Greek SMS with 160 characters

Hello!

Any news on supporting 160-character long SMSs in Greek?

Nice keyboard... I would buy it, BUT it still has the same problem that has been plaguing us for the better part of a decade - and has been solved several times on other platforms for years now (coming from WinMo I'm quite familiar with it). So, any news on it? I don't mind terribly the lack of a Greek dic, because after all we use a very limited word count in SMSs so that the system would learn my own dictionary quite soon. But the 70-character limit is a deal breaker...

So, come on, please?

Hello
this is an Android issue and has nothing to do with the keyboard, which is only a way to enter characters. You may want to use Handcent SMS, which has a Greek SMS mode, or type your SMS in capital letters which has been reported to be another solution.

This is not an Android issue, since it's present in WinMo as well. Yet every other keyboard for WM out there has solved this problem - even freeware, amateur ones. From what I recall abot the technicalities, it's not that hard to implement another 'language' that will be suitable for Greek SMSs...

Also, all-caps doesn't work for me -and *this* would be a very acceptable solution...

Gryzor wrote:This is not an Android issue, since it's present in WinMo as well.

I mean, it's not a keyboard issue, it's an OS issue, and since we are talking about Android here, it's an Android issue (which doesn't mean the same problem doesn't exist on other plaforms)

Yet every other keyboard for WM out there has solved this problem - even freeware, amateur ones. From what I recall abot the technicalities, it's not that hard to implement another 'language' that will be suitable for Greek SMSs...

Again, the issue doesn't come from the keyboard, but from the fact Android works internally with strings encoded in UTF-16, and uses this encoding to send SMS as soon as the text contains a character outside the standard 7-bit SMS alphabet, and using this encoding shortens the max SMS size.

Also, all-caps doesn't work for me -and *this* would be a very acceptable solution...

I guess it depends on your phone carrier whether this workaround works or not, or maybe the program used to send your SMS. As you can see in the link above, capital greek letters are part of the 7-bit SMS alphabet, that's why this workaround can work (but it will not work if Android still decides to send the message in UTF-16)

That being said, have you tried the Greek SMS mode of Handcent SMS?

About the OS/Android issue - I see your point, and I agree with that. It's just that I hoped that the problem could be circumvented within the confines of the keyboard software... and not needing another piece of software to do ti (I don't even like Handcent that much).

Anyhow, thanks for the refresher course on the problem and for your feeedback...

I agree that this is an OS issue, HOWEVER the default HTC keyboard has solved this issue.
So, there actually is a workaround.

I didn't know that.. but HTC added a lot of things to Android, and they also have their own SMS app. Does it also work with HTC keyboard and any other messaging app? Or with Smart Keyboard and HTC messaging app?

iridaki wrote:I agree that this is an OS issue, HOWEVER the default HTC keyboard has solved this issue.
So, there actually is a workaround.

Um..... really?!? On my DesireHD with 1.75 (original) and 1.72 (custom RevolutionHD ROM) the problem is there... are you 100% sure?

Important: was this a solution provided by Ace Hellas, as usual, or stock manufacturer ROM? And, any ideas as to where I could find the resources of a proven, working keyboard I could install myself??

Ok, just tried the HTC keyboard in an SMS. It keeps it all caps, ok, but the funny thing it that it keeps the limit to 160 but *only^ as long as I type characters that are specific to the Greek alphabet!!! For instance, Δ,Σ,Φ,Ψ etc keep the limit to 160, when I type a character that is common to with the latin alphabet (A,B,H,N,M etc) it drops to 70 characters... is there some setting I should tweak?

Still, this is not a workaround because I want to use smart keyboard, but it may provide a solution if the dev figures out what HTC did right...

cyril wrote:I didn't know that.. but HTC added a lot of things to Android, and they also have their own SMS app. Does it also work with HTC keyboard and any other messaging app? Or with Smart Keyboard and HTC messaging app?

It works on any app that is recognised by the system as a "messaging app", or something like that.
At least that's what HTC told me when I mailed them about it.

iridaki wrote:

cyril wrote:I didn't know that.. but HTC added a lot of things to Android, and they also have their own SMS app. Does it also work with HTC keyboard and any other messaging app? Or with Smart Keyboard and HTC messaging app?

It works on any app that is recognised by the system as a "messaging app", or something like that.
At least that's what HTC told me when I mailed them about it.

Can you please (pretty please) reply to my questions? I'm rather desperate by now... And of course I'm using the HTC msg app. Thanks...

@Gryzor: Sorry dear, I cannot answer your questions properly. What I described is what happens on my HTC Tattoo, which has nothing to do with ACE Hellas, as this model was never officially released here, in Greece.

That's really all I know, wish I could help you more..

*sent from my X10i

Ah darn - thanks so much for your feedback anyway, it gave me new hope to continue looking into it Have a great week!

For my galaxy 3 in greek i use capital letters and in sms app settings i have gsm alphabet and not unicode.

Hmmm... I guess that in this I may be bound by the Sense UI - I see no option for unicode and the such... where is your setting?

on the sms app push the button that brings the settings up.

No such button with the HTC keyboard/msg app...

The Tatoo doesnt have a physical key that you press and brings options up?

Desire HD here