Finally, some handwriting IME love for Android... (are there others? I've never seen any)

7notes Mazec

Videos on YouTube. Free download available in the market.

Worked well with a few minutes of testing....

App market does not allow it to be installed on a UK device

frychiko Wrote:Finally, some handwriting IME love for Android... (are there others? I've never seen any)

7notes Mazec

awesome, thanks!

the only other one is the HanWriting plugin for MultiLing (which is nice 'cos you don't have to change input methods to switch between En/Ja/handwriting, only it doesn't actually work very well...)

I'm deciding to either get the new andriod phone out or the new blackberry, both are cheap now (there trying to get a lot of people to sign up for contracts). One is basically free on a 3 year plan(blackberry torch) and the andriod is only 50$ (Samsung Galaxy S2)

ta12121 Wrote:I'm deciding to either get the new andriod phone out or the new blackberry, both are cheap now (there trying to get a lot of people to sign up for contracts). One is basically free on a 3 year plan(blackberry torch) and the andriod is only 50$ (Samsung Galaxy S2)

I'll post my experience using a Blackberry Curve for Japanese if that will help any, since it's less popular than other phones used for Japanese study here.
My Japanese level is somewhere between JLPT N2 and N1. I bought a Blackberry to use as a Japanese dictionary/text reader after researching about traditional denshi jisho, Ipod Touches and Android, and came to the decision that Blackberry was the best choice for me, though granted, I wanted something that would work without a SIM card (I had a non-smartphone cellphone already that I was happy with, and I didn't need internet if I just wanted to use apps), and I decided that touchscreens weren't for me after playing around with a store's demo Ipod Touch. I am extremely satisfied with it.

The EPWING reader app, EBReader works really well and is pretty speedy, considering the large amount of dictionaries I have on it. For text readers, I found that Mobipocket worked best. It's not the flashiest looking app, but I kind of like it that way (it's "just you and the text" that way).

The built-in Japanese IME is awesome. It's been really accurate for me, and I like that it comes with a bunch of stock business email phrases, which I like to look through.
I should note that there's no handwriting recognition, though that hasn't really been a problem for me, since I discovered that the Kanjidic EPWING file can search by SKIP codes, and I've been even using that less lately, because as I learn more vocabulary, I just lookup new words with kanji I know by typing other words the kanji are in, and copy/pasting the right kanji into the search field.

The other app I use that's kind of related to Japanese is BBNotepad, as a replacement for the default notepad app. The default app can't save notes as text files on a memory card, so I save my sentences for SRSing later with BBNotepad. Also, though this isn't very related to Japanese, the music player app is much better than I expected.

Generally the app selection is smaller than what you'd find on other platforms. There are lots of English apps, but Japanese ones are rarer. The major free Japanese app maker is Rocomotion, and there are a few Japanese Blackberry fansites, but it's pretty small compared to other smartphones.

EDIT: It looks as if the Torch has Chinese (but no Japanese) handwriting recognition.

thanks for the explanation. I'm still deciding on what to get but I know there are cheaper/good plans for blackberry at the moment(in my area). I'll be happy if it can just be switched to an all Japanese interface(not sure if that's possible on the blackberry torch). That's another reason why I like the android, it's basically a walking computer.
The japanese ime is definitely helpful and I will use that for sure. I'd say i would be able to do more with the new samsung andriod but i have found better plans for the blackberry phones and it's cheaper(didn't need much data since I have a laptop).

ta12121 Wrote:thanks for the explanation. I'm still deciding on what to get but I know there are cheaper/good plans for blackberry at the moment(in my area). I'll be happy if it can just be switched to an all Japanese interface(not sure if that's possible on the blackberry torch). That's another reason why I like the android, it's basically a walking computer.
The japanese ime is definitely helpful and I will use that for sure. I'd say i would be able to do more with the new samsung andriod but i have found better plans for the blackberry phones and it's cheaper(didn't need much data since I have a laptop).

Yes, the Blackberry can be switched to an all Japanese interface (I switched mine to Japanese on day one. ^-^). If you can, I would play around with demo models of both at a store or something. Talking about what a phone can do is good and all, but I think there are somethings you can only know by having the actual device in your hand.

Bokusenou Wrote:

ta12121 Wrote:thanks for the explanation. I'm still deciding on what to get but I know there are cheaper/good plans for blackberry at the moment(in my area). I'll be happy if it can just be switched to an all Japanese interface(not sure if that's possible on the blackberry torch). That's another reason why I like the android, it's basically a walking computer.
The japanese ime is definitely helpful and I will use that for sure. I'd say i would be able to do more with the new samsung andriod but i have found better plans for the blackberry phones and it's cheaper(didn't need much data since I have a laptop).

Yes, the Blackberry can be switched to an all Japanese interface (I switched mine to Japanese on day one. ^-^). If you can, I would play around with demo models of both at a store or something. Talking about what a phone can do is good and all, but I think there are somethings you can only know by having the actual device in your hand.

good to hear about the all jp interface haha. Yea I agree, I have to try both phones out and see if I like them. But what has happened with me with past phones is, it always takes time to get used to. I had a samsung phone that was up/close type and I like it but that was 2 years ago and now I'm looking for a new plan+phone. Most likely due to price, I'll be getting the blackberry but then again, if I love the android who knows.

ta12121 Wrote:

Bokusenou Wrote:

ta12121 Wrote:thanks for the explanation. I'm still deciding on what to get but I know there are cheaper/good plans for blackberry at the moment(in my area). I'll be happy if it can just be switched to an all Japanese interface(not sure if that's possible on the blackberry torch). That's another reason why I like the android, it's basically a walking computer.
The japanese ime is definitely helpful and I will use that for sure. I'd say i would be able to do more with the new samsung andriod but i have found better plans for the blackberry phones and it's cheaper(didn't need much data since I have a laptop).

Yes, the Blackberry can be switched to an all Japanese interface (I switched mine to Japanese on day one. ^-^). If you can, I would play around with demo models of both at a store or something. Talking about what a phone can do is good and all, but I think there are somethings you can only know by having the actual device in your hand.

good to hear about the all jp interface haha. Yea I agree, I have to try both phones out and see if I like them. But what has happened with me with past phones is, it always takes time to get used to. I had a samsung phone that was up/close type and I like it but that was 2 years ago and now I'm looking for a new plan+phone. Most likely due to price, I'll be getting the blackberry but then again, if I love the android who knows.

Yeah, whatever phone you get will take time to get used to, though it's nice to have a taste of what to expect by playing with it a bit. I should know, I was all ready to get an Ipod Touch, until I played with one in a store and found out I prefer keyboards to touch screens, but I'm glad I found out before and not after I got it. XD

Good luck with your phone search! If you have any more questions about the Blackberry I'd be glad to answer them if I can (I've had mine for almost a year now), and I'm sure a lot of people here can help with Android questions. Also, I would read up on both to see what the specs are on both. I heard Android's battery life isn't that great, but I think that was in the early reviews and might have changed by now. The Curve's battery life is almost weirdly long, but the Torch might be different.