Typing Chinese on a Fairphone 2

[Lu]

In a fit of good intentions (and because I was in dire need of a new phone) I bought a Fairphone 2, only to find today, upon receiving it, that it doesn't have a keyboard for typing Chinese. (I did ask in the store before buying, but was informed incorrectly, as it turns out.) My options now are either returning the phone and just buying a newish Samsung model already because why do I always manage to make these things difficult for myself, or else trying to fix the shortcoming with an external app. I'm not exactly computer illiterate, but also not that literate, so something like this is over my head, really. I don't know what half of these terms mean and don't know if what's advised there a good idea to begin with.

 

I know there are some very computer- and phone-literate people on this forum. Does any of you have good advice to me? Thanks in advance.

[Mati1]

If you can use the official Google Play Store try Google Pinyin.

If you can't use the official store you can get the installer from pages like this one. For installing manually without the play store you need to first go into the settings, security and "Allow installation from unknown sources". Be sure to disable it again when the installation is finished.

(Disclaimer: I haven't used apkmirror.com and am not related to them. Use it at your own risk.)

[Shelley]

If you have access to the playstore, I have used this with success. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jb.emoji.gokeyboard&hl=en

 

[889]

The Fairphone apparently has Playstore access, so go there, search "Chinese Keyboard," and you'll get a number of choices, including those mentioned above. Install one or more: no reason not to sample a few to see which one suits you best.

 

After installing, go to the new keyboard apps and make settings, like keyboard layout, to your taste. Then go to Settings > Language & Input and select the keyboard you want to use.

 

[Lu]

Thanks both! Google pinyin seems to have resolved it to the extent that I can now easily switch between Chinese, English and Dutch. I'm still disappointed how much more sophisticated the keyboards of my ancient Galaxy S3 are (dictionaries in all three languages and Google not logging my every keystroke). I'll see how far my good intentions go in this, I still have 12 days or so to take the phone back if I can't get over it.