Bad news : N900 is not supporting Arabic "yet"

[abu9al7]

Maybe it's not bad news for everyone , but it is for me at least :(

As Jussi Mäkinen said on Dubai Meeting that Arabic language will not be supported yet as writing and sending SMS ..etc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkiivAuMmBo#t=1m38s


so it will be released in the Middle East without an Arabic Interface, Arabic keyboard or even Arabic writing support :mad:

that for sure will decrease the sales in the area cause a lot of regular users can't use a phone without ,at least, arabic writing support .

[R-R]

That's awkward considering Linux supports this quite well from what I've heard...
What's really missing to add support? Fonts?
As for keyboard, some stickers and xmodmap might do the trick, I don't know :/

[bbns]

probably you need to package your own i18n. it's probably the same thing with CJK support.

[qgil]

(This thread fits better to the Maemo 5 forum since there are solutions at software level)

The good news is that it's all open source and it is possible to get it working just as integrated as the officially supported languages.

Contact Mohammed Sameer and Matan Ziv-av to know the status of the work they did for Maemo 4 and the N800/N810, and whether they have plans to bring Arabic to Maemo 5.
http://foolab.org/node/1719
http://maemo.org/downloads/product/OS2008/him-arabic/
http://twitter.com/Msameer
http://maemo.org/profile/view/matan/

See also One Click HEBREW Install - Input Method, Fonts and Locale Fix (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=16228) (mentions an Arabic plugin)

EDIT: hope it helps --> http://twitter.com/quimgil/status/5194483845

[MSameer]

Viewing Arabic messages and web pages works. I've used them personally.

Arabic in modest seems to work too. Someone told me (Can't remember who ;-))

So the fonts are there. What we need is a way to enter arabic which is probably a plugin for the on-screen keyboard.

I wrote a plugin for N810/Diablo but didn't yet have time to port it to Maemo5. I'll try again as soon as the HIM plugins documentation for Maemo5 becomes available.

As for an Arabic UI, I'm not personally interested in that and will not help with the actual work but I can help with packaging and/or bringing interested people together.

It's just a matter of time :-)

[abu9al7]

R-R
Thanks for your post . a lot of my friends has been disappointed when they knew about it .

the stickers are good solution and the laser is even better but when it comes like officially it makes you feel good :)




bbns
Maybe it's a good Idea except that I'm not a programmer but I want to help by any way even if I have to learn how to do that .




qgil
Big Big thanks for helping and here is MSameer :)

and you are 100% right , this thread suppose to be in Maemo 5 forum so I hope anyone can move it there




MSameer
the problem is not with me or with you since you can read and type in English , the problem is for the Arabian regular users which will ask first thing about supporting the Arabic language as you know

At this moment a lot of people on Arabic forums are discussing this problem and some of them start thinking about search for a new device other than N900 .

I'm afraid that when the N900 released it will not have a lot of Arabic users and the sales of this great phone will go down in the Middle East for a small problem such this .

I don't think that on-screen keyboard will solve the problem because some people will think like "Why I have to use the on-screen keyboard when I have a physical keyboard ?" .
My Idea is to make the physical and the on-screen keyboard supporting Arabic (I don't know if that possible or not but I believe that there is nothing impossible on Maemo 5 :))

Someone will ask "If we make the keyboard supporting Arabic , how could we change the keyboard language when we need to write in other language ?" . The easiest way to do that is to have a small language icon on the top of the screen with the mobile information icons , so if you have to change the language of the keyboard , all what you have to do is click the icon and chose the language you want . :)


I want to help by more than just an Idea but thats all what I have
<== blaming himself for not learning programming :(

I hope with all my heart that the solution will come before N900 release

[qgil]

Just to set the expectations right: Arabic hardware keyboard and Arabic localization of pre-installed system and applications is not in the current plans. Never say never, but I personally doubt we will see this officially supported in Maemo 5.

I'm happy helping getting things done in the software side when it comes to push documentation or strings out. Yesterday I got a question about Catalan, which has common problems with Arabic and any non-supported language. It is expected that more volunteer translators from other languages will show up.

