Mobile Phones and Chinese SMS text messages
If you want to use Chinese characters in text messages you may become frustrated by the limits imposed by your phone. All of the phones have had some features I liked and some I did not. For inputting Chinese characters, the best phone I've found is Motorola. Here is a run down of the brands I've owned (in chronological order).
1. Motorola
pros: able to enter Chinese characters using Pinyin simply by selecting the input method. The operating system can remain in English and changing the input method is done using the # key..
cons: none
2. BenQ
pros: able to enter Chinese using Pinyin
cons: The operating system must be switched to Chinese in order to input Chinese characters.
3. Nokia
pros: able to enter Chinese using Pinyin
cons: The operating system must be switched to Chinese in order to input Chinese characters.
4. Sony Ericsson
pros: The operating system can remain in English.
cons: Pinyin is not supported. Input must be done using Zhuyin (Bopomofo) or stroke sequence. Changing the input method takes several steps.
General Pros & Cons
1. Motorola V150 (I think)
I bought a low end Motorola flip phone and I got what I paid for. The volume was generally insufficient both for listening to the other party and for hearing the ring tone. When a call was missed or text message left unread, the phone would continue to emit reminder beeps indefinitely and I was unable to deactivate this feature. I also had some problems with the phone powering off by itself. I did like the interface which was generally user friendly, but overall the phone was crap. What good is the interface when the actual features are not satisfactory.
2. BenQ S670C
I bought a mid-range BenQ flip phone with camera. This was to replace my Motorola which was driving me mad. While it had some nice features, it was generally not user friendly. For text messages, the iTap feature was terrible. The vocabulary was extremely limited. New words could not be added to the dictionary, and you could not select words which were not on its list without changing the input method. Sometimes it would not recognize a common word, but give nonsense combinations as options. One example of this is that it could not spell "Taiwan". This had to be input as "Tai" and "Wan" which individually have no meaning but did appear in the iTap selection. The camera and some of the buttons began to fail, but fortunately this was while it was still under warranty, but it took 2 trips to the service center to get the issues resolved. Overall I beleive the Q stands for questionable.
3. Nokia 2600
I bought a low end Nokia candybar style phone to use while my BenQ was in the shop. I must say that while it lacked any special features, the phone itself worked beautifully and the interface was very simple.
4. Sony Ericsson K750i
This phone was a gift and I am still getting to know it. So far I'm very pleased. It is feature rich yet relatively easy to use.
1. Motorola
pros: able to enter Chinese characters using Pinyin simply by selecting the input method. The operating system can remain in English and changing the input method is done using the # key..
cons: none
2. BenQ
pros: able to enter Chinese using Pinyin
cons: The operating system must be switched to Chinese in order to input Chinese characters.
3. Nokia
pros: able to enter Chinese using Pinyin
cons: The operating system must be switched to Chinese in order to input Chinese characters.
4. Sony Ericsson
pros: The operating system can remain in English.
cons: Pinyin is not supported. Input must be done using Zhuyin (Bopomofo) or stroke sequence. Changing the input method takes several steps.
General Pros & Cons
1. Motorola V150 (I think)
I bought a low end Motorola flip phone and I got what I paid for. The volume was generally insufficient both for listening to the other party and for hearing the ring tone. When a call was missed or text message left unread, the phone would continue to emit reminder beeps indefinitely and I was unable to deactivate this feature. I also had some problems with the phone powering off by itself. I did like the interface which was generally user friendly, but overall the phone was crap. What good is the interface when the actual features are not satisfactory.
2. BenQ S670C
I bought a mid-range BenQ flip phone with camera. This was to replace my Motorola which was driving me mad. While it had some nice features, it was generally not user friendly. For text messages, the iTap feature was terrible. The vocabulary was extremely limited. New words could not be added to the dictionary, and you could not select words which were not on its list without changing the input method. Sometimes it would not recognize a common word, but give nonsense combinations as options. One example of this is that it could not spell "Taiwan". This had to be input as "Tai" and "Wan" which individually have no meaning but did appear in the iTap selection. The camera and some of the buttons began to fail, but fortunately this was while it was still under warranty, but it took 2 trips to the service center to get the issues resolved. Overall I beleive the Q stands for questionable.
3. Nokia 2600
I bought a low end Nokia candybar style phone to use while my BenQ was in the shop. I must say that while it lacked any special features, the phone itself worked beautifully and the interface was very simple.
4. Sony Ericsson K750i
This phone was a gift and I am still getting to know it. So far I'm very pleased. It is feature rich yet relatively easy to use.
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