Kanji Recognizer

Nikolay Elenkov

Contains adsIn-app purchases

About this app

Handwritten Japanese kanji recognition and writing quiz. Integrates with WWWJDIC.

New: Training mode for quiz. Use stroke guidelines and stroke order hints to practice writing kanji correctly. Does not advance to next character until you get it right.

Kanji writing quiz. Test yourself based on school year or JLPT level. Check your answers against the proper stroke order using animated diagrams.

Premium features: history/favorites, export/import, search by reading/meaning, Simeji/OpenWnn/ATOK integration, local stroke order database. You can upgrade form within the application (Settings->Upgrade to premium), no need to download a new application.

Premium upgrade price: around $4.99 (varies slightly by location/exchange rate. Press the 'Upgrade' button to display the Play Store dialog with the exact local price).

Just draw a character, tap 'Recognize' and select a candidate to display reading, meaning, radical and more. Copy or share characters to clipboard or other apps. History/favorites and search by reading or meaning also available (premium only). Call from within Simeji, OpenWnn/Flick/ATOK/OpenWnn Plus to input characters using handwriting (premium only, Simeji/OpenWnn/Atok Japanese IME install required).

Test your kanji writing skills by school year or JLPT level: write kanji based on reading and/or meaning hints. Check your score, and compare your writing with the proper stroke order using animated stroke order diagrams. Free version offers JLPT N5 and elementary school grade 1 and 2 kanji. Premium versions lets you select all grades/JLPT levels.

Follow proper, or at least basic (left to right, top to bottom, horizontal before vertical, etc.), stroke order for best results.

Tips:

* if recognition is slow on your device, try using the compressed model. Open Settings (press the Menu key, or the overflow menu on ICS to display), press 'Recognition model' and select 'JP. comb. compressed'. This should improve startup time and recognition speed.
* you can also increase the search timeout to make sure recognition starts after you finish drawing. Tap 'Auto-search after' in Settings and increase the timeout (default is 400 ms)
* if it is still slow, uncheck the 'Search on stroke' option in Settings. Candidates won't be displayed automatically, but on a separate screen.
* draw larger characters for better recognition

Features
* Tablet support
* Animated stroke order diagrams (online for free version, offline for premium)
* Kanji writing quiz. Bell/buzzer sounds marks answer
* Training mode
* Automatically searches on each stroke for immediate feedback
* Configurable drawing pen size and color
* Shake to delete stroke/all strokes
* Favorites and history (premium)
* Favorites Excel (CSV) and Anki export (premium)
* Simeji, OpenWnn/Flick, ATOK, OpenWnn Plus integration (mushroom) (premium)
* Search by reading and meaning (premium)
* Compressed model for older/slower devices
* Works offline (Internet connections only required for initial download).
* Stroke annotation
* Undo (removes last stroke)
* Integrated kanji database with more than 13,000 entries
* Kanji decomposition into components
* Integration with WWWJDIC for Android (can be used as the handwriting recognition backend)
* Copy/append recognized kanji to clipboard or share to other programs.

Not a handwriting input method (IME).

Ad-supported (ads are removed if you upgrade to premium)

Version 2.0 requires Android 2.1 and later. Earlier Android versions can use version 1.7.2.

Email for bug reports and feature requests:
[e-mail]

Follow me on Twitter for latest updates:
http://twitter.com/kapitanpetko

Google+ page
https://plus.google.com/110615818892301408465/

Release announcements and detailed explanation of new features:

http://nelenkov.blogspot.jp/search/label/kanji-recognizer

Ratings and reviews

I've used kanji dictionaries (dead tree format) before, and kanji learning games on the DS. In the games, as in too many Japanese things, you have to get it perfect, the stroke exactly in the right location, direction, and order. That is bloody obnoxious, compared to this app; I can get by with my messy handwriting. I'm reading comments where this app isn't good for translations, but that's not what this app is for. Think simple reference, not Google Translate.

I have paid version. 1. Stroke order animate is SO fast. I tried 隣. This app needs a slow speed option. 2. The "Draw" option didn't work. 3. Search by typing in English or Japanese is hit or miss. I typed じん and 人 no results. Then tried chinese, ちゅうごく, and 中国. Didn't get 中国 in the results. I had to draw it by hand. I want to look up and learn how to write the kanji that appear in the Duolingo lessons. Maybe it is a bug. If it gets fixed soon, I'll update review. If not I'll ask for a refund.

this isn't a dictionary, and at first that pissed me off. however, now that I've used this app for a good long while. I LOVE it. the stroke order is important for character recognition but in general it's not too picky. I have terrible hand writing in English AND Japanese and if it can recognize my hand writing...must be a good algorithm!

What's new

* Added up button to details screen
* Bug fixes