Hardware

We often receive e-mails from prospective customers who are interested in buying a handheld or smartphone primarily to run our software and want to know which particular type/model would work best. What follows is our attempt to answer that question - scroll down to the "Suggested Models" section if you just want the names of some Pleco-compatible handhelds.

Feel free to contact us if you have any more questions after reading this page. Our discussion forums have a whole area devoted to hardware-related issues, so you can also take a look at those to find out what Pleco users are saying about the latest handheld models.

Which Platform?

In general, we now recommend that customers purchasing hardware to run Pleco select a device running iPhone OS - i.e., an Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. The iPhone OS version of our software has basically all of the same features as our Palm / Windows Mobile sotware, is considerably newer / easier-to-use, and is even a bit cheaper, and handwriting recognition with a finger instead of a stylus actually works quite well thanks to our full-screen Chinese handwriting recognizer (though iPhone stylii are also available).

Pleco is also compatible with both Windows Mobile and Palm OS handhelds; however, both of those operating systems have now been discontinued by their manufacturers. Microsoft is in the process of replacing Windows Mobile with a brand new OS called "Windows Phone" that's not capable of running our software (and may never be), and Palm has already replaced Palm OS with a new system called "webOS" (used on the Palm Pre and Pixi smartphones) that's not compatible with Pleco either; it actually can run our Palm OS software in emulation, but it's not very satisfying and isn't likely to get better anytime soon.

We are no longer planning to release any more updates other than bug fixes for our Palm OS software, and the future of our Windows Mobile software depends on how much interest there is in it after Windows Phone comes out - there may be some modest new features added in the future, but it's unlikely to get any more really major updates (no 3.0 / 4.0 / etc).

We do, however, allow free transfers from the latest version of Pleco on Windows Mobile and Palm OS to our iPhone OS software - see this page for instructions on that, everything except the Oxford dictionary and stroke order modules can currently be transferred to iPhone for free (though transferred modules can only be active on one device at a time).

Suggested Models

iPhone OS

Smartphones: iPhone 3GS (any size)

Non-phone Handhelds: iPod Touch (3rd generation, 32 or 64 GB size), iPad (any size)

Every iPhone OS device ever released is capable of running Pleco (though some require a system software update) - even the lowest-capacity ones have plenty of storage space - and our software has been optimized to run beautifully at full resolution on the iPad. However, the iPhone 3GS and the newest, 32 and 64 GB iPod Touches are the only models which Apple has promised will support multitasking when iPhone OS 4.0 comes out this summer, and their faster processors / extra memory make them run Pleco more smoothly too, so it's well worth paying the money for them (US $200-$300) over older iPhone / iPod models.

Windows Mobile

Smartphones: HTC Touch series, Palm Treo Pro / 800w, Samsung Epix / Omnia.

HTC is the biggest name in Windows Mobile smartphones now, and they offer a wide variety of models to choose from. The US-carrier-specific models listed above are all rebrands of a couple of HTC designs; they're very widely used among our customers and should be quite stable for running Pleco. Price is generally around US $100-$200 with a contract (a few sites like Amazon occasionally offer them for free), or US $500-$600 unlocked.

Non-phone Handhelds: HP iPAQ 110 and 210 series.

There aren't a lot of standalone handhelds available anymore, but these two recent models by HP are the best bet among what's out there. The 110 series (also known as the 111, 112, or 114 - the specifications for all four are identical) usually costs around US $300 and the 210 series (211/212/214) around US $400 - the main benefit to the 210 is the larger / higher-resolution screen, which makes it easier to see the details of Chinese characters. Both of these models also include 802.11 WiFi, so you can use them to check e-mail or browse the internet if you're within WiFi coverage, and with a large enough memory card would also make perfectly good MP3 or video players.

Palm OS

Smartphones: Palm Treo 680, Treo 755p, Centro, or (with emulator) Palm Pre

Palm hasn't updated its Palm OS-based phones much lately, but they do tend to be significantly cheaper than their Windows Mobile counterparts, and should run Pleco 2.0 quite well; the Centro is available with a contract for just US $100 and the other models may be almost that cheap if you shop around. In spite of the built-in keyboards, these models all also have touchscreens and therefore can still use Pleco's Chinese character handwriting recognizer.

