Japanese Keyboard not available

[justinw]

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

[Uliwooly]

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

[MarlonUk1]

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

[Trubo_XL]

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

[justinw]

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

[justinw]

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.

[justinw]

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?

[Uliwooly]

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

[justinw]

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.

[Trubo_XL · Accepted solution]

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)