Pleco for iPhone Released!

calkins
December 20, 2009, 02:23 PM posted in General Discussion

Good news for those who have been waiting for the iPhone version of Pleco.  The following is from Michael Love, the owner of Pleco:
 
Greetings,
 
I'm delighted to announce that after almost a year in development, the
iPhone (and iPod Touch) version of our Chinese dictionary software is
finally available.
 
Flashcards aren't included yet (those will be coming in early 2010), nor
are user-created dictionaries (should be coming soon too), but pretty
much every other major feature from our Palm and Windows Mobile software
is now on iPhone, and there are some great new ones like a fullscreen /
multitouch handwriting recognizer interface, a much simpler registration
/ unlocking system, a heavily souped-up document reader, and easier
lookups of Chinese words in dictionary entries.
 
And better still, most of your purchased Pleco dictionaries / add-ons
can actually be transferred over to iPhone / iPod Touch for FREE; the
only exceptions are stroke order diagrams (which we licensed from a
different company for our iPhone version; you can repurchase them on
your iPhone) and the Oxford dictionary (which we haven't yet licensed
for iPhone at all). And the Pleco iPhone app itself is a free download
(taking advantage of Apple's new policy of letting free apps sell paid
add-ons and upgrades), so you may literally end up paying nothing at all
to switch to the iPhone / iPod version.
 
For product information and a download link, see:
 
http://www.pleco.com/pleco2ip.html

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bababardwan
December 20, 2009, 09:46 PM

Thanks heaps Calkins.I was actually going to check the pleco site today to see if there were any announcements as I knew it must be very close now.Woo hoo;new toy.

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hkboy
December 21, 2009, 03:12 AM

Calkins.  Would programs like this and the application for chinesepod still work with the itouch without an internet connection for it?  I'm interested in these programs but don't want to pay the monthly internet charges.  Could I just update it with my home computer and then use it on the go?

I don't really know much about it.

 

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johnb
December 21, 2009, 09:03 AM

hkboy,

Pleco works just fine without an internet connection (once you've downloaded the dictionary files initially, at least). Not sure about the ChinesePod app.

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hkboy
December 21, 2009, 10:12 AM

Thank you johnb.  I was thinking about buying myself an itouch for a Christmas present. I guess the chinesepod app. must work the same way.

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tvan
December 21, 2009, 12:04 PM

The ChinesePod App seems to work on an iTouch away from an Internet connection.  I know the sound and flashcards do.  I haven't tried out the other features away from the office or home.

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hkboy
December 21, 2009, 12:14 PM

Thanks tvan,

That is what I was hoping.  I spend most of my time at my home computer but I would like the option of studying on the go but I don't want the added cost of a mobile internet subscription.

thanks

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tvan
December 22, 2009, 02:00 PM

@hkboy, as clarification re: the App, the flashcards work on an iTouch and you can listen to the lesson no problem.  The other features (parsed dialogue and expansion sentences) require a network connection.

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hkboy
December 23, 2009, 05:48 AM

Thanks so much tvan for the info.  It looks like I will need an internet connection.  It seems everyone is learning so much with their mobile devices. I might just have to get one.

Thanks!

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andrew_c
December 25, 2009, 05:23 AM

Hi Brent,

I finally get to try it out!   Looks great so far. At the very least, the dictionary is so fast compared to online ones.  I'm looking forward to trying out more.