Epub Reader For Android

[Fox]

I originally used the iPhone version of Pleco, and I really liked the convenience of its epub reader. I read here that the Android version of Pleco's epub reader won't come out until more people adopt the latest versions of Android. I wonder, though, if there isn't a better way to handle it? In addition to studying Chinese, I study Korean, and one of my favorite Korean resources is Diodict Pop:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.diotek.diodict.pop

With this installed, I can use my normal epub reader, or my normal Internet browser, or even a news app or what have you, and still look up Korean words at a touch; so long as you can highlight a word and copy it, you can look it up using this application. Is something like this possible for Pleco? An epub reader/Internet browser with touch lookup integrated into the Pleco application is nice, but being able to use touch lookup while using a high quality dedicated epub reader or my preferred Internet browser would be really wonderful. I obviously don't know what kind of time or efforts it would take to implement this functionality, but I thought I would suggest it in case it's possible.

 

[mikelove]

We actually had a "clipboard monitor" option in old versions of our app which would pretty much do this - highlight a piece of text, copy it and Pleco instantly launches with the definition (separate task, but you can return to your previous app with a single back button press, so no more work than this). We dropped it because it stopped working on Android 4.0; we subsequently figured out how to get it working again, but we only had maybe 1-2 people write to ask where it went and we interpreted that to mean that nobody was using it.

Even without that, though, if you use the "share" command from the selection toolbar you can get into Pleco in just one more tap than what this advertises - instead of highlighting / tapping copy, you highlight / tap share / tap Pleco, and you can return to what you were doing with a single press of the back button. (we think the ease of doing that is a big part of why nobody missed the clipboard monitor)

 

[Fox]

In the case of this application, you don't actually have to switch back, it just pops up in a little window without leaving the other application or opening anything new. I tried the "share" command in Moon+ Reader, and unfortunately it didn't work very well. It did open Pleco and do a search, but unfortunately the search doesn't go through because in addition to the highlighted word, a big chunk of additional text is carried over (a citation, it looks like), so I'd have to delete that and then search again. Because DioDict uses "copy" instead of "share," I guess the same problem doesn't happen?

I can understand if there isn't enough demand to warrant the effort of implementing a feature like this.

 

[mikelove]

Are you using an up-to-date version of Pleco? I just tested Moon Reader here, and while it does add a citation that doesn't seem to bother the search box at all. (that being said, the lack of an option to disable that citation + the lack of a way to put "Share" in the main pop-up toolbar instead of burying it under "More" seem like two problems they ought to address in general)

 

[Fox]

I am using the latest version available on Google Play. But, I was also a bit silly. When I tested your recommendation, I thoughtlessly tried it with an English word, expecting a translation from my English-Chinese dictionary. Trying again with a Chinese word, it does work fine with them.

 

[highpost]

+1 for ePub support on Android. On the one hand, Pleco users are probably more likely to perform a software update than the average user (as they actually purchased devices based on compatibility in the past). On the other hand, Android OEMs may drag their feet with making KitKat available. I waited a very long time to get Jelly Bean on my Nexus S, and that was a Google phone. Still ePub support would be very nice.

 

[mikelove]

We may not wait that long to start requiring KitKat, actually - GPlay makes it so easy to keep users of old OSes on a separate fork that it's very tempting to get more aggressive about system requirements.