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+--- Thread: Daijirin/Daijisen iPhone apps VS Canon Wordtank (/thread-7114.html)
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Daijirin/Daijisen iPhone apps VS Canon Wordtank - tenaciousjay - 2011-01-25
@Katsuo
Yeah, I think I'm on the same page as you. Monokakido just seems like they put a little more polish on their interface and I think I'll probably snag the Wisdom even if the others may have a few other features. Even tho it has less words and is a medium sized dictionary I think the interface will make it more fun to use so I'll probably end up using it more. Their apps seem more "Apple-ish" to me and are fun to use and look great on my iPhone 4G. Man, it'd be awesome if they added the same kanji input engine down the road or if they linked the Wisdom to the 大辞林.
@liosama
Ok, here's the low down on the Wordtank V80. I checked with my Chinese co-worker today and she busted out her paper dictionary version so we could look some words up. If you are trying to look the characters up by writing them on the screen you can input them in EITHER simplified OR traditional. She told me that even though they use simplified in mainland China that most of their dictionaries show the traditional character next to the simplified in the definition when you look a character up. So if you're looking for a Chinese word, you can use pinyin OR you can draw the simplified character on the screen OR you can draw the traditional character on the screen. When the definition pops up it will show BOTH the simplified AND the traditional (*if* it has both, many of the characters are not "simplified"). And this is for both Eng-Chn and Chn-Eng. So if you search for the word "in" in English the definition will show the simplified Chinese character and then in brackets the traditional one. You can highlight either and hit the "speak" button and it will say the same sound. And then if you draw the character using the stylus you can draw either the simplified OR the traditional and when the definition appears it will show the simplified first with the traditional in brackets, and again you can highlight and play them and it's the same sound. However, the definitions themselves and the example sentences use simplified characters (again, many of the "simplified" ones are actually the same as traditional, but if there are both it will use the simplified in the example). She said that although there are a decent amount of simplified that pretty much even people from Taiwan or Hong Kong can still read the simplified (as far as she knows, mainland China is in debates right now about abolishing the simplified, as most of China would like to go back, and she's pretty sure it will happen but it will take a while). As for the voice feature, you can highlight characters and hear them but only in Mandarin. Hope that helps. If you're in the market to get a V80, send me a message as I'm thinking of selling and it's practically new condition and let me know how much the other seller is looking to sell for.
Daijirin/Daijisen iPhone apps VS Canon Wordtank - Modvind - 2011-02-16
I too am tired of lugging around my Canon Wordtank V80, and have been considering a tablet instead. I would prefer a 7-inch over the iPod touch, but my intense dislike for Japanese cell phone providers (2 year subscription - what the deuce?) have prevented me from buying a Galaxy Tab.
Anyway, does anybody have experience with a EBPocket reader for the iPod touch? I have a few questions:
- How is reading on the rather small iPod touch screen? Thinking like HTML novels or PDF e-books.
- Can you do mouseover look-up (or a quick copy-paste?)
- Is handwriting recognition possible? I assume through the built-in Chinese support?
- How would you say it compares to a Denshi Jisho?
Thanks
Daijirin/Daijisen iPhone apps VS Canon Wordtank - tenaciousjay - 2011-02-17
Sorry, no experience with a EPPocket reader. But while you wait for an answer on that, I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents on some of the things you mentioned:
- How is reading on the rather small iPod touch screen? Thinking like HTML novels or PDF e-books.
I thought it would be killer to read things on such a small screen, but with the newer hi-res screens it really isn't too bad. In fact, coming from a V80 everything will look much less "pixel-y" and the kanji look beautiful.
- Can you do mouseover look-up (or a quick copy-paste?)
See my response to Deshi Jisho below. (Again, this is not referring to an EBPocket reader but some of the functionality in some of the apps for iDevices).
- Is handwriting recognition possible? I assume through the built-in Chinese support?
You can use the built-in Chinese keyboard to write "most" of the kanji (maybe 80%?). Katsuo has touched on this in this post as well as others. Some of the better Japanese-Japanese dictionaries (Daijirin, Daijisen) have their own built in handwriting/kanji recognition systems that are much better though. You can often be very sloppy/lazy with your writing and it will still recognize almost all of what you write.
- How would you say it compares to a Denshi Jisho?
What type of denshi jisho do you use most? If you're advanced enough to use a Japanese-Japanese dictionary the Daijirin app for iPod Touch/iPhone (which again Katsuo has a few posts on) is much better than any paper dictionary in my opinion because you can highlight any kanji or word with your finger and as soon as you let go it will jump to that definition (very similar to the V80, but I would say even easier as you don't even have to tap, you just highlight and let go). If you highlight and keep your finger pressed to the screen on the last character (i.e. don't take it off of the screen) for about 1-2 secs it pops up a menu and will let you copy what you've highlighted so you can paste it to another app (E-J dictionary for example or a flash card program). The same company makes a medium sized dictionary (Wisdom English-Japanese/Japanese-English dictionary) that has similar highlighting functionality, but does not have the kanji handwriting engine (you have to use the regular Japanese keyboards or the Chinese kanji one). There are quite a few other good dictionaries out there, but I think these are the most aesthetic of the bunch.
P.S. Daijirin is the Japanese-Japanese dictionary you have on the V80, so if you buy it for iPod Touch you will notice that it has the exact same entries as on your V80, but it is laid out much nicer on the iPod Touch and really looks gorgeous as an iApp.
Daijirin/Daijisen iPhone apps VS Canon Wordtank - Modvind - 2011-02-18
Thanks for the answers. :-)
The reason I'm big on the EBPocket format is that the Daijirin app is quite expensive if I remember correctly, and I already bought it for PC in EBPocket format. Moreover, for a Jap-Eng dictonary Genius on the V80 just downright annoys me half the time (it really doesn't have a lot of entries...) I've never tried Wisdom, but did read a comparison between them once, and got the impression that there was little difference. Instead, on my computer I use EDict and Waeijiro which never disappoint me.
Doesn't sound like it is really worth buying an iPod touch mostly for reading and dictionary use to be honest. Guess I'll wait and see.