I have the document reader extension on iOS Anki (Android is a bit different, not as many features I think) and it allows me to save tweets, nyt eng-ch articles, any kind of Chinese text and read them on the go. Not a big deal, right? But it has something like the Chrome extension Zhongwen popup feature, so I can read Chinese on the go or while watching tv. Pleco also has multiple add on dictionaries which is quite useful.

I have both Anki and Pleco on both my smartphone and tablet though.

I have a ZTE Blade too, it is a nice phone.
But even a Samsung Europa (about $50?) would be fine for Anki or Pleco.

Pleco definitely has some awesome features, but it will have to change quite a lot before I start using it. Realmayo over at Chinese Forums (see the post here) said the following, which pretty much sums up my views as well. Even if some extra features can be added to the Pleco liste, it’s still a long way away from doing everything I want to do.

What I can do on Pleco
Add a new word you’ve just looked up instantly to your flashcards
Review very large decks on your phone

What I can do on Anki
Create cards on my computer
Do reps on my computer
Copy and paste sentences from online articles
Add my own audio for each card (ie sound clips from a movie, or mp3 files for vocab/dialogues from a textbook)
Add notes to remind me of usage or context after I’ve seen the answer
Add pictures
Update definitions if I get better-nuanced understanding of a word
Manipulate contents of a deck (ie select those I’ve got wrong a lot, or were entered only recently)
Export contents of a deck on my PC
Import cards
Copy contents of one deck to another
Add Korean words to definitions
Use any font
Use it for other languages

The OCR integration alone is worth the price of admission. Being able to take a picture of some characters and instantly add them to a flashcard deck is great.

The Reader integration is also handy. Grab a text file or a section from a website and get annotated reading where you can add unknown words to decks with a tap.

The flashcard program itself is pretty powerful. After I’ve tested my recognition, I can go through and “draw” the characters to fill the blanks, which is a much harder prospect.

So…. does anyone have workarounds for the Pleco drawbacks, or opinions on which tool to take the plunge on?

However, I’m quite sure it’s a doomed media, as you say. Smart phones will do everything they do and will do it twice as well. There was a time span from when the touch screen + stylus was introduced to the advent of smart phones when electronic dictionaries ruled the world, but I definitely agree that their dominance is fading rapidly. I’ll stay loyal to mine, but that’s mostly because I already have it. 🙂

Definitely a dead media form on the way out as phones/tablets get better!

Great suggestions! I don’t use an iPod myself, but I think anything portable for a cheap price will do. Actually, I only sync using wifi today and I don’t really think it’s a problem, because I do have wifi at home and at the university. Sure, I need to remember syncing before leaving home, but that’s usually not a problem.

I think that the tools available for Chinese students will explode in the near future. Sure, we already see lots of interesting software, but I’m quite sure that’s just a beginning. It’s a pity I’m not a technology geek, it would be interesting to follow the development. Right now, I’m just happy to be able to keep my Anki queue down to a manageable level without having to sit down in front of my computer.

Did you use any other portable devices/software earlier? Commuting does of course increase the use of such tools, but I think it’s quite important even if you have five minutes to walk everyday. There’s still a lot of time spent waiting for other people, for instance. 🙂

The downside though is that it’s just wifi, so syncing Anki decks between the pc and device needs some aforethought. This also means that I can’t use dropbox for audio… I guess you can’t have it all!

As a full time student without a commute at the moment I actually don’t use the Anki on my iPod too much but it was great when going on a week trip away from the pc and utilizing travel time whilst not falling behind!

The other obvious use of smartphones is for using them as electronic dictionaries. At the price of a purpose built (clunky, unresponsive, limited etc.) 电子词典 you can straight away download free dictionaries with the chance to buy more if it so pleases you(r wallet).

Unfortunately, there’s little space in the Chinese-learning cybersphere for apple/android preferences.. I too fall on the android side of the fence however there was so little for Chinese study on it that I sold it before coming to china! it’s only incidentally that I’ve ended up with an apple product and reluctantly found it seriously useful… Sinosplice says the same thing in an article reviewing iPad apps :/