Pleco for iPhone Available Friday

[gato]

Wow, it seems that Pleco is already tied for first place in downloads among Chinese dictionaries on the iPhone.

http://www.topappcharts.com/search.php?string=chinese+dictionary&show=search&price=any

Cambridge Advanced English-Chinese Talking Dictionary

Number 56 in Reference (+3 today)

Pleco Chinese Dictionary

Number 56 in Reference (+47 today)

[mikelove]

Neat, hadn't seen that one yet. And I think they may be undercounting a bit, Apple has us at #44 in free reference apps while that site has us at #56. Plus that Cambridge title is designed for the Chinese market anyway so we're #1 as far as Chinese dictionary apps for learners.

The real question is how much of this will last - it's certainly going to subside somewhat after the initial boom, and I don't even know if we'll be able to hold on to #1 among free Chinese dictionaries since our software can be a bit intimidating and we've got that 17+ rating, but hopefully it'll be enough to keep people finding us easily at least.

[Xiwang]

I held off buying an iPhone because Pleco had not yet been available on the system. I finally gave in and got my 32 gig iPhone 3GS two weeks ago. I immediately downloaded a bunch of the then-existing Chinese dictionary and Chinese learning applications from iTunes.

I was then happily surprised to learn that Pleco would be available so soon after I got my iPhone. I have now been using the iPhone Pleco since it became available. The good thing is that I now have a basis to compare Pleco against the other programs.

Pleco blows all of the others away in terms of usability, functions, speed, breadth of available dictionaries, and ability to customize the software. The other programs piggyback on Apple's existing Chinese handwriting recognition software, which is very limited. (I got frustrated trying to get my iPhone to recognize even a simple character such as 主.)

Pleco uses its own superior handwriting recognition software that works better with how people actually write. The Pleco handwriting screen is actually full-screen instead of Apple's cramped less-than-half-screen design. I find that I don't inadvertently run out of room on the iPhone screen anymore when I am writing my hanzi characters.

In some ways, I feel bad for most Westerners who studied Chinese in China in the 1990s: bad dorms, squat toilets, and no Pleco.

The iPhone Pleco should be standard issue for any English speaker learning Chinese.

[gato]

Just bought an iPhone 3GS today as the screen on Palm Centro mysteriously cracked. Still learning the new controls. It appears that most of the 水货 iPhones in Shanghai, at least, are US models, at least according to the salesguy, and the 港版 are in shorter supply for some reason.

By the way, those who are downloading the dictionaries from China, you can choose the HK server to download from by tapping on the dictionaries and changing the "download source" in the add-on menu. Not sure that's the proper iTerminology, but it worked for me.

Edited December 22, 2009 at 03:03 PM by gato

[imron]

When I bought my iPhone a year or so ago the HK versions were in shorter supply/more expensive because they didn't require any SIM card modifications. I don't know what the state of iPhone hacking is at the moment, but at the time, US phones required physical modification of the SIM and a special SIM adapter in order to get them to work on the Chinese network.

[gato]

The US version of the 3GS I got didn't need the adaptor, or at least that's what thee salesguy told me. It is possible that they modified beforehand, though it does not look that way.

[imron]

Perhaps now that the iPhone is officially available in China the phone can be unlocked normally, however the habit of preferring HK versions of the iPhone is still hanging around due to the previous situation.

[gato]

The official China Unicom version doesn't have Wifi, which means it's essentially crippled (or neutered - 阉割, as some like to call it). The unofficially imported iPhones will continue to be popular for this reason.

I was told by the salesguy that all the unofficial iPhones have to be jailbroken, whether it's the US version or HK version. I thought the HK version was unlocked and didn't need to be jailbroken? The shop did the jailbreaking for me. The process seems fairly painless, once you've seen it done.

[Don_Horhe]

Can somebody please tell me in a few words what the difference is between a locked and an unlocked iPhone? Is it like regular GSM phones which if locked can only be used with a SIM card from the provider who sold you the phone? I plan on getting one, Pleco being the main reason, and I don't want to get anything that I won't be able to fully use after leaving China.

