macnn
05/05/2008, 1:55pm, EDT
Monday, May 5th
iPhone 2.0 firmware adds Chinese handwriting
The latest developer version of the iPhone 2.0 firmware adds dramatically different non-Phoenician language support, accounts say. Most notable in v5A258f may be new support for simplified Chinese, and in particular handwriting support, a feature that may prove crucial if and when the iPhone is adopted in China. Chinese is a more complex language than English, making it difficult to type out quickly; as a result, companies such as Motorola have developed phones whose primary focus is on easing Chinese writing.
Also present is Japanese, though it is not clear if handwriting support is available. Apple is said to be heavy negotiations with local carrier NTT DoCoMo for the iPhone, but has not confirmed any plans. The Chinese situation remains cold meanwhile, as no negotiations are known to be ongoing, and carriers may even be resistant to Apple as the company has traditionally insisted on revenue sharing -- something contradictory to local practices.
Filed under: iPhone, developer
Other story tags: SDK, japan, China
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that's nice I guess
just give me dvorak
non-Phoenician?
Interesting that the iPhone supports a dead language: Wikipedia states: "Phoenician is known only from inscriptions..."
Or might it be that MacNN means something other than the Latin alphabet that most of us use!
Simplified Chinese
Does this firmware update also apply to the iPod Touch? I am in China and want a PDA replacement--don't care much for having a phone and I don't want to wait for China Telecom or China Unicom (or as MacNN continously likes to typo China Unicorn--watch for it) to get their finger out. I'd love to have this functionality.
non-Phoenician
this term is sometimes used to refer to something that approximates to non-European languages. The idea is that Greek, Latin and so on alphabets derived from Phoenician. Thus it is a way to refer to any script outside that sphere (for instance, Chinese).
This is great news.
The ability to tap in Kana and Kanji natively really sets Apple apart from all other hardware. To be able to read Japanese and Chinese script is a bonus and it's free. Nokia will not support this and RIM really is poor in its support. I have a lot of clients and friends and they write in Japanese. This version looks great. I'm going to count the days. Well done Apple!
This is great news.
The ability to tap in Kana and Kanji natively really sets Apple apart from all other hardware. To be able to read Japanese and Chinese script is a bonus and it's free. Nokia will not support this and RIM really is poor in its support. I have a lot of clients and friends and they write in Japanese. This version looks great. I'm going to count the days. Well done Apple!
Softly softly
Sneaky of Apple to get the Newton on shelves and in peoples hands by shipping it piecemeal.