[allnameswereout]

For third party Maemo software there is community project to make a framework to allow volunteers to provide translation for software. (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=27997) A testbed for application Conboy can be found and discussed here. (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=33382)

[qgil]

fwiw there are some Arabic related locale settings when selecting Region in the latest image I'm testing:

Arabic (Bahrain)
Arabic (Kuwait)
Arabic (Oman)
Arabic (Qatar)
Arabic (Saudi Arabia)
Arabic (United Arab Emirates)

This is only used for locale settings such a timezone, currency units and so on. Better than nothing...

[konttori]

Well, Arabic fonts are there, we chose 3 pretty good fonts for you to enjoy. Rendering works perfectly in browser, pdf reader, file manager, you name it. Also, text is automativally rendered right to left automatically. Media file content is extracted in arabic as well and overall, there should be very nice arabic experience support by default on the device. A big thing that is missing is the input support and the translations. But we are eagerly awaiting for community contributions for those.

Messaging also works well. [Edit] Of course only for *receiving* :o

[Rashoodz]

Actually I'm quite happy for the "English-only" solid keyboard, I didn't like how messy was the Arabic keyboard on my E71, they removed some symbols like " ; " for example. I had to press the symbol button each time I wanted to wink lol.

I rarely type in Arabic, I do enjoy receiving Arabic. I think on-screen keyboard will be a nice feature for the phone. If I was a hardcore Arabic typer I would not buy this phone, I'll wait for the non keyboard version of it.

[jayhule]

I agree that at least an on-screen keyboard is essential, UI and physical keyboard will come and isn't essential for me but without input with a virtual keyboard...well that would be good at all. If I understood correctly receiving text works and I'm thankful for that leaving only the need for input, so...

...Let us know if we can help make this happen!

[konttori]

I think we could at least make an installable extra keyboard layout for the arabic.
My only ocncern is that we have two fewer keys in the on screen keyboard than there are usually keys in the arabic keyboards. But I'm sure we can handle those somehow.

Basically, we don't have space for the
http://www.abckeyboards.net/language_keyboards/arabic/images/english-arabic_101_keyboard_layout.gif

Rightmost key on the first alphabet row and we don't have space for the rightmost key on the lowest alphabet row. But those keys can be moved behind shift key.

[Rashoodz]

^ some Arabic keyboard phones have 2 letters in one button. My Blackberry Curve have 5 buttons that have 2 Arabic letters each.

EDIT: I found the N97 Keyboard.

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc155/nma125/16062009036.jpg

2 letters on 10 buttons :P

[0Dark Knight0]

Dear Maemo & Nokia,

Plz, try to solve the Arabic issues in N900 before launching them to arabin country ( specialy in Gulf-GCC), otherwise, your sales will affect sharply....

(i think you know that)

plz, do your best.....

[abu9al7]

Just to set the expectations right: Arabic hardware keyboard and Arabic localization of pre-installed system and applications is not in the current plans. Never say never, but I personally doubt we will see this officially supported in Maemo 5.

I'm happy helping getting things done in the software side when it comes to push documentation or strings out. Yesterday I got a question about Catalan, which has common problems with Arabic and any non-supported language. It is expected that more volunteer translators from other languages will show up.

Sorry for the delayed ,
I wonder , is there an Arabic programmer team in Middle East Nokia ? tow reasons for this quiz :-
1. all the past Arabic supporting cellphone , who did translate them ?
2. The officially sellers in Nokia Care said that N900 will released in the Middle East with full support for Arabic !! I've heard that they had entered to a course "How to deal with N900 ?"

but for sure we can't get the right information from sellers :D

[abu9al7]

For third party Maemo software there is community project to make a framework to allow volunteers to provide translation for software. (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=27997) A testbed for application Conboy can be found and discussed here. (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=33382)

Thanks a lot for the information , I've helped Conboy with the translation :)

[abu9al7]

fwiw there are some Arabic related locale settings when selecting Region in the latest image I'm testing:

Arabic (Bahrain)
Arabic (Kuwait)
Arabic (Oman)
Arabic (Qatar)
Arabic (Saudi Arabia)
Arabic (United Arab Emirates)

This is only used for locale settings such a timezone, currency units and so on. Better than nothing...