[Xiwang]

Yes, a locked iPhone is tied to a particular carrier. An unlocked iPhone is either (1) one that is from a location (e.g., Hong Kong, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Russia, UK) where iPhones are officially sold unlocked or that can be unlocked later or (2) unlocked (i.e., "jailbroken") over the objections of Apple.

Jailbroken iPhones risk being locked again whenever Apple releases a new version of its operating system. There is also a worm out there that targets jailbroken phones.

If you're considering a particular iPhone, you can check the model number (Settings > General > About) and then use Google to search to confirm whether the iPhone is from an officially unlocked source or merely a jailbroken one. For example, model numbers that end in ZZ or ZP are from Hong Kong and so are factory unlocked. See, also, e.g.:

http://www.computersolutions.cn/blog/2009/12/iphone-model-number-info/

Edited December 23, 2009 at 10:35 AM by Xiwang

[gato]

Can somebody please tell me in a few words what the difference is between a locked and an unlocked iPhone? Is it like regular GSM phones which if locked can only be used with a SIM card from the provider who sold you the phone?

It's as you say, a "locked" iPhone is supposed to be only usable with only one carrier.

An iPhone locked with AT&T cannot use another carrier's SIM card with going through the so-called jailbreaking process, which is basically modifying the iPhone OS using with the jailbreak software.

The jailbreaking (1) removes the carrier lock and (2) allows you to install and use non-Apple approved apps. But if you don't care aboutthe un-authorized apps and your iPhone is not locked to a carrier, you theoretically do not need to jailbreak to use it with SIM cards from different carrier and different countries.

What I don't understand is why I was told by the guy who sold me my phone that even the unlocked HK iPhones need to be jailbroken to use China mobile or Unicom SIM cards.

[Don_Horhe]

Thank you both.

[yuanfen89]

谢谢 Mike - the app is brilliant! And the student pricing made me feel even more satisfied I'm officially ready for my semester in Beijing!

Great work!

[keitha]

Apple need to thank you Mike.

I will order an iphone the 11th as U will not buy the ipod touch (my phone operator cut me a deal for the iphone). Student price sounds great!

[Don_Horhe]

I'm getting an iPhone from HK next year, one of the main reasons being Pleco. I've never used the software, but going over the reviews and what people have said about it here, it's simply amazing. Thanks!

[Ed Log]

Any feedback on the below?

Dictionaries

http://www.topappcharts.com/search.php?string=mandarin&show=search&price=any

flashcards

http://www.topappcharts.com/search.php?show=search&price=any&string=flashcard&start=0

particularly interested in comments on

http://www.topappcharts.com/307840670/app-details-flashcards-deluxe.php

[Prodigal Son]

Right after I write this blog post pleco comes out.... http://www.chengduliving.com/studying-chinese-with-an-iphone-or-ipod-touch/

sigh..

[md1101]

Is this dictionary worth the extra price for the add ons? I mean its not cheap but obviously a lot of people think its amazing and worth it. But considering there are a number of other dictionaries available and the free version of pleco (with no add ons) seems to cover everything I need then what are the advantages of paying for the extra dictionaries and other add ons? Do some of you get to the point where you are coming across lots of words that are simply not available in the other dictionaries? Or are the descriptions just generally a lot better?

[necroflux]

WOW. How did I not even know this was out until now?? Mike you should have sent out an email to let us all know!

This piece of software is a godsend. Absolutely incredible work. I'm looking forward to improvements made along the way, but what we already have is very, very useful. And thank you so much for the as always extremely generous license transfer capability, I will definitely make some additional purchases to support the effort you have put in.

Thanks so much!

[Gleaves]

To answer md1101, yes, for me it has been worth buying the full pleco bundle.

I find the free dictionaries don't quite cut it when I'm doing a lot of reading (they are especially lacking in idioms and fixed epressions, as well as examples of usage. ABC covers these pretty well). I love having a Chinese-Chinese dict. The handwriting input is brilliant (very flexible with stroke order errors), and I like being able to break down characters by their components (I think the stroke order add-on unlocks this capability). I save most everything I look up into a word list (need doc reader add-on) that I then import into anki. I will note, I don't use the audio pronunciation of words as much as I thought I would. It pauses any music you are listening to, so I generally find it not worth the trouble.

But if the free apps are working for you, maybe sticking with them until you see a need to upgrade makes sense.