First beta of the next dot-x update, with a few nice new mostly-flashcard-oriented features. Basically, we think it's going to be a little while yet before we have our flashcard database format revamp done and we wanted to get some much-requested improvements for those in before then.
If you previously signed up for beta testing through Google Play, this new beta should show up as an update within a few hours. Otherwise, you can get it:
a) Through Google Play. Sign up for our Android Beta Testing group at:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/pleco-android-beta-testing
And then sign up for beta versions of Pleco at:
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.pleco.chinesesystem
after which you should be able to get it right from them. (this isn't up yet but should be in a few hours)
b) Directly from our website; APK at:
http://cdn.pleco.com/androidapps/plecodroid-140909.apk
The Google Play version makes it easier for us to collect crash reports, so please use that one if you can.
List of changes:
* Added Cantonese support to flashcards; enable this in New Test / Display / Use Cantonese. (paid flashcard add-on only) This applies everywhere - display of cards but also audio playback and even fill-in-the blanks / tone practice. When you enable "Use Cantonese" a prompt will appear to offer to fill in Cantonese readings for cards that don't have them; you can also do this through Organize Cards / Edit / Batch, and assuming that you have Cantonese enabled, Pleco wil automatically attempt to add Cantonese readings for any new cards when you create or import them.
In import files, to import Cantonese enclose it in {} brackets and put it at the end of the second column (where Pinyin normally goes); for consistency we currently only accept / output Jyutping romanization in flashcard import/export files.
* Added the option to repeat incorrect cards during a flashcard test instead of at the end of it, via a new "time" option for "repeat incorrect" (in New Test / Commands). This will happen at a fixed but customizable interval after the incorrect answer - we don't try to SRS it (we're unconvinced that that would help). If any incorrect cards are still pending at the end of the test, it will continue cycling through those until you get each of them correct (as with the current repeat incorrect / loop behavior).
* Added support for efficiently adding example sentences to flashcards. Go into Settings / Definition screen and turn on "+ button for each example" to enable that; after you do, a flashcard + button will appear at the end of every example sentence (if it includes English).
* Added new commands in Edit / Organize Cards / Batch to automatically generate missing simplified, traditional, Mandarin, and Cantonese readings for cards. Also added a option to Import Cards to invoke this behavior in imports. We also added options to delete the current contents of those fields (in case you find yourself with some Cantonese you want to remove, say), to remove hidden custom definitions (we leave those in your database if you remap cards to the dictionary), and to swap the simplified / traditional fields (in case you import some cards incorrectly and don't catch it right away).
* Made Cantonese work better when the Mandarin pronunciation mode is set to "blank" (so that there's no Mandarin displayed at all) - Cantonese readings + audio buttons should now appear correctly in that case.
* Made multiple-choice choices appear in a smaller font / prompt for confirmation (if you've enabled the relevant option in Test Settings) for characters and Pinyin/Zhuyin (not just English) if the text is long enough to need it.
* Added a tap-hold dictionary selection menu for the flashcard dictionary change button.
* Dramatically boosted speed of some types of Chinese search through a couple of optimizations to our database access system.
* Added a more powerful text segmentation system (something to break long strings of Chinese text up into their component words). It's still somewhat experimental, so for now we only deploy it by default for the above automatic text generation features in flashcards, but if you turn on "Intelligent segmentation" in Settings / Search Engine it will try to use it for multi-character breakdown searches too.
* Made the custom flashcard / user dictionary entry screens from the popup reader + OCR fill in opposite character set / Pinyin / definition just as the ones from search results now do.
* Made searches with trailing * characters no longer sort by length.
* Made flashcard category tags now appear for all of the cards for a particular dictionary entry (in the event that you have duplicate cards).
* Added support for radical characters to our "enhanced" handwriting recognizer (download the updated version of that in Add-ons, then enable radical recognition in Settings / Input Methods / Handwriting).
* Fixed a bug that could cause laggy / halting scrolling through search results on some devices.
* Fixed a bug that made it possible to deselect the text input boxes in tone practice tests and made it possible for tones to fail to enter correctly when you did.
* Fixed a bug that caused text-to-speech to fail to acknowledge / pause for punctuation marks.
* Fixed a bug that could cause the flashcard "convert to dict-based card" command to yield inexact matches.
* Fixed a bug that could cause wacky popup reader behavior for strings of text that contained wildcard characters.
* Fixed a bug that made apostrophes before bolded headword pinyin in example sentences appear bold when they weren't supposed to.
* Fixed a bug that made headers in user dictionary entries list "PY" even when displaying Zhuyin text.
