It’s because they have more content and should theoretically last longer.
If you go either high school or elementary school the price drops.
1 Like
Yeah. I meant between high school and elementary schools too, but I understand the reason why: amazon.co.jp high school models listed are from last year, the current models aren’t listed. But the elementary school model is the latested available.
1 Like
Yes, for high school models seems like there’s a later release, while the middle and elementary still seem to have the old model as the current one.
They also update through internet, so not sure what changes are that relevant that might require a new SKU.
1 Like
Can you load epwing by yourself?
1 Like
If it’s not a purchase option I doubt it will let you do that.
I bet there’s some nasty DRM checking.
But maybe, most of the documentation online about these devices is in Japanese, as they rarely are used by foreigners or exported.
1 Like
it’s interesting that amazon didnt embrace the ideia of these dictionaries into their kindle
almost same screen size, the battery last quite some time, as well right?
2 Likes
The kindles have a Japanese dictionary on them, you can enable them on settings.
I’m unsure if they enabled a way to look up words that are not coming from an ebook though.
2 Likes
As someone that uses kindle quite a lot, the Japanese dictionary is actually terrible. For the most common words in the language, it will usually be correct, but the yomikata that it displays for many (not so common) words is incorrect. I have no idea why this is the case, but it happens far too often for it to be viewed as reliable. I always copy/paste words from kindle into a real dictionary now to make sure the reading is correct.
3 Likes
Good to know, thanks for the info.
The definitions were too hard for me to bother using it, so I just relied on third party dictionaries too, although for a different reason.
My guess is that recognized name dictionary license usage are expensive, and that’s why the good ones end up in expensive devices such as dedicated electronic dictionaries.
PS: Now I’m curious to know if the Kobo one is as bad/good, since Kobo’s parent is a Japanese company. I’ll check sometime later.
2 Likes
The base dictionary on kindle is pretty bad, but it seems we can buy others dictionnary that may be better. Never did that and did not found demo so I am not sure if they can be integrated correctly and are better.
Anyway the perf on my kindle paperwhite (not this model but the previous one) is pretty bad when doing lookup, it kills the fun.
2 Likes
I have only used it in the app (not on a Kobo device) and I felt that it was better than Kindle’s recognition but still not as good as Yomichan due to the limited dictionaries available. On iPhone it used the dictionaries that are included in iOS which - although they are excellent dictionaries - might not be what you are used to using.
Personally I rip the DRM and read them in my browser and use Yomichan for looks (or 10ten on mobile)
1 Like
The Japanese-English one isn’t great but the J-J one is 大辞泉 which is fine. You can also get a jmdict/edict dictionary for eink kindles that can look up inflected verbs too. Not perfect of course, but the reason I don’t like using my Oasis is that everything is so slow, not that the dictionaries are bad. It takes forever to select a word if it doesn’t detect it on tap.
Since this thread is about electronic dictionaries: The opposite is also possible - you can upload drm free text files to them and then you get several really good dictionaries you can look stuff up in. But they have a terrible screen (my Sharp is even worse than the Casio 3800) and it kind of feels like reading text files on a 30 year old computer.
If I read on my iPhone using any app that lets me “share” selected text I get the best dictionary lookup functionality. In addition to the default iOS dictionaries (スーパー大辞林 and Wisdom 英和/和英), this lets me look up words directly in cheap edict apps like Midori, or the more expensive Dictionaries app by Monokakido. The problem is just that reader apps don’t necessarily support this. For example, the Bookwalker app instead shares a link to the book, the Kindle app adds boilerplate text that makes it impossible to look up directly, etc.
2 Likes
Any more info on this? It sounds like you have a really old model. Mine is around 5 years old and I have been curious about adding dictionaries to it.
1 Like
I think is talking about uploading text/novels and then using the dictionaries inside the device itself, and not about uploading new dictionaries to it.
1 Like
Reading a novel within your dictionary? Now I’m especially intrigued!
1 Like
https://support.casio.com/en/support/download.php?cid=003&pid=535
I found this while googling how to do it.
Note that’s for an older model, but I bet it’s similar on more recent ones.
Edit: Seems like you can just drop .txt files on the sd card on newer models:
https://support.casio.jp/exword/manual/XD-SX_SV_ja/sx3800_ja/GGADSYejwffaiu.html
I found it just now while looking through the settings. For context, I have a Casio EX-Word Dataplus 10 XD-Y4700. I originally bought the device for using at the office but I haven’t had the chance to use it much because of remote work.
If I can look up words from the text file, I might give this a go. I could convert some ebooks to try reading on the device. I’m pretty sure I could also save words and sentences to a file as well, although I’m unsure how. I will look into it a little further.
1 Like
Seems like it’s possible if I’m not reading it wrong, from page 148 from the JA manual of your model it details the procedure and specifications, so yeah, you could technically use calibre and convert them to TXT files
1 Like
I got it! It’s as simple as dropping it into an empty SD card and popping it in. Just make sure the text file is in SJIS format.
You can look up words from the text using the jump button and highlighting the word with the pen, and you can also save notes. Very convenient! I wonder if the newer models have any nice features like sending notes to your phone? Maybe not but it would be convenient 
4 Likes
That’s nice to know!
I’m not sure I’d dig reading for a long period with that font/screen though. It could be more like a side thing for me during dead times.
It could also be used as a backup. You have your physical book/ebook, and you jump to the part you want to look up at the electronic dictionary if you have previously dumped the .txt