Android chinese dictionary comparable to iPhone?

[Bison]

My Chinese teacher showed me how the iPhone has built in Chinese input chinese-->english dictionary that will pull up words, phrases, meanings as you draw it on the iPhone. I thought that Android has everything that iPhone has but apparently it does not. Do you guys know of any apps that will do the same?

I find a lot of tools out there that will do pinyin but I want something that will pull up actual words as I draw it. If I was to describe it technically I would call it a real time Chinese OCR.

[mnanon]

You can use Pleco. Great application and amazing support.

I have used the OCR on it, and it works really well with typed Chinese characters. It has as well several additional add-on modules such as on screen handwritten recognition. There are many additional licensed dictionaries you may purchase with the software.

I bought the ABC Chinese - English dictionary, the OCR and a Stroke order module. I am planning on buying more add-on modules soon. With a bit of luck, Pleco will license the new Oxford Dictionary.

Despite all the warnings of it being a beta - the application is very robust and stable and comes with amazing costumer support.

http://www.pleco.com/store/home.php

http://www.pleco.com/

[jbradfor]

You forgot to mention the amazing Chinese voice recognition pleco has as well. I said a couple of sentences, and it got almost all of them right. They must have it optimized for the Chinese-with-a-strong-English-accent market.

I thought that Android has everything that iPhone has

This is not true as well. At least not in terms of apps.

[Gleaves]

I've seen gPen mentioned a couple times (its not a dictuaionary, I don't think, just IME).

[skylee]

Bison, we don't draw Chinese words. We write them.

[mnanon]

Yes, I forgot several things;

Chinese voice recognition

Document Reader

Flashcards

Male + Female Audio Pronunciation

I think it is best to buy at least the basic bundle, the additional add-on modules are well implemented and useful.

[weregoingunion]

Um, I'm not sure if certain versions of Android lack Chinese support but I highly doubt that is the case. My HTC Inspire 4G Android phone *definitely* has Chinese support and it is quite good. It is even more detailed than the iPhone. It has multiple input methods including pinyin, zhuyin, stroke, "drawing", and another based on radicals that I'm not familiar with. It even has options similar to computer IME's such as "fuzzy pinyin."

This is all built-in. If for some reason its NOT built-in on yours, you can download 3rd party IME's from Google, Sogou, and others. This is something you can't do on an iPhone. Also if you root your phone (hack it) you can install custom ROMs which are based on various versions on Android. Again I highly doubt your particular Android just doesn't have Chinese, but if that is the case install a custom ROM that you are sure has it. Mine is based on Android 2.3.3.

I am saying all this not to say that Android is better than iPhone (I don't think it is - I think both have their pros and cons) but to let you know that an Android is perfectly capable of handling Chinese.

As others have said, Pleco is the best dictionary, and it has been released on Android. I still use a dictionary called "Hanping Chinese Pro" which uses the CC-CEDICT. It's probably not better than Pleco (feature-wise) but it can do almost anything I need. It also has a neat little "widget" for the homescreen that can display a mini-flashcard of HSK vocab or whatever list you want, and it changes periodically. There is a free version and a $10 pro version. I don't know the differences off the top of my head, but its worth trying the free one.

[yellowpower]

a newbie to Pleco but it sounds like it has a lot of neat and useful features...had some basic questions

1) does it have a chinese to chinese dictionary (explanations given in chinese)

2) does it recognise slang words, or idiomatic sayings, usage/word differences between Mainland China and Taiwan?

3) is there a function for any usage notes or example sentences

4) document reader: can it read the text aloud?

thanks

[m000gle]

@Bison The iPhone doesn't have a built-in Chinese<->English dictionary, but it does have dozens of downloadable apps which serve this function. This is likely what she was showing you.

I would second mnanon's reccomendation that you download/install Pleco. Its basic dictionaries are free and have been sufficient for me progressing from non-existant Chinese ability to intermediate/advanced level, while studying in China.

Nciku is an awesome dictionary website and I believe it also has an android app. However, I purchased the iPhone app and was less than impressed. I'm not sure if I'm just not used to it, or if it actually lacking in dictionary entries on the smartphone, but I went back to the free (Pleco & CC-CEDICT) dictionaries on Pleco within about 24 hours.

I have also used 有道词典, a dictionary used by several Chinese friends learning English, which is useful if your Chinese ability is high enough to read the Chinese definitions of English words. They have an iPhone app, so I would assume an android one too.

@yellowpower

1) Not to my knowedge, but I'm sure other dictionaries exist for Chinese<->Chinese usage.

2) Yes. The combination of Pleco's built-in dictionary and the freely available CC-CEDICT add-on covers a tonne of idioms, common sayings multiple word usages, examples and China/Taiwan usage differences . No dictionary is 100%, especially on the slang front, or noting minor differences between the PRC and Taiwan, but it goes a long way.

3) Yes, examples are usually given from one/both of the dictionaries for any given word/saying/entry. Usage notes I've seen include (formal), (informal), (slang), (old), (taiwan) etc.

4) I believe nciku's app (see above) has this, but its not really anything special. To be honest, I've found Google Translate's robotic voice to be more useful.

[Gleaves]

Pleco has Guifan, a Chinese-Chinese dictionary. It's good.

http://www.pleco.com/guifan.html

[Shelley]

Hi, I would always recommend Pleco. it is the best for all these things. my pocket PC version is great. Unfortunatly it does not have aversion for Android 2.1 for my tablet. I went and looked at gpen but got completly in a mess downloading and installing it. I tried the translated version of the page, but it didn't help. has anybody successfuly installed this for 2.1? I also found something called Draw chinese characters ( character practice program) but the only version i can find seems broken, half the screen is missing. if this worked it would be quite fun for practice i think. Anybody any ideas?

Thanks

Shelley

[imron]

1) Not to my knowedge, but I'm sure other dictionaries exist for Chinese<->Chinese usage.

Pleco comes with the Chinese-Chinese Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian (paid add-on), and IMO it's one of the best things about it. It's a great dictionary for learners and it often has notes at the end of dictionary entries explaining the finer differences between similar words.