Pleco also seems to run on the new Palm Pre with the MotionApps Classic Palm OS emulator (an extra US $30 purchase, though the Pre itself can often be had for US $0 now with a service plan) - however, stylus-intensive activities like handwriting input and text selection tend to be very difficult. (installation instructions are available in our forums here and there's some general discussion / user feedback a few pages along in this thread)

Non-phone Handhelds: Palm TX.

Generally costs around US $200; the only other widely-available Palm handheld, the Tungsten E2, is a bit cheaper at $200, but it has extremely little cache memory and is not recommended for running Pleco 2.0 (though it would be fine with our older version 1.0). These have nice big screens and are very popular among our customers, and like the iPAQs they support WiFi so you can use them to browse the internet / check e-mail if you're in a WiFi-connected area.

Used Models

Many people are surprised to learn that our software will actually run quite well on a used handheld; in some cases these can be had for well under US $100, so they're an economical way to get started using our products. eBay, Amazon, and other online classified and auction sites are the best place to find used handhelds.

For iPhone OS, the first- and second-generation iPod Touches are often available in the neighborhood of US$100 now and would probably be your best bet for a used handheld.

For Windows Mobile, the main thing to look for is that the device you're buying has Windows Mobile 2003, Windows Mobile 5, or Windows Mobile 6, and a touchscreen. The Dell Axim X51/X51v seem to be pretty widely available in the used market, and are a fine choice for running both Pleco 1.0 and 2.0; most of HP's iPAQ models will also work.

There are dozens of different used Palm OS handhelds available, most of them made by Palm and Sony. The three main features to look for are Palm OS version 5.2 or later, a 320x320 or 320x480 high-resolution screen (not required, but it makes Chinese characters a lot easier to read), and an SD or Memory Stick expansion card slot (needed in order to accommodate PlecoDict's massive data files). Also, if you're using Windows Vista or Windows 7, make sure that the model of Palm you buy is compatible with the Vista version of Palm Desktop (available here) - according to Palm, only the Palm Centro, Treo 650/680/700p/755p, TX, Z22, and Tungsten E2 are compatible, so with any other model, your only way to install Pleco from a Vista system would be with a memory card reader.

Note that most used handhelds come with little or no warranty support, so try to purchase one from a seller with a generous return policy and be prepared for the possibility that they could stop working after a while. If the cost of a handheld represents a serious investment for you, it would probably be best to purchase a new model so that you'll be covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

Some of the new models discussed above may also be available used at a substantial discount over their retail price, though the same warranty concerns apply.

PlecoDict 1.0 will run on considerably older / cheaper Palm OS hardware than 2.0, so if you're really looking to save money you could consider buying that and upgrading to 2.0 (and a 2.0-compatible handheld/smartphone) later on.

Memory Card

If you purchase a device running Windows Mobile or Palm OS, along with your smartphone / handheld you'll likely also need to purchase a memory expansion card in order to have enough storage space for all of Pleco's data files. A 1 GB card generally won't cost more than US$10 or so, and should be more than adequate for Pleco 2.0.

Which type of card you need depends on which model of phone/handheld you buy - the iPAQs and Palm TX below use regular SD cards (like what you'd find in a digital camera) while most of the HTC models use the smaller microSD cards and the Treos use a mix of SD, Mini SD and microSD.

A few phones (like the HTC Touch Diamond) have a lot of internal memory but no memory expansion card slot; as long as there's at least 1 GB of internal memory (the Touch Diamond has 4 GB) you should be able to install all of Pleco's data files without a memory card.

Also, please note that some handhelds can't deal with cards larger than a certain size; several Palm OS handhelds have trouble with cards larger than 2 GB, as do some older Windows Mobile handhelds, and a few Palms can't even handle more than 1 GB. All of the models listed above should be able to handle 4 GB cards, though, and most can handle even larger ones too.