Every time I get a new Windows Mobile phone, I have to hunt for a Chinese input solution that supports qwerty keyboard properly. I have trying to find a workable solution for my i780, and while A4, PlumSIP and GuoBi can be installed and used on my device, but they introduce some ‘side effects’ that makes me look elsewhere for better solution.
I did some web research and finally came to a conclusion that I can make use of some DLL files that I believe originated from Microsoft. Packaged them with proper registry settings, I can now finally type both Chinese and English text using my qwerty keyboard. The only issue is the symbol input button has become invalid, at least for now, but that’s not a big deal for me.
with a click of a button, the qwerty input is changed to Chinese mode.
also it comes with an interesting pin yin SIP, but I prefer using my qwerty keyboard.
For folks whose phones do not come with physical qwerty keyboard, you don’t need this since you can easily install those SIP software made available by the likes of PlumSIP, ZTA4, etc.
The above is tested well on i780, you are welcome to test on your non-i780 but qwerty phone. Do let me know if this can be installed/used properly on your qwerty phone.
You can download the CAB file from here
Update on 4th July: Found some problem the moment my i780 changes the resolution from 128dpi to 96dpi. Had managed to fix that, so if you encountered some error while trying to activate the PinYin SIP, you can try re-applying the latest fix from here
2nd Update on 4th July: For folks who don’t really need SIP (who needs SIP with a qwerty keyboard? :P), I have re-packaged a separate CAB to take away the SIP portion. You can download this PinYin “Lite” version from here
zen online journal 
Hi Zen,
Yes, I managed to typed in some chinese characters after executed Toogle IME and I found that there is no drop down list to choose the word I want, it simply filled-up the word for me, eg. if I typed ‘wo’ it automatically gave me ‘我’ instead of ‘握’ which is what I want.
Cheers,
Vibranze
when you type the pinyin, and a chinese character shows up, you will find the character under-lined, you can either click on the left d-pad, to select the alternative words, or you use mouse/stylus to click on the word to see the dropdown list.
hi Zen,
I have CE star install for me to input japaneses but after i install PinYin “Lite” when i click on the cestar keyboard to input chinese pinyin “lite” will launch and the japanese can’t input anymore. any help…. Thanks very much for your solution
Hi Gary,
that’s the shortcoming of MS keyboard management. You can install more than one keyboard layouts (not SIP, but software that maps your hardware keyboard to a new keyboard layout like Chinese keyboard or Japanese keyboard), but at any one time only one keyboard layout can be active. The exception is when the software has the ability to map multiple language to one single layout, for e.g. CE star.
As a matter of fact, since you have already installed CE star, you should just use it to input Chinese as well. The main reason why I don’t want to install CE star is because it always contribute to some performance issue to the phone.
Another alternative is to use a new hack I have created. See http://www.zenyee.com/2008/07/25/adding-multi-keyboard-layout-support-in-wince/
Hi Ken
So great that you have the qwerty keyboard Chinese Input Method!
But is your method support 倉頡?
Johnny
not sure what’s 倉頡, but so far I have only pack 汉语拼音 method.
Thanks for your reply, Zen! (Sorry for typro of your name in the pervious message….)
倉頡 is an input method developed in taiwan. I have searched MSDN and there is a dll called Chajeiim.dll which provide the soft keyborad for input. But not sure any other dlls are needed for keyboard input and how to make cab files for WM6…..
So can you advise where are those resource you have been used for making your own IME? (MSDN? Full WM6 development kits?)
Thanks
There isn’t development kits needed to package the IME CAB file. All you need is understanding on how the DLL/EXE files are deployed in the WM devices, including the registry settings,etc, and you can use commercial tool such as WINCE CAB Manager, or freeware like Cabwiz to build the CAB files. If what you are looking is adding the SIP, I can see what I can do at my end to build a corresponding CAB file for you, but I need to take reference from the msdn and also access to the DLL files.
Wow!! That’s very kind of you.
Actually I found another forum that provide the registry keys and dll to download!! But since I just want hard keyboard input I am trying to reduce the registry keys to import.
BTW, when you using those dll in i780, do you receive any warning prompt regarding to running the non-certified/trust source of program?
Johnny
Johnny,
if you want to remove the SIP and just retain the hardware input, you can remove away those registries under \hkcr\clsid\XXXX that has IsSIPInputMethod = 1.
for the warning prompt on using untrusted source, this happens if you manually copy the DLL or EXE file to the Mobile device. If you copy it via proper installation method (i.e. running of the CAB file), you won’t have that warning message, which will be prompted only during the first time you run the program/access the DLL file.
I am using the Samsung Omnia.
I works great! No problem at all.
Thank you.
Hi, I got to this site through some web search. I have a Motorola Q and I wanted to be able to view addresses in Chinese. I have downloaded the files from your site. But what do I do next? How do I load the files to my Q?
I am using VIsta 64-bit and connecting to the Q via the Window Mobile Device Center V6.1.
Regards,
Frank Cheng
if you have motorola Q9h, you can do google search on Q9h English ROM that has Chinese IME support. That’s what I had done to my Q9h previously.
If DIY flashing of ROM is not your cup of tea, then do a google search using keywords “Guobi Q9h”, you should be able to find the Chinese IME software found in the earlier mentioned ROM, available for download.
thanks for your great job.
it works perfectly on my samsung i780 wm6.1
it’d be greatful if you can provide the same kind ime of wubi like the one in ce-star.
thanks again.
Hi Zen,
I’ve downloaded your CAB file but have no idea how to ‘install’ onto my i780. Pardon my silly question, but i’m no techy :). Care to enlighten?
Thanks.
TH
you just copy the CAB file over, and then run it from your mobile phone’s file explorer
your alpha version works great on wm5!! thanks dude 🙂
I am using i780, but after i run the .CAB file. I can see exactly what you show at your screenshots. But everything i type is english. Is there something else that i need to view and input chinese?
you do need to click on the ‘underlined’ words, or hit on left directional button, to list out the possible Chinese character.