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Vietnamese IME: Fantastic IME with smart, useful features

CobaltDragon

Well-Known Member
What is this app:
This application is an alternative input method for the Android OS. Essentially, it replaces the stock Android OS keyboard with a new one.

Cost: Free!

General Impression:
The Vietnamese IME for Android is fantastic. I've been searching for a way to input Vietnamese with diacritics and tone marks since I got my Motorola Droid in December 2009. I have found the perfect solution, and it works for any Android device with OS version 1.6 or greater.

The keyboard design is simple and extremely useful - I would even suggest it for users only interested in inputting English, as the keyboard has nice touches that suit any language.

A Little More Detail:
Each key has a standard key value (a, b, c, ?, etc), and a long-press value. So, you don't have to press a special key to move to the symbols selection keys. The option is still there, but you can also just long-press and place most of the standard symbols (?, $, %, etc). This is extremely convenient. The dedicated numeric/symbol mode still exists and is activated by a small button on the bottom row of the IME.

There are two standard methods for entering Vietnamese on a standard computer keyboard, they are VNI and TELEX. This IME supports both methods flawlessly, in addition to a Standard English mode. In the configuration section for the IME, you select which Vietnamese method (VNI or TELEX) you want to use.

When the keyboard pops up, you have a button to switch between English and whichever Vietnamese method you chose. So, you can type both with no interruption. The only drawback to this is that the microphone button on the standard keyboard, introduced with OS version 2.1, is gone. I found this to be no great loss, as I only rarely used that functionality. This IME also supports the auto-suggest feature just like the standard IME, but supports both Vietnamese and English.

Pros:
- Supports VNI and TELEX for Vietnamese, plus Standard English
- Lots of configuration options
- Supports auto-suggest for Vietnamese and English
- Each key has two values via the long-press

Cons:
- You lose the microphone key that is present on Android 2.1+

Conclusion:
In short, there is no reason why anyone wanting to type in Vietnamese or English would need look any further - this IME has it all.
 
thanks for the review. Now, say you type a text message in Vietnamese, can you send it and would the receiving party be able to properly show the vietnamese fonts?
 
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