Of course it's better :D

[abu9al7]

Well, Arabic fonts are there, we chose 3 pretty good fonts for you to enjoy. Rendering works perfectly in browser, pdf reader, file manager, you name it. Also, text is automativally rendered right to left automatically. Media file content is extracted in arabic as well and overall, there should be very nice arabic experience support by default on the device. A big thing that is missing is the input support and the translations. But we are eagerly awaiting for community contributions for those.

Messaging also works well. [Edit] Of course only for *receiving* :o

Thanks for the clarification
I think we could do it but the only thing we need mostly is the instructions from some experts to make a useful solution to this problem :)

[abu9al7]

Actually I'm quite happy for the "English-only" solid keyboard, I didn't like how messy was the Arabic keyboard on my E71, they removed some symbols like " ; " for example. I had to press the symbol button each time I wanted to wink lol.

I rarely type in Arabic, I do enjoy receiving Arabic. I think on-screen keyboard will be a nice feature for the phone. If I was a hardcore Arabic typer I would not buy this phone, I'll wait for the non keyboard version of it.

I don't know , Maybe for you it's good but for a lot of Arabs it's not

see when you want to right something in a forum or writing messages to your friend , on-screen keyboard will not help you because it will take the whole screen so you can't see the conversation :(

If we want to wait we'll wait forever :p

[abu9al7]

I agree that at least an on-screen keyboard is essential, UI and physical keyboard will come and isn't essential for me but without input with a virtual keyboard...well that would be good at all. If I understood correctly receiving text works and I'm thankful for that leaving only the need for input, so...

...Let us know if we can help make this happen!

I can't agree more :)
for me I want at least on-screen keyboard :)

[abu9al7]

I think we could at least make an installable extra keyboard layout for the arabic.
My only ocncern is that we have two fewer keys in the on screen keyboard than there are usually keys in the arabic keyboards. But I'm sure we can handle those somehow.

Basically, we don't have space for the
http://www.abckeyboards.net/language_keyboards/arabic/images/english-arabic_101_keyboard_layout.gif

Rightmost key on the first alphabet row and we don't have space for the rightmost key on the lowest alphabet row. But those keys can be moved behind shift key.
we can set it up like N97's keyboard :D

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc155/nma125/16062009036.jpg

[abu9al7]

^ some Arabic keyboard phones have 2 letters in one button. My Blackberry Curve have 5 buttons that have 2 Arabic letters each.

EDIT: I found the N97 Keyboard.

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc155/nma125/16062009036.jpg

2 letters on 10 buttons :P

As you know on any Arabic keyboard there are 2 letters on 13 Keys :rolleyes:

http://kadirigroup.com/images/ebay/Arabic-Keyboard.jpg

[abu9al7]

Dear Maemo & Nokia,

Plz, try to solve the Arabic issues in N900 before launching them to arabin country ( specialy in Gulf-GCC), otherwise, your sales will affect sharply....

(i think you know that)

plz, do your best.....

I've send a mail to Tala Toukan , The Public Relations Manager, Lower Gulf, Nokia

hope that I'll receive the replay :)

[0Dark Knight0]

I've send a mail to Tala Toukan , The Public Relations Manager, Lower Gulf, Nokia

hope that I'll receive the replay :)

thanks a lot,, hope they take it seriously

[Rashoodz]

اتصلت عالرقم الوارد بالرسالة اللي وصلتك (800-844-1457)

رد علي الدعم الفني لنوكيا كير

استفسرت منه عالجهاز ووضح لي واكد لي ان الجهاز اذا تم شراؤه من المنافذ الرسمية بالشرق الأوسط فهو راح يجي معه باكج للغة العربية تعريب كامل للواجهة ودعم الكتابة .. مثله مثل الاجهزة السابقة .. اما اذا تم شراؤه من اوروبا او من محلات غير رسمية (قد تكون هذي المحلات مستوردته من اوروبا) فالباكج لن يكون مرفق معه

بصراحة اجمل خبر سمعته


I got this from another forum, it says that they called "NOKIA CARE" and they assured that it has full Arabic support, Software and hardware.

