Best gadget for Japanese?

[Javizy]

I'm getting a bit desperate to have Anki when I'm away from the computer. It wouldn't just be good for my Japanese, it'd be a great time-killer on the train and stuff. I'd also love an electronic dictionary.

New phones, iPod touch, and other nifty portable gadgets are more than capable of running both these things, but what am I supposed to get? I can just imagine all sorts of headaches trying to enable Japanese character support.

Somebody somewhere must be using Anki online and running a dictionary app on the go outside of Japan. If somebody has some advice, I'd be grateful.

[Taurus]

Can you not access Anki from your phone? I've got an N95 and haven't got round to installing the Japanese fonts yet, but in theory, if you've got a decent phone and internet access you can use the Anki servers.

I really, really, want some sort of flashcard software for the DS though.

[Javizy]

I can access Anki, but I've found out that my phone can't support Japanese. It can't cache Anki either, and the way mobile Internet is still treated in the UK is ridiculous.

I'm thinking about upgrading, but I don't really care about my phone so much as the features I was on about. It's hard to know what to go with when I have no idea what'll support Japanese. It's starting to seem a bit hopeless

[Taurus]

Well, like I say, I haven't installed them yet, but googling seems to suggest that the N95 supports Japanese - I'm on 3, and the internet seems to work okay. And I'm pretty sure that Blackberries support Japanese fonts - my wife used to have one for work and managed to install them.

[Belton]

iPod Touch just has Japanese out of the box, more or less. I've switched some in the Apple Store in order to try it out. As yet there hasn't been a killer app to tempt me to the Touch. I'm waiting to see what the maker of iFlash comes up with ( and the price to fall).

I get good milage out of Nintendo, but I remember you have RSI so the input probably isn't the best.

Do you know of Peter Rivard's site. He puts together packages based on a Dell Axiom
http://www.japaneselanguagetools.com/index.html

As it runs on windows mobile, I guess there's a good chance you could get Anki to install on it.

[Javizy]

3 have some good deals actually. The Internet Max option for £5/month is exactly what all the networks should be offering. To get an Internet allowance on all the other networks, you need to be paying £40/month minimum, which would be way too many minutes/texts for me to use.

The Nokia E71 looks pretty nice for the money. Works out at £32/month including insurance. I think I'll take a look in the 3 shop when I get the chance. I never even looked at their site because my friend could never get reception when he was with them, but I'm guessing they have improved if they're still around.

[Javizy]

iPod Touch just has Japanese out of the box, more or less. I've switched some in the Apple Store in order to try it out. As yet there hasn't been a killer app to tempt me to the Touch. I'm waiting to see what the maker of iFlash comes up with ( and the price to fall).

I get good milage out of Nintendo, but I remember you have RSI so the input probably isn't the best.

Do you know of Peter Rivard's site. He puts together packages based on a Dell Axiom
http://www.japaneselanguagetools.com/index.html

As it runs on windows mobile, I guess there's a good chance you could get Anki to install on it.

I think I would've went with the iPod touch, but it'd be great to have e-mail on the go as well, so I guess the phone is the only option. I did take a good look at those PDAs before, and they're definitely better value than a dictionary.

I came across a mobile Java beginner's dictionary application that's supported by a lot of phones, but it'd be great to get a full one on there. I suppose there's a chance goo could be accessed on mobile Internet.

[Taurus]

Re: 3, I know a lot of people had a lot of problems when they were starting out, but several of my friends have been very happy with them, which is why I switched over. I'm on a deal where I get 300 minutes or texts plus free Skype-to-Skype calls, plus free calls to other 3 phones for about £25 or something, plus £5 for unlimited internet. You can pay another £5 to receive emails actually on your phone, but I just check my gmail through the internet browser.

I'm a bit undecided about the N95. It has an enormous range of functionality, but the interface is annoying so I have yet to explore much of it - and I've not really explored the Japanese-learning angle yet, apart from sticking in a pdf of my Minna no Nihongo textbooks. I have been able to access Reviewing the Kanji and Anki websites, but I haven't yet installed Japanese fonts so they don't quite work. I intend to get round to it soon.

[Airth]

It has to be the iPhone/iPod Touch, doesn't it? You can run Anki on it, and the number of other apps is only going to grow. I looks like the dictionary apps are slowly improving and I was excited to see you can run Eijiro. I've managed to do quite a lot with my DS, but if I had the money, I'd be all over an iPod Touch tomorrow.

[johnpa]

I love my iPod Touch for its video capabilities. I like to speak along with my favorite characters in Japanese programs and sing along with karaoke. It helps imprint the words in my brain whether I understand them or not.
I've tried Anki and a couple of other programs, but I'm kind of attached to iFlash (which is still not available on iTouch) so I don't use my iPod for flash. Except for a couple of excellent pre-made flash decks: "Kanji Flash" and "Japanese Flash".
I've tried almost all the dictionary programs. For beginners, I recommend "Japanese", "Jishobot" and "Longman's Japanese".
"Japanese" has a lot of great features: simple verb conjugations, kanji breakdown of words, common words for particular kanji, stroke order animations for major kanji, vocabulary lists, and the ability to save your own vocab lists. (If you can only afford one, this is probably the one to get.)
"Jishobot" has a quick search, grammatical classifications for each word, identification of common words, and no bugs that I know of. (It's perfect for when you want to look up and store some words that you just heard. And a quick way to sort through possible translations for an English word.)
"Longman's Japanese" has great sample sentences. It's big selling point is Natural English to Natural Japanese. It's great for picking up syntax. (The "Oxford Japanese Dictionary" also has sample sentences, but I think "Longman's" are better.) It's probably not for absolute beginners because the sample sentences use kanji. But most of the kanji is not that advanced. I know little more than the kun readings of the 1,000 most frequently used kanji, and I still have little trouble with the readings.

[Javizy]

Longman's Japanese for the iPhone/iPod Touch looks great. I can pick up a touch for £167, so I'm tempted to just go with that, since it's basically an iPhone without the phone and 18-month shackle around your ankle. I'll probably wait until after Christmas and see if there are any price drops or deals, as well as how much money I'll have left over after the festive period

By the way, you wouldn't know if there's a simple mobile text editor or other means of Japanese input would you? With Japanese videos, podcasts, PDF's, the dictionary, and Anki, I'd have everything I need. The only reason I'm in two minds is because 3G Internet, GPS, and not having to carry around more than one thing is very appealing.

[johnpa]

I downloaded "Text Guru" a couple of days ago. Transferring files from your computer can be a pain the first time you do it, and your computer has to be on a WiFi network.(I can't find anything that lets you transfer over USB.) Also PDF files over 5 pages are slow and really big ones crash the program.
The ipod comes with two forms of Japanese input: standard keypad and hiragana keypad. Both inputs remember the most recent Kanji you used. The hiragana keypad is pretty quick. They standard keypad is easy to screw up unless you have baby fingers. There is also Chinese character input that somewhat, kind-of, sort of works for most Kanji after a bit of trial and error. (Although it doesn't seem to work for 日 no mater what I do.)
There is also an e-mail program that is just functional and not much more.
All in all, I think it'll be a while before the iPods can replace PDA's.