| I recently switched my phone service from Sprint to AT&T and somehow managed to sucker myself into thinking I needed a Blackberry so that I can keep up-to-date on all the unimportant e-mails I receive every day (the latest deals on erectile dysfunction medications, who wants help smuggling money out of what country, etc). I ended up getting a Blackberry Curve 8310. It’s a cool phone, but the only problem is that with the default OS, there’s no support for Chinese at all. It can’t display Chinese characters, and it can’t input them. That stinks since I do get e-mail from Chinese friends, and I’d like to be able to read and respond to what they write without having to be at home to do it. So I set about trying to find a way to make it work…and after lots of Google searching and forum reading, I came across a great forum thread (link at the bottom of this article) that gave me the general steps on how to get it done. I followed the steps (with some modifications) and was able to make it work pretty easily. I’ve posted the outline of the procedure that I used below in an attempt to hopefully make it easier for those who follow after me. Here goes… |
- The first step is to download the latest HK CSL Limited (HK CSL is a Hong Kong cell phone carrier) version of the Blackberry OS for your particular model. You can download it here. It’ll ask you all kinds of questions and run through the whole “I’m not gonna use this to hack the planet” stuff, but you can at least download it.
- Next, you’ll also want to download the Simplified Chinese font pack for Blackberry. I can’t find the link where I got it originally, but you can download it here. It doesn’t appear that the HK CSL version of the Blackberry OS supports simplified Chinese characters. It may, but when I installed it, it didn’t seem like it was going to, so just to be safe, I downloaded the fonts for it and installed them. After you’ve downloaded the package, extract the zip file to somewhere on your computer and note where you extracted the files. You’ll have to browse to that location in a couple of steps.
- After you’ve obtained the software you need, I recommend uninstalling any Blackberry software you have on your computer (just for the sake of doing things cleanly). Logically, you’ll need your Blackberry User Tools CD (or at least a downloaded copy) for reinstalling the software later.
- Navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader
and rename or delete your VENDOR.XML file if that directory and that file still exist. They may not since you just uninstalled all Blackberry software that was on your machine.
- Open the downloaded OS file that you got in step 1 and install it. At the end of the install, it should ask you if you want to run the Application Loader program. I chose Yes, but then the AppLoader that it ran was in Chinese, and I didn’t feel like going through it in Chinese. So I canceled it and browsed to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\Apploader and double-clicked on Loader.exe That kicked off the Apploader program in English. Your mileage may vary, but that’s what worked for me.
- At the screen where it gives you the option of what you want to install, make sure you check all the boxes that have to do with Chinese (and Japanese and Korean if you want to be able to read sites/e-mails in those languages - sorry, this OS doesn’t support writing in those languages). Also, remember those simplified Chinese fonts I mentioned downloading earlier? They may not be necessary, but you may want to browse to where that zip file was extracted and select the net_rim_font_chinese.alx file to install those simplified Chinese fonts just to be safe. Also on this screen, make sure you select the pinyin input option so that you can switch between inputting English and Chinese using your Blackberry. At some point during this step, it’ll probably also ask you if you want to backup your device. That’d be a good idea if you like what you have on your Blackberry. Once you’ve done all that, get ready to wait up to 30 minutes (maybe more, maybe less) for your device to become usable again. It’ll probably look like it’s hung at some point because the progress bar won’t move for a long time, but it’s just taking it’s sweet time. It’ll work.
- You’ll probably have to go through the setup wizard on your Blackberry again, but the good news is that it should keep your messaging/e-mail set up (it did on mine, anyway). It’ll ask you what input language and screen language you wanna use. Unless you’re fluent in Chinese and can read it all, I recommend sticking with English on both. You can easily switch the input language within an application by pressing the “full” menu button (the menu button with the dots on it) and choosing Switch Input Language. Then, it’s just a matter of typing pinyin and selecting the appropriate character for what you want to say.
- After you’ve done this, re-install Desktop Manager and other applications, set up your synchronization again, and you’re good-to-go.
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