EDIT: It may be not true.

[abu9al7]

I got this from another forum, it says that they called "NOKIA CARE" and they assured that it has full Arabic support, Software and hardware.

EDIT: It may be not true.

That's me :D

They said if you buy it from the official sellers in the Middle East it will have an arabic package for UI and Keyboard but if you buy it from other places like Europe it will not have that package :cool:

hope he's right :)

[Rashoodz]

Oh lol!

To be honest, a Nokia in the Middle East without Arabic keyboard just doesn't make any sense, I remember in the 90s people used to worry about that.

[0Dark Knight0]

I got this from another forum, it says that they called "NOKIA CARE" and they assured that it has full Arabic support, Software and hardware.

EDIT: It may be not true.

Alhamdullilahh..:)

really you assured me .....haa, now i am going just to wait for this devise to be released & immediately take it...:)

الله يبشرك بالخير دائما:):):)

[0Dark Knight0]

yea it doesn't make any sense if released without arabic support...

finally,,,

[0Dark Knight0]

now we have to change the topic to: Good News..:)..:)
no more bad news..:)

[MSameer]

I'm not going to comment on what Nokia care said. I'll just state facts I know :)

The keyboard mat (the actual part that has the letters) can be changed. All what's needed is Nokia making one and the support for it on the hardware side.

The only thing I can offer as a software developer is the on-screen keyboard. I'm not interested in a hardware Arabic one but I'm interested in being able to type Arabic every now and then :)

As for the translation, I think I know someone who can do it. I'll try to poke him and see.

But that's not an official Nokia support ;)

[0Dark Knight0]

I'm not going to comment on what Nokia care said. I'll just state facts I know :)

The keyboard mat (the actual part that has the letters) can be changed. All what's needed is Nokia making one and the support for it on the hardware side.

The only thing I can offer as a software developer is the on-screen keyboard. I'm not interested in a hardware Arabic one but I'm interested in being able to type Arabic every now and then :)

As for the translation, I think I know someone who can do it. I'll try to poke him and see.

But that's not an official Nokia support ;)

My friend,

Since you are software devloper, you should look as well for the rest of the nokia lovers comments & needs, not only what you like or wand.:)

i disagree with you, on-screen arabic support is important but not less than the keyboard with arabic letters & hardware;)

[MSameer]

I'm concentrating on what can be done from a software point of view. Hardware keyboard is just hardware! Nothing I can do about it.

And no, I volunteer and use my own free time to do stuff so you can't dictate what I should do with MY free time.

[0Dark Knight0]

I'm concentrating on what can be done from a software point of view. Hardware keyboard is just hardware! Nothing I can do about it.

And no, I volunteer and use my own free time to do stuff so you can't dictate what I should do with MY free time.

thanx, & sorry 4 misunderstanding then....:D

[bandora]

Haha.. This is good news.. I am not so much interested in the arabic hardware keyboard, since I don't use it so much. .but I would prefer using it once in a while though.. So I think using an on-screen keyboard would be perfect for me..

I totally agree with you MSameer.. :D

[qgil]

Ukeyboard (http://maemo.org/packages/view/ukeyboard/) is in Extras-testing (http://wiki.maemo.org/Extras-testing) and it includes Arabic virtual keyboard among many others for the price of... 20Kb. Impressive!

It needs still some testing but probably nothing that can't be done by Roman Moravcik (http://maemo.org/profile/view/rmoravcik/), the community developer in charge.

[MSameer]

I gave it a try and it works. Only "problem" is you find Arabic towards the bottom in the text input control panel applet ;-)

Now I need to do nothing :D

[realitygaps]

Hebrew text input works great with ukeyboard also :)

[abu9al7]

Ukeyboard (http://maemo.org/packages/view/ukeyboard/) is in Extras-testing (http://wiki.maemo.org/Extras-testing) and it includes Arabic virtual keyboard among many others for the price of... 20Kb. Impressive!

