topic Re: Japanese Keyboard not available in Other/General

Japanese Keyboard not available

justinw — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 06:59:04 GMT

Hi,

I just purchased a Sony Xperia S as a Christmas present for my Japanese girlfriend (we reside in Australia). When setting up the phone the Japanese keyboard was available. We updated to the latest OS after being prompted by the phone that an update was available (we are now on Android 4.0.4). The Japanese keyboard has disappeared and we now only have the three options of Google voice typing , Xperia Chinese keyboard and Xperia keyboard.

I have tried resetting the phone via the settings menu and even used the PC Companion to repair it. The phone is rebuilt to Android 4.0.4 but still doesnt have the Japanese keyboard. Is there a way to get it back? (Do we have to downgrade)

Specs: Xperia S

OS: 4.0.4

Build #: 6.1.A.2.45

Kernel Version: 3.0.8+1.0.21100-30145-01956-g43358ca

Thanks in advance for any help,

Justin

Re: Japanese Keyboard not available

Uliwooly — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 07:02:15 GMT

what if you go to settings > input settings > what do you see here?

is Sony spying on users in this forum?

http://talk.sonymobile.com/thread/60197

Don't forget to mark the Correct Answers & Helpful Answers

UNRELATED topic, if you have some time please check this thread

http://talk.sonymobile.com/message/244522#244522

Re: Japanese Keyboard not available

MarlonUk1 — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 07:06:16 GMT

How about downloading a japanese keyboard on Google play? does changing the language of the phone change the keyboard characters?

Re: Japanese Keyboard not available

Trubo_XL — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 07:16:45 GMT

Can you still find the app named POBox Touch in the Settings > Application > Manage Applications > All menu (this is Gingerbread directory for apps, not sure on ICS though)?

Regards,

Trubo

Re: Japanese Keyboard not available

justinw — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 08:32:18 GMT

Here is the screenshot. I couldnt find Settings -> Input settings, just Settings -> Language & Input

Re: Japanese Keyboard not available

justinw — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 08:38:13 GMT

Can change the language of the phone, so all good there (can receive japanese texts and the like). She briefly tried Simeji but it seemed a bit cumbersome and installtion disclaimer about keyboard tracking was worrying. Was hoping to keep it with the defualt Sony version.

Re: Japanese Keyboard not available

justinw — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 08:39:58 GMT

Couldnt find it, I dont know what POBox Touch is but it seems useful since my girlfriend came across this link (Japanese person explaning the lack of Japanese keyboard of foreign handsets). They talk about POBox touch in that. (link here http://juggly.cn/archives/65819.html)

Is there a way to download POBox Touch?

Re: Japanese Keyboard not available

Uliwooly — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 17:17:38 GMT

I wonder if you disable it?

settings > apps > all > scroll to the bottom

you could side load the keyboard

http://talk.sonymobile.com/thread/38259

Re: Japanese Keyboard not available

justinw — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 02:33:38 GMT

Screenshot attached.

I think it has been removed with the OS update. Can see a similar report from other Australian users here dated in July 2012: http://whrl.pl/Rdfp9P

Thanks for all the help so far.

Re: Japanese Keyboard not available

Trubo_XL — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 03:18:40 GMT

Wow! The update really did remove POBox Touch then, huh?

(...and yes POBox Touch I was referring is the XPERIA Japanese keyboard!)

But still the update is "stupid" (in the picture you can see an app called Woody which is a skin for the J keyboard... If there's no POBox app, it just a stub and does nothing...)...

Well, I did a few checking on Google and I found the POBox app...

But I'm not quite sure your girlfriend would like the 5.1 version...

http://arkdroid.info/030/

Give it a try and err...

You don't need to follow exactly what the page tells you to do...

Just extract only the POBox apk into your SD card and then use any file explorer on your phone to install it...

Remember to enable the "Allow Non-Market Apps..." or whatever that option is so that you can install the keyboard...

After that just open the Language and Keyboard section and tick POBox Touch to enable the keyboard and then when typing, at dialog box hold and tap Input Method to switch keyboard...

If you guys dont like 5.1, you can kindly ask around here for 5.0 (which I have! XD)...

Regards,

Trubo (I'm not a Japanese, had to rely on Google Translate :P)

Re: Japanese Keyboard not available

justinw — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 07:19:59 GMT

Cheers for all the info. In my ignorance (first time using Android) I think I managed to mess things up. On my first attempt at getting POBox installed it didnt work and I managed to install a JapaneseIME designed for a similar Xperia phone (doesnt work in the Xperia S, link here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=15034320#post15045232). Anyway the POBox5 wont install now since the phone says there is a signature clash. I am planning to refresh/repair the phone tomorrow with PC Companion again (where the internet connection is faster). Just to confirm though, after enabling "Non-Market Apps" you just load the apk file through a third part file viewer in the phone? (such as Astro or OI File manager).

Thanks once again, I've learnt a lot by googling and reading over the past day.

Re: Japanese Keyboard not available

justinw — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 04:38:33 GMT

Got it to work. For those that want to know I recommend following the instructions Trubo left. For completeness

Installation instructions:

Method 1:

i) Mount on contents of POBox5.1 on SDCard and allow non-market apps to be installed.

ii) Use a file explorer to install on phone.

(For me this didnt work, received a failed installation message, if it worked for you, great, you can stop reading, otherwise read on).

Workaround steps: I rooted the phone, deleted all traces of POBox, removed the shared key values from packagex.xml (seems to be the cause of the installation error for me) and then installed from the file explorer again.

i) Root the phone (see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1886460)

ii) Follow the instructions here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1219029

iii) Delete traces of any possible failed POBox installation (I attempted to use the install.bat after file explorer failed). I used Root Explorer to get rid of the following:

/system/app/POBoxSknPink.apk

/system/app/POBoxSknWood.apk

/system/app/POBoxSknMono.apk

/system/app/POBoxSknSelector.ap

/data/app/com.sonyericsson.android.pobox.skin.MatteBlack-1.apk

reboot the phone

iv) Install the POBox5.1.apk using a file explorer. (optional: Install any the other skins)

This may not be the most efficient way to do it but it worked for me. Thanks everyone for the help.