I don't think dedicated dictionaries are all that silly. Smart phones (well, actually MOST cell phones in Japan) and PDA's work 'ok' I suppose, touch screens come in particularly handy for Kanji lookup, but a QWERTY KEYBOARD really makes things easier. And that is something the majority of PDA's and phones lack (true, many smartphones have such, but they're not easy to TYPE on).
Case in point, I am currently attending one of those language schools mentioned (though the rates are not extortionary...expensive, but reasonable) and I'm in the market for a 'denshi-jisho'. I actually fiddled around with one of these mp3 playing Sharp models just last week in Nagoya. They're pretty good. But they cost about $350. So instead I decided to go for a used Mobilepro 790 and JWPCE (a free dictionary program). But why the 5+ year old Mobilepro ? In adition to it being capable of so much more (as the article suggests) It's KB is 92% full size and completely touch typable. But that said you'd be hard pressed to find a mobern PDA with such. Except of course the Mobilepro 900/c which starts at $450 used.
IMHO the Mobilpro makes a pretty good (albeit slightly large) electronic dictionary with a little tinkering, but if you're not a tech masochist a dedicated unit is probably much simpler and easier than any other solution.
As for integrating an MP3 player...makes perfect sense to me. I'll admit I've got fond memories of hours spent in the college cafeteria with books and drinks and pens and papers spread in a half halo around me on the table as I slaved away memorizing grammer and vocab, but more than once I thought it must be rather a ridiculous sight to have all the electronics in evidense that I did (Phone, discman, older electronic dictionary). It would be nice to consolodate some of them together.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
OddManOut @ Dec 27th 2005 9:53PM
I don't think dedicated dictionaries are all that silly. Smart phones (well, actually MOST cell phones in Japan) and PDA's work 'ok' I suppose, touch screens come in particularly handy for Kanji lookup, but a QWERTY KEYBOARD really makes things easier. And that is something the majority of PDA's and phones lack (true, many smartphones have such, but they're not easy to TYPE on).
Case in point, I am currently attending one of those language schools mentioned (though the rates are not extortionary...expensive, but reasonable) and I'm in the market for a 'denshi-jisho'. I actually fiddled around with one of these mp3 playing Sharp models just last week in Nagoya. They're pretty good. But they cost about $350. So instead I decided to go for a used Mobilepro 790 and JWPCE (a free dictionary program). But why the 5+ year old Mobilepro ? In adition to it being capable of so much more (as the article suggests) It's KB is 92% full size and completely touch typable. But that said you'd be hard pressed to find a mobern PDA with such. Except of course the Mobilepro 900/c which starts at $450 used.
IMHO the Mobilpro makes a pretty good (albeit slightly large) electronic dictionary with a little tinkering, but if you're not a tech masochist a dedicated unit is probably much simpler and easier than any other solution.
As for integrating an MP3 player...makes perfect sense to me. I'll admit I've got fond memories of hours spent in the college cafeteria with books and drinks and pens and papers spread in a half halo around me on the table as I slaved away memorizing grammer and vocab, but more than once I thought it must be rather a ridiculous sight to have all the electronics in evidense that I did (Phone, discman, older electronic dictionary). It would be nice to consolodate some of them together.
Just my opinion...