It needs still some testing but probably nothing that can't be done by Roman Moravcik (http://maemo.org/profile/view/rmoravcik/), the community developer in charge.

That's great job :cool:

The only thing that is missed now is the device :D

[jeremiah]

I was just looking for a way to type Swedish chars, what synchronicity!

[0Dark Knight0]

any latest new a bout the arabic arrangements??

[0Dark Knight0]

I got this from another forum, it says that they called "NOKIA CARE" and they assured that it has full Arabic support, Software and hardware.

EDIT: It may be not true.

my friend,,,i just saw this site ( check the link below about the N900 will not support writing arabic...:((((

http://www.itp.net/578420-nokia-n900-will-be-sold-next-week

do u have any idea.....

[MSameer]

I'll take off my Nokia hat:

it will not support Arabic because of present restrictions in the open source software.

Nonsense. The restrictions are not in the Open Source Software we use.

[amer19]

I'll take off my Nokia hat:

it will not support Arabic because of present restrictions in the open source software.

Nonsense. The restrictions are not in the Open Source Software we use.

as u said dosen't make any sense but and i quote
"At a N900 meetup organised in Dubai late last month, it was suggested that Arabic software developers need to engage with the Maemo developer community in order to drive language accessibility for all devices running on the platform."

[MSameer]

Software is limited. It can't change the hardware keyboard for example.

I don't know how important this is to be honest. I rarely type Arabic.

[0Dark Knight0]

in this case, are we going to receive the N900 with full arabic support???

or the arabic keyboard & the writing will not be supported in this release??:(

[0Dark Knight0]

Dear Nokia & Maemo,

as we know N900 is on the way to Middle east, and Dubai is the one who is going to celebrate the launch of this device,,Many arabic poeple are waiting to have this device and let say:( they are not only waiting for N900, but as well for the full arabic support)

1 Q: how come the N900 will be introduced in Dubai (where it has Nokia branch for middle east & Africa), without arabic writing support & external keyboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??? at least do the arabic letters on the external keyboard, while the writing can be done through firmware>>

really,,,doesn't make annnnnnyyyyyyyyyyyyy sense.......

[MohammadAG]

So what's the current confirmed status of this?
If it has an arabic layout we might lose 2 arrow keys, and if that happens I'm importing it.

[Rashoodz]

Just released in United Arab Emirates 1 hour ago for 3000 AED. With no Arabic Keyboard.

You can read Arabic, and you can download uKeyboard for typing on-screen keyboard.

[konttori]

I think it makes sense anyway to have the hw kb in english (you get the arrow buttons nicely and it's easy to type english) and when you need to type a message, you just use the on-screen kb. I do that for finnish/english switching myself.

[0Dark Knight0]

Just released in United Arab Emirates 1 hour ago for 3000 AED. With no Arabic Keyboard.

You can read Arabic, and you can download uKeyboard for typing on-screen keyboard.

yes, but this version is Europe Version & as per the Nokia-MEA Dubai, they informed that:( so far no news about official release of N900-it might be after Eid-beginning or mid of December 2009 and definitely will be supporting arabic fully)

so, these versions are leaked from Europe version, also when i talked to the agent in my country they said:( we don't have stocks-just 2-5 pieces, and we didn't receive any thing from Nokia-MEA about these and might get the middle east version by December 2009)

so no need to rush & waste money

[heahmad]

we can wait one more months i thinks
to have fully arabic support

[0Dark Knight0]

we can wait one more months i thinks
to have fully arabic support

yes bro,,

we have to wait, probably after Eid inshalla...:):)

[heahmad]

yes bro,,

we have to wait, probably after Eid inshalla...:):)

no problem
:D

[ninjafury]

any updates?

[altmeme]

Is there any news?
Is it possible ????????????????????


