What apps are you using on your iPhone/iPod Touch?

[Flying Pigeon]

Hi,

Anyone using the apps from the iTunes store? How's the handwriting recognition on the iPhone? Is it the same for an iPod Touch?

Here are two apps I found on iTunes:

http://www.klausthul.com/

and

http://www.dianhuadictionary.com/

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Peace,

Dean

[Danmairen]

I use the Dianhua application and is very pleased, note that it is actually the mdbg.net dictionary it uses, so you can only use it if your phone is online whith either WiFi connection or via Edge/3g

How's the handwriting recognition on the iPhone?

Complex characters and fat fingers can be a problem, but whith some patience and the right stroke order, it is possible. Not as good as the once you find online, but almost.

I never used an iPod Touch, so I don't even know if it supports Chinese

Regards

Rune

[anon6969]

Dianhua is really great and I use it on my iPod Touch quite a lot.

Furthermore it doesn't need to be on Internet (Wifi) to be used.

[Flying Pigeon]

Thanks for the replies. Helpful info.

Are either of you using a stylus? Have you tried the Pogo?

http://www.tenonedesign.com/stylus.php

Peace,

Dean

[imron]

What version of the firmware are you using. I find the default hand writing recognition that comes with the v2 firmware onwards to be excellent, even when writing in a horrible scribble it still gets it correct.

[Danmairen]

Furthermore it doesn't need to be on Internet (Wifi) to be used.

You are absolutely right, my bad :-)

[Flying Pigeon]

imron,

What are you using? iPhone? iTouch? Which software?

I'm thinking of buying an iTouch and downloading the aforementioned software.

Peace,

Dean

[imron]

I'm using a 1st gen iPhone with 2.1 firmware and Apple's default handwriting recognition input method with my finger (no stylus needed).

Here is a pic of 你 and 好 as written by me.

You'll note that despite the horrible handwriting, and despite all the strokes being blurred into each other (i.e. I never bothered to lift my finger up to switch between strokes), the top match for each character was the correct one (if you click through to the larger image you can see this more clearly). Although there are occasions when it will seem to miss obvious ones, for the most part it does an excellent job of recognising characters whether written nicely or horribly, and in my experience seems to work just as well for more complicated characters as it does for simpler ones.

[bokane]

Also, for those people who find the Apple handwriting recognition inadequate (though is it me, or has it gotten a lot better since the 2.0 firmware release?), the third-party iAcces input method uses HanWang's PenPower input system, which is pretty awesome.

Unfortunately there are still no good dictionary programs out there, and WeDict Pro, which claims to support StarDict-format dictionaries, does not actually work worth a damn. I hope Pleco manages to come up with an iPhone port sometime soon -- I would pay serious money to not have to carry my crashy old Palm around anymore.

[imron]

Before 2.0 I don't think Apple provided a handwriting input method for the phone. There was a third-party one out there for jailbroken phones, but it was rubbish and I just ended up using the wefit pinyin input method instead. Since upgrading to 2.1 (I went from 1.14 to 2.1, so I'm not sure what things were like between these versions), the built-in input methods have been more than adequate, so I've never seen a need to install any others.

[Flying Pigeon]

Thanks for the replies to my original post.

Was wondering what everyone is using for pinyin input. I'd like to be able to make flashcards with the tone marks rather than using numbers.

From what I can tell, the Chinese keyboard on my iPod Touch (2nd gen) doesn't allow me to type all of the tone marks, only two.

This link offers some good information.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/14636-input-methods-for-typing-characters-and-pinyin#Mac_System[2]

But the options seem rather high-maintenance, requiring "jailbreaking", typing code, or waiting until the planets are harmoniously aligned to move one folder into another (a slight exaggeration).

I'm just not the tech geek I thought I was.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Peace,

Dean

Edited December 24, 2008 at 12:55 PM by Dean A. Swanson