Inputting Hanzi using pinyin on the iPhone

drtony
 December 29, 2009 at 03:59 PM posted in General Discussion

Hi all,

I'm a newbie here, and this is my first post. Whoopee doo.

Since upgrading from OS 1.1.4 to 3.0, I've been using the built-in Simplified Chinese keyboard with pinyin input, but find it very clunky compared to the method I was previously using - a third-party Installer app called WeFit.

Does anyone have a hot tip for an AppStore app which will give me better input? Ideally, it would bring up common characters predictively (which WeFit was pretty good at - typing "s" would bring up 是 and 上 as the first options - kinda makes sense; the new method doesn't); guess the next character; and, most importantly, LEARN from my word-choice habits.

I'm surprised at how bad the on-board system is. How could Apple get it so badly wrong? Does anyone agree? Or are you all really slick at actually writing the characters?

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drtony
 December 30, 2009 at 04:19 AM

Here's an update:

I found a new version of WeFit. It's downloadable via Cydia. Here's my "for idiots" step-by-step instructions: (I myself am a computing bozo, so I appreciate when others spell it out for simpletons like me. I'm going to do the same.)

Launch Cydia. (Sorry, don't know where you get it from. It was on my phone already.)

Manage -> Sources -> Edit (top right) -> Add (top left).

Enter http://app.weiphone.com/cydia/ -> Add Source

Cydia should relaunch, and you will now see "WeiPhone" in the "Entered by User" list. Click it and scroll down to "Wefit3". I downloaded the OS3.x version.

After reboot, go to Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> International Keyboards. Scroll down to WeFIT. There are a few input methods to choose from - I chose WeFIT_PY which is of course the PinYin input method.

I've been trying it out - it's not quite as good as the 1.1.4 version of WeFit I was using, but it's way better than either the inbuilt Apple input system or iCosta - at least, for me. Your mileage may vary.