I discovered "Raziko" today on the Android Market. It streams Japanese radio stations with emphasis on word programs.

It seems very useful to me as it is sometimes very difficult for a beginner to figure out where to start a radio stream on a Japanese website. On a website, sometimes access may not work at all with a foreign IP. Maybe that's why you can set your detailed location in the settings of Raziko.

(Maybe I didn't try hard enough on the web but I managed rarely to get a stream with decent word programs running. And it would have been useful because that's how I learned other languages. That is exactly what this app does perfectly. It's a perfect way to develop a keen sense of understanding spoken words beyond the antiseptic smart.fm treasury of sentences
Of course you can listen to Dramas or anything else - what I like about live radio is that you get instant access to the feeling of a nation.)

As far as I can say it lists regardless of the location the same 7 stations:
- TBSラジオ (TBS Radio)
- 文化放送 (Culture Broadcast)
- ニッポン放送 (Nippon Broadcast)
- ラジオNIKKEI (Radio NIKKEI)
- InterFM
- TOKYO FM
- JWAVE

A big plus is an up-to-date radio program of what you are listening to (on Japanese though, but that seems fair
And what even made me appreciate the musical content of a broadcast is a playlist of every song played. When you tap a song entry that starts a Youtube search. That's simple, but: Great!

Edit:
-It works on 3G easily, but you should have a decent data plan. I didn't test it on GPRS (2.5G) though, due to the good signal coverage
- There is a paid version. The free version has small google ads. I have no hints so far that the free version quits working, but don't take my word for it. It costs ~0,87€. Probably there is a recording feature unlocked in the paid version. I haven't taken the time to decipher the Japanese description of Raziko, perhaps someone can shed light on what the limitations may be.


From me: ***** for Raziko.


P.S.: It seems this is the official "Android Apps" thread... Would it be possible to collect every suggested App in an overview in the first post for example? Otherwise you'd have to read all the four(+) pages which is not efficient, despite the classy content

Last edited by lernsky (2011 April 08, 8:57 am)

I've been trying to find this out but the information is ambiguous. Is it necessary to root an android phone to get for example ankidroid to work with japanese characters? Or does it work "out of the box"? Most information I can find is up to a year old and things change pretty quickly so perhaps someone could give an up to date briefing.

I'm getting a new phone and being able to run ankidroid for japanese study would be a great benefit.

Thanks.

loonytik wrote:

I have a HTC desire which I bought about 8 months ago.. I haven't needed to do anything special for Ankidroid to work with Japanese chracters...

Ditto for Samsung Galaxy S (Vibrant).

Same here: bought an HTC Desire phone (European version) two weeks ago. Ankidroid worked out of the box. However, the default installed font contains Chinese simplified characters instead of Kanji. I researched this a little: the phones sold in Japan don't have this problem, as they have been developed for the local market. I haven't figured it out entirely but there seems to be a solution rooting the phone and replacing the Droid font with another one.

Using the Nexus One and Motorola Xoom here, and I just get the standard crappy Japanese Gothic font, but AnkiDroid 0.6 Beta 13 works fine out of the box. You just have to learn to deal with it. There are a few differences between the standard Android font and proper JP, but nothing too major. (Maybe it's a CHN traditional font? Dunno.) It's not simplified on my phone. Simplified would be unreadable for me.

Some apps can add fonts on an app-to-app basis without rooting. Vertical Text Viewer has an option to download a Mincho font to make for slightly easier reading.

I just wish Google would develop a proper JP keyboard and proper JP fonts for non-local JP phones. Drives me NUTS. I'm tired of Simeji. (It's fine for cell phones, but it's a no-go in landscape mode on the Xoom.)

rich_f wrote:

Using the Nexus One and Motorola Xoom here, and I just get the standard crappy Japanese Gothic font, but AnkiDroid 0.6 Beta 13 works fine out of the box. You just have to learn to deal with it. There are a few differences between the standard Android font and proper JP, but nothing too major. (Maybe it's a CHN traditional font? Dunno.) It's not simplified on my phone. Simplified would be unreadable for me.

Note that using a simplified font doesn't mean the characters will automatically look simplified. 門 should look like 門 no matter what font you use, and 门 (the simplified variant) should always look like 门. The difference is either more subtle differences or e.g. simplified characters simply showing up as empty boxes.

Anyway, if "直" looks like this it's probably a Japanese font. If the right part of "錄" and "碌" look the same it's probably a traditional font. If the right part of "碌" and "録" look the same it's probably a simplified font.

brandon7s wrote:

I'm on the Droid X here (which I love, by the way), and "直" did NOT look like http://www.zdic.net/pic/zx/jp/76F4.gif by default, until I installed the DroidSansJapanese.tff fonts, as instructed at the bottom of this page.

It is the quote "The 'device' you want to add support to has to be 'rooted'." from the page you are linking that makes me suspicious. Will the correct kanji be displayed on some android phon without having to root it (killing the warranty)?

You did root your phone, no?

henrsand wrote:

You did root your phone, no?

Yes, my phone is rooted. The Droid X is extremely easy to root (though I would have rooted it no matter how difficult it is). I honestly do recommend rooting your Android device, if you have one. It is completely reversible on every phone that I've seen a root guide for, which are quite a few HTC, Motorola, and Samsung phones.

Just a quick anecdote about my experience with rooting a phone and returning it to the manufacturer: The first Droid X I bought developed a hardware camera problem (wouldn't focus) after a few months. I had rooted it, naturally, so before taking it back to Verizon to have it replaced I performed a "reset to factory default" on the phone and then sent it back. Got the new one overnighted to me immediately after they received my faulty phone without a hitch.

Rooting is software based, so as long as you have access to the software (i.e. as long as your phone turns on and boots up) it can be unrooted or reset to factory default.

Last edited by brandon7s (2011 April 11, 6:41 am)

Vaste wrote:

.. maybe future versions of Ankidroid will include Japanese fonts, or read ones from the SD card (if possible)?

I am hoping  that this will be done soon. You can go to the ankidroid web page, http://code.google.com/p/ankidroid/
then go to the bug and issue tracker (see link at the bottom)
then search for issue 565 and 102 and put a star on it.

Last edited by rachels (2011 April 11, 7:55 pm)

By the way, I came across an app for Android that streams radio stations in every region I can think of, including quite a few of Japanese radio stations. The app is called Tunein Radio, and it's free.

I think it's all streamed nearly real-time, too. I put it on local radio station (North Carolina, Charlotte area) and the stream from the tunein app and it was only a few seconds behind my FM receiver. I'm not sure if every station is so up-to-date, but ones in the US seem to be.

Last edited by brandon7s (2011 April 12, 3:57 am)

If you want to see some screenshots of AnkiDroid on the Xoom, I posted some in the discussion for issue 564 on the AnkiDroid issue tracker. (About the small text in the card browser and the wrong/right/new/timer.)

0.6beta13 runs surprisingly well on the tablet, I must say.

Another app I quite like is 'multiling keyboard'.  I'm not using it to replace simeji, because I suspect the IME is not as good, but if you install the hanwriting component, you can use it to practise writing characters while you are doing the Reviewing the Kanji website. (tap on the web address to get the keyboard - is this the only way?) You need to get the stroke order right and when you have selected your character, it shows a pale template of the character so you can trace over it for further practice and also shows the character's reading.

Last edited by rachels (2011 April 16, 8:37 pm)