If Mat Bettingson’s blog comparing Hanping to QuanWei proves anything, it’s that one man’s mothership is another man’s alien abduction. In Mat’s case, he prefers inexact searches over precise ones, finds no value in pronunciation, adjustable text sizes, word lists, etc., and actually has no issue with network-based advertisements taking up valuable screen real estate.

Others may disagree (certainly we do). But the point is that there’s no accounting for tastes, and no reason why anyone should have to. The Android Market offers a variety of Chinese <-> English dictionaries to suit a variety of needs. And if an ad-based dictionary with muddled searching and limited features is your cup of tea, then Hanping is not a bad choice by any means.

We, on the other hand, believe that people new to Chinese or just traveling to China will appreciate QuanWei’s ability to both pronounce words and display them in a large visible overlay. We believe that students will appreciate the fact that when they look up the Chinese surname “Pan” in QuanWei, they won’t also get English entries for pots and pans as they will when using Hanping. For the same reason, we believe that it’s important to be able to distinguish between “xi an” and “xian”. Precision is why QuanWei has search modes and search qualifiers. Precision is why QuanWei requires spaces between Pinyin syllables. Precision means quickly finding what you’re looking for as opposed to wasting time sifting through search results. And for those who require a lack of precision, we believe that QuanWei’s fuzzy Pinyin feature is unmatched. It certainly doesn’t exist in Hanping.

Considering what Mat had to say about QuanWei’s user interface, we wonder if he noticed its many refinements. For example, QuanWei doesn’t consume valuable screen real estate by perpetually showing you the name of the application and how many search results were returned (QuanWei shows you the latter in a “Toast” bubble that disappears to free up as much space as possible). QuanWei even has a full screen mode. Hanping has none of these features.

We find it strange that Mat made no mention of QuanWei’s numerous list options, particularly since he’s ostensibly a scholar of Chinese. We find QuanWei’s ability to list all Pinyin syllables, for example, to be invaluable. And what scholar doesn’t want a favorite words list?!

Mat doesn’t think much of QuanWei’s adjustable text feature. But we believe that many will appreciate the ability to make text larger or smaller as needed, both to fit their screen size and their eyesight. After all, some Chinese characters use dozens of strokes and it’s nice to be able to see complex characters clearly.

Mat had nothing to say regarding QuanWei’s programmable back key feature. And that's surprising because QuanWei is the only Android app that let’s you decide what the back key does. We’re certain others will enjoy this flexibility when it comes to navigating QuanWei’s many screens.

For Mat, choosing Hanping over QuanWei was a no-brainer, and we understand and appreciate that some people prefer to keep things simple, even if that means sacrificing features and performance. The good news is that all Android Market software can be evaluated for 24 hours without charge. So there’s no reason not to try out both Hanping and QuanWei. As they say: to each his own.