Plecodict for the Apple-phobic?

[luokebi]

Childish as it may be, I am a bit allergic to Apple products. To a starchy Brit such as myself, they scream self-satisfaction and seem to contribute heavily to the breathtaking vacuous new-media bandwagon that pollutes ever more spheres of our lives. I am however, due for a new telephone and would like to upgrade from the early version of Plecodict I run on a trust old Palm. So, a brace of questions:

- I don't mind waiting a few months, but is the Android version likely any time soon?
- If so, which Android phone should I get? My only other priorities are voice call reliability, battery life, and affordability (which for me means availability on British network O2).

Apologies if lots of others have already asked this, but I couldn't see anything quite the same.

Many thanks and, as someone who learned most of their Chinese with paper dictionaries, 'mad props' for what you've done for Mandarin pedagogy.

 

[mikelove]

Childish as it may be, I am a bit allergic to Apple products. To a starchy Brit such as myself, they scream self-satisfaction and seem to contribute heavily to the breathtaking vacuous new-media bandwagon that pollutes ever more spheres of our lives.

You're certainly not alone in that sentiment, and I can't claim to be a big fan of that particular slice of 21st century culture either, but with smartphones quickly transitioning from showy status symbols to practical commodity items, at some point you have to look at the iPhone as simply a popular, high-quality tool with a huge number of wonderful apps for it. The days of the white-headphoned dancing silhouettes are long gone - so many people own iPhones now that carrying one around doesn't really say anything about you except that you own an iPhone. If a particular model of car happens to suit my needs better than any other, I'm not going to let the fact that I find the advertisements for it annoying prevent me from buying it.

- I don't mind waiting a few months, but is the Android version likely any time soon?

Can't say much of anything on that, I'm afraid - we're pretty much going completely silent on Android release dates now, too much of the remaining work relates to things like bugs / compatibility issues that we really won't know the full scope of until we've finished dealing with them.

- If so, which Android phone should I get? My only other priorities are voice call reliability, battery life, and affordability (which for me means availability on British network O2).

We can't say much of anything specific on that either, but if you definitely want an Android phone and you want to buy it before Pleco for Android is available, in general we're more likely to optimize around phones that are a) high-end and b) popular internationally.

Many thanks and, as someone who learned most of their Chinese with paper dictionaries, 'mad props' for what you've done for Mandarin pedagogy.

Thank you!