Kanji Recognizer 2.6.1

Handwritten Japanese kanji recognition and writing quiz. This app is a useful tool for individuals looking to improve their kanji writing skills. It provides stroke guidelines and stroke order hints to help users practice writing kanji correctly. The app also offers a quiz mode that allows users to test themselves based on school year or JLPT level.

One of the standout features of this app is its integration with WWWJDIC, a popular online Japanese dictionary. Users can check their answers against the proper stroke order using animated diagrams, ensuring accuracy in their writing.

The premium version of the app offers additional features such as a history/favorites function, export/import options, and the ability to search by reading or meaning. It also integrates with popular Japanese IMEs like Simeji, OpenWnn, and ATOK for easy character input using handwriting. Users can upgrade to the premium version from within the app itself, eliminating the need to download a new application.

The premium upgrade price is approximately $4.99 (exact price may vary depending on location/exchange rate). To view the local price, users can simply press the 'Upgrade' button, which will display the Play Store dialog with the exact cost.

Using the app is straightforward - simply draw a character, tap 'Recognize', and select a candidate to view its reading, meaning, radical, and more. Users also have the option to copy or share characters to the clipboard or other applications. History/favorites and search by reading or meaning are available only in the premium version.

When testing kanji writing skills, users can select the desired school year or JLPT level as a basis for practice. After completing each task, users can check their score and compare their writing with the proper stroke order using animated stroke order diagrams. The free version includes JLPT N5 and elementary school grade 1 and 2 kanji, while the premium version allows users to access all grades and JLPT levels.

For optimal results, it is recommended to follow proper stroke order guidelines. These guidelines include basic principles such as writing from left to right, top to bottom, and horizontal strokes before vertical ones.

Users can also take advantage of a few tips to improve their experience with the app. If recognition is slow on their device, they can try using the compressed model by going to Settings and selecting 'JP. comb. compressed' under 'Recognition model'. This will improve the startup time and recognition speed. Alternatively, users can increase the search timeout in Settings to ensure that recognition begins after they finish drawing. If the app is still slow, they can disable the 'Search on stroke' option in Settings. Although this will remove automatic candidate display, candidates can still be accessed on a separate screen. Lastly, drawing larger characters can also lead to better recognition.

The app boasts several features including tablet support, animated stroke order diagrams (available online for free version and offline for premium), a kanji writing quiz with bell/buzzer sounds for marking answers, a training mode with stroke guidelines and stroke order hints, configurable drawing pen size and color, shake to delete a stroke or all strokes, favorites and history (premium), favorites Excel (CSV) and Anki export (premium), integration with IMEs like Simeji, OpenWnn/Flick, ATOK, OpenWnn Plus (premium), search by reading and meaning (premium), a compressed model for older/slower devices, offline functionality (Internet connection required only for initial download), stroke annotation, undo functionality (removes last stroke), integrated kanji database with over 13,000 entries, kanji decomposition into components, and integration with WWWJDIC for Android (can be used as the handwriting recognition backend). Additionally, recognized kanji can be copied/appended to the clipboard or shared with other programs.

It is important to note that the app is not a handwriting input method (IME). However, it does offer support for integration with popular Japanese IMEs as mentioned above.

The app is ad-supported, but ads are removed when users upgrade to the premium version.

Version 2.0 of the app requires Android 2.1 and later. Users with earlier Android versions can still use version 1.7.2.

Bug reports and feature requests can be emailed to [email protected]. Users can also stay updated by following the developer on Twitter (http://twitter.com/kapitanpetko) and Google+ (https://plus.google.com/110615818892301408465/). For detailed explanations of new features and release announcements, users can visit http://nelenkov.blogspot.jp/search/label/kanji-recognizer.