Until now so far they Has not made the arabic version
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Curse

[jayford]

You can use ukeyboard to have a virtual keyboard with arabic, and I'm sure you can add a function to write in arabic with the hardware too, as this was done with Hebrew:
http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=430315&postcount=5

So I'm only guessing that you could change that to support arabic, maybe I'm wrong.

But I'm wondering if the UI can be translated or is it closed source.

Even if you have arabic you'll have one last issue, is the writing from left to right, when you should be writting on the other direction, it might annoy you when writing SMS and such, maybe you'll get used to it.

[konttori]

Write direction is automatically handled on the toolkit level. You won't have issue with that. Just make the kb layout for the HW kb and that's it. Perhaps ukeyboard guy could do it.

[0Dark Knight0]

it is better to wait the arabic support from Nokia directly, rather than installing arabic programs,,,,,cos this will cause problems,,,

[konttori]

Official support is not necessarily coming. It's better to make the community support perfect right now.

[0Dark Knight0]

o Nokia & Maemo,

Plz, Take care of your customers needs & wants, in another word: so far and here in Middle east-GCC also in some countries, there is no arabic keyboard till now??!! WHAT IS THIS!!:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Also, the same issue in other countries!!!!:mad::mad:

So, think wisely,,,

Thanks

[Fargus]

o Nokia & Maemo,

Plz, Take care of your customers needs & wants, in another word: so far and here in Middle east-GCC also in some countries, there is no arabic keyboard till now??!! WHAT IS THIS!!:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Also, the same issue in other countries!!!!:mad::mad:

So, think wisely,,,

Thanks

I'm all for international support but is the N900 officiaased in any country where Arabic is an official language of said country? I suspect you will be waiting for Maemo 6 from Nokia unless they extend the supported market area.

[0Dark Knight0]

I'm all for international support but is the N900 officiaased in any country where Arabic is an official language of said country? I suspect you will be waiting for Maemo 6 from Nokia unless they extend the supported market area.

thanks for your reply,
Actually the N900 is there in my country, but without arabic keyboard also, it has third party application for supporting arabic, but Nokia didn't release any official N900 to Middle ease-GCC,

Also, the N900 was from beginning to be released in Middle east market from day Zero as per the Nokia Vis president, but may be will take time..:o

Can you please advise when to have the same in Middle east-GCC, cos i contacted the Nokia MEA- Dubai, and informed : ( definitely there will be arabic keyboard, but no news) & now u r saying we have to wait for maeomo 6 !!!!!!:confused::confused:
Really confused,,,

appreciate ur advise
regards

[MSameer]

What's just wrong with using the on screen keyboard ? I'm a native Arabic speaker and it works just fine for my needs.

[pqs]

Yesterday I got a question about Catalan, which has common problems with Arabic and any non-supported language. It is expected that more volunteer translators from other languages will show up.

Hi. Yesterday I received my new N900. As a speaker of Catalan, I'd like to be able to use the predictive text writing system. It would be nice to also have the interface in Catalan, but for me this is not a must.

I'd like to volunteer to prepare a system of predictive text in Catalan, but I don't know where to start. Is there any guide somewhere?

I don't have time to translate the interface.

[heahmad]

is there any update about it !!!
becuse i see alot of users say they have all ready see a n900 with arabic keyboard in iraq and KSA

[konttori]

Nokia will not add official VKB nor HW kb support for arabic. We will, however, support all community acitivities in making those happen - as well as for UI localization support. We have been working on some of the arabic usability bugs for the PR1.2, but full official support will not be done.

[salah99]

What's just wrong with using the on screen keyboard ? I'm a native Arabic speaker and it works just fine for my needs.

The UI for that keyboard needs more work. I want to see keyboard like HTC or iPhone keyboards!!

[konttori]

PR1.2 will come with greatly enhanced virtual keyboard. It will be a pleasure to use. It's also very much competitive with other products out there. However, it will nto have as much eye candy, as e.g. iphone kb has.

[heahmad]

thank you konttori i hope every thing work fine

[heahmad]

and about P1.2 when it will be released