Chinese Solutions for Handheld devices

[ipsi()]

[h1]Palm OS[/h1]

[h2]Character Display and Input[/h2]

[h3]CJKOS[/h3]

[h4]Where to get it[/h4]

CJKOS is one of the more popular solutions for providing Chinese Support on a Palm OS device (e.g. Tungesten E (E2), T|X, Treo 650/680/etc), and is available from http://www.dyts.com/en/index.html. There is a trial version available, and it is still usable after that's expired, it merely comes up with an annoying 'nag' screen with more and more frequency.

As it stands, there seems to have been no development done with regards to CJKOS since January 2007, and there has been correspondence that suggest there will be no further work done on it.

If you purchase a Palm device in mainland China (and other Chinese speaking territories?) it will probably have CJKOS and the handwriting input software PenPower installed as default. This can often come installed in the ROM (as opposed to the RAM), and there have been some people who have had issues as they didn't realise this, and thus had two versions of CJKOS installed at once. If you're not sure, check and see if you have CJKOS somewhere in the main home screen of your Palm Device. If it's not there, check and see if it's in preferences. If it's not there (and you can't read or write Chinese on your device) it's probably safe to assume you don't have it.

[h4]How to use it[/h4]

For the most part, the instructions provided with CJKOS are fine. It's possible to install more fonts or input methods or whatever you need later on, and the trial version gives you access to all of them.

Please note that GB2312 is Simplified, and Big5 is Traditional. If you have a reasonably modern device, then you'll want the High Res fonts. If you don't (e.g. your device does not have a colour screen, or what have you), then you'll need the low-res fonts.

If you enjoy browsing Chinese Websites on your computer, and want to be able to do this on your PDA as well (this only really applies to the T|X, Lifedrive and Treo devices), then you *must* install the 'Unicode Convert table' for whichever character set you want.

Once you've installed CJKOS, switch to an application that allows you to type stuff. The included Memo application is good for this. One there, if you have a Treo press option (the black button) + space to get to the keyboard, otherwise go to the menu, select Edit, and then Keyboard.

If it doesn't come up with something that looks like it could be Chinese, check and see if you've enabled the keyboard under the third tab of the CJKOS program (and that you've enabled CJKOS full stop). If you've done both of these, post on the forums for some slightly more personal help.

[h4]Conflicts and cases where CJKOS doesn't work[/h4]

CJKOS *does not* work with Documents To Go, excepting versions 7 and 8 (or 8 and 9?).

If you want to use CJKOS, and still be able to have non-English European languages on your device, you are probably out of luck. Due to the way CJKOS works (which is quite technical), if you have, say, the word divorcee, but with the proper é, then it will convert from divorcée to divorc(..) where the (..) represents a single Chinese character, thus making it anywhere between hard and totally impossible to use non-English European languages together with CJKOS.

However, if you do install CJKOS and find that it's converted all your accents to characters, the easy way to revert is to simply turn off CJKOS. There, at present, doesn't seem to be a solution or workaround for having CJKOS and non-English European languages at the same time.

Additionally, when synching Chinese Characters written using CJKOS to your desktop, you will need to either have your regional settings set to Chinese PRC (or Taiwan, if you're using Traditional Characters), or use AppLocal on Windows in order to be able to see them. Otherwise they will appear as garbage.

Finally, CJKOS was developed primarily to write Chinese. While it supports display of Japanese Kanji and Kana, there's no way to write Japanese Kanji using it, and as such you'll need a separate program if you plan on using Japanese a lot. You can write Kata-/Hiri- gana, but there's no way to convert them to Kanji. J-OS (http://simple-palm.com/) is one option, but be aware that the page is in Japanese, and there have been reports that you need a Japanese Bank Account for it.

[h2]Handwriting Input[/h2]

[h3]PenPower[/h3]

UNFINISHED

Note: The interface is entirely in Chinese, and it needs CJKOS to function.

[h2]Palms and Plecodict[/h2]

The popular dictionary software for Palm, Plecodict, comes with character display and input built in. Therefore you do not need any extra software to run Plecodict. However, you will need it if you want to use Chinese in other applications - ie email, SMS, web browsing, etc.

[h1]Windows Mobile / CE[/h1]

CE Star - Perhaps the most useful tool to enable the use and reading of Chinese characters on the windows mobile device. Its pretty easy to use, and even if you dont use the SIP/IME you can still read Chinese on your device. It does however conflict with Pleco 2 at the moment and it also has issues with MS Reader. This is not free but can be found at this site http://www.ce-star.com/

Monster Chinese - Is perhaps the alternative to CE Star. Its just as easy to use and has many different SIPs/IMEs that can be used to type in Chinese. There have been rumblings of trouble using this program on the newer windows devices but this is has yet to be confirmed This can be found here http://www.mactiontech.com/english/monster_chinese.asp

D-ear input is a nice and very easy to use. Their are two that I know of the 10 key input and the full keyboard. I have not found any conflicts using this program so far but its not one I use that often. (Can be found for free at this site http://www.d-ear.com/English/newsview.asp?id=174 (thanks to Oulaian)

[roddy]

Nice. Have added a note about CJKOS and PenPower coming 'free' with mainland-bought Palms.

[ipsi()]

Sweet. Just added a lot more stuff about CJKOS, mostly conflicts and suchlike. Added a couple more headings for other people to fill out. Also added a note about the fact that CJKOS might be in preferences if it was installed to the ROM.

[roddy]

This can often come installed in the ROM (as opposed to the RAM), and there have been some people who have had issues as they didn't realise this, and thus had two versions of CJKOS installed at once.

That was me. Took me ages to figure that out . . .

[ipsi()]

Yeah, I figured I should mention that. Save some people the same aggravation

[roddy]

Added a note to clarify that you don't need any extra software to run plecodict, assuming that that is all you are running.

[atitarev]

The Windows Mobile section is still blank.

I only want to mention that I use CE-Star and I am happy.

The PenPower that ships with it is great too, it has 2 serious flaws, though.

1. It doesn't work well with traditional characters directly, in other words, you can enter simplified and convert to traditional but many traditional characters are not recognised, even when the option is made. For example, you can draw 学 and get 學 but you can't draw 學 directly. (You can also type "xue" to get either 学 or 學). This becomes very important, if you don't know the simplified version or the reading of a traditional character.

2. They claim to fully support 2 languages - Chinese and Japanese.

What you can and what you CAN'T do with Japanese - you can enter Japanese words phonetically, using Romaji, so if a word is in a dictionary, it will convert it. You can enter individual Kana characters as well by using a soft keyboard. (You can even draw Hiragana/Katakana). These 2 are done via CE-Star keyboards. However, you can't enter a Japanese specific character, even if Japanese is selected in the option. It is strange because you can DRAW the Kana characters and the promise for the full support of both Chinese and Japanese is not fulfilled.

[Shadowdh]

I just want to make a short comment on the Mobile solution too. I use CEStar so my pda/phone can read/display Chinese and while it works very well and I am happy with it over all it does cause conflicts, most notably with Plecodict 2 and MS Reader, when using it as your sip. The benefits do however outweigh the niggles. All I have to do is turn off CEStar as my sip and voila it everything works well and I can have that running and use D-Ear input as my sip and all is ok.

[ipsi()]

Guys, this is a WIKI... Thus you should be editing the Wiki directly if you have useful information, rather than posting it in the comments . Doesn't matter if it's full of spelling mistakes or whatnot, someone will come along soon enough and fix it.