to also enable the individual dictionaries; turn off "skip over on button tap" in each of their individual Manage Dictionaries screens.

On #2, which dictionaries were in your "TES" group? Any chance there might have only been ABC to begin with?

#3 is meant to tell you which dictionary the definition you're seeing came from, but we should probably hide it when you've configured the interface to show minimal (or no) definitions, or anytime the list is this narrow.

#5 sounds like Pleco's preferences failing to save - how did you (usually) exit Pleco those first 20 times? Did it crash a lot?

@Taichi - good point on the QIB, no reason not to put it on the very bottom in vertically stacked layouts. Thanks for the Organize note.

 

[alex_hk90]

On my Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, the lag is quite significant when switching to/from day/night mode (using the button in the top-bar next to the simplified/traditional button).

Also, on the MOE user dictionary, the first "<" character seems to be rendered in a different font/style/character than the corresponding ">".

 

[mikelove]

You mean a couple of seconds, right? That's normal - have to almost relaunch the entire app in order to change its theme for Night Mode. (the switch is faster on iOS because we do all of our UI on that in code instead of with resources)

<> are also a problem in Pocket Oxford, we're working on that.