* Fixed a few bugs in parsing of Yale romanized Cantonese text (though we're still working on the 'h' problem).
* Fixed a few crashing bugs.
If you previously signed up for beta testing through Google Play, this new beta should show up as an update within a few hours. Otherwise, you can get it:
a) Through Google Play. Sign up for our Android Beta Testing group at:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/pleco-android-beta-testing
And then sign up for beta versions of Pleco at:
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.pleco.chinesesystem
after which you should be able to get it right from them. (this isn't up yet but should be in a few hours)
b) Directly from our website; APK at:
http://cdn.pleco.com/androidapps/plecodroid-140909.apk
The Google Play version makes it easier for us to collect crash reports, so please use that one if you can.
List of changes:
* Added Cantonese support to flashcards; enable this in New Test / Display / Use Cantonese. (paid flashcard add-on only) This applies everywhere - display of cards but also audio playback and even fill-in-the blanks / tone practice. When you enable "Use Cantonese" a prompt will appear to offer to fill in Cantonese readings for cards that don't have them; you can also do this through Organize Cards / Edit / Batch, and assuming that you have Cantonese enabled, Pleco wil automatically attempt to add Cantonese readings for any new cards when you create or import them.
In import files, to import Cantonese enclose it in {} brackets and put it at the end of the second column (where Pinyin normally goes); for consistency we currently only accept / output Jyutping romanization in flashcard import/export files.
* Added the option to repeat incorrect cards during a flashcard test instead of at the end of it, via a new "time" option for "repeat incorrect" (in New Test / Commands). This will happen at a fixed but customizable interval after the incorrect answer - we don't try to SRS it (we're unconvinced that that would help). If any incorrect cards are still pending at the end of the test, it will continue cycling through those until you get each of them correct (as with the current repeat incorrect / loop behavior).
* Added support for efficiently adding example sentences to flashcards. Go into Settings / Definition screen and turn on "+ button for each example" to enable that; after you do, a flashcard + button will appear at the end of every example sentence (if it includes English).
* Added new commands in Edit / Organize Cards / Batch to automatically generate missing simplified, traditional, Mandarin, and Cantonese readings for cards. Also added a option to Import Cards to invoke this behavior in imports. We also added options to delete the current contents of those fields (in case you find yourself with some Cantonese you want to remove, say), to remove hidden custom definitions (we leave those in your database if you remap cards to the dictionary), and to swap the simplified / traditional fields (in case you import some cards incorrectly and don't catch it right away).
* Made Cantonese work better when the Mandarin pronunciation mode is set to "blank" (so that there's no Mandarin displayed at all) - Cantonese readings + audio buttons should now appear correctly in that case.
* Made multiple-choice choices appear in a smaller font / prompt for confirmation (if you've enabled the relevant option in Test Settings) for characters and Pinyin/Zhuyin (not just English) if the text is long enough to need it.
* Added a tap-hold dictionary selection menu for the flashcard dictionary change button.
* Dramatically boosted speed of some types of Chinese search through a couple of optimizations to our database access system.
* Added a more powerful text segmentation system (something to break long strings of Chinese text up into their component words). It's still somewhat experimental, so for now we only deploy it by default for the above automatic text generation features in flashcards, but if you turn on "Intelligent segmentation" in Settings / Search Engine it will try to use it for multi-character breakdown searches too.
* Made the custom flashcard / user dictionary entry screens from the popup reader + OCR fill in opposite character set / Pinyin / definition just as the ones from search results now do.
* Made searches with trailing * characters no longer sort by length.
* Made flashcard category tags now appear for all of the cards for a particular dictionary entry (in the event that you have duplicate cards).
* Added support for radical characters to our "enhanced" handwriting recognizer (download the updated version of that in Add-ons, then enable radical recognition in Settings / Input Methods / Handwriting).
* Fixed a bug that could cause laggy / halting scrolling through search results on some devices.
* Fixed a bug that made it possible to deselect the text input boxes in tone practice tests and made it possible for tones to fail to enter correctly when you did.
* Fixed a bug that caused text-to-speech to fail to acknowledge / pause for punctuation marks.
* Fixed a bug that could cause the flashcard "convert to dict-based card" command to yield inexact matches.
* Fixed a bug that could cause wacky popup reader behavior for strings of text that contained wildcard characters.
* Fixed a bug that made apostrophes before bolded headword pinyin in example sentences appear bold when they weren't supposed to.
* Fixed a bug that made headers in user dictionary entries list "PY" even when displaying Zhuyin text.
* Fixed a few bugs in parsing of Yale romanized Cantonese text (though we're still working on the 'h' problem).
* Fixed a few crashing bugs.
