Recently the firmware update for my Samsung Galaxy Ace was available via kies to Android 2.3.4. Instantly I updated it and exploring the phone and found something very exciting.
Yep, the phone now supports my mother tongue Tamil Language. I went ahead and checked several other Indic languages such as Hindi and Telugu and they are too supported. Unfortunately Sinhala language is not supported yet (It is the widely spoken language in Sri Lanka).
many people often phone me, Twitter me or sms me asking how to install Tamil on Android. If you are on Samsung Galaxy series then you may have default support to Tamil with the firmware update to 2.3.4.
There are two main tasks you need to achieve.
- Root your phone (which may void your warranty)
- Replace the fallback font with a Unicode Tamil font
You can download an Indic font (Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam etc) from XDA Dev forum.
Even after doing all above mentioned stuff your phone won’t be 100% Tamil compatible as font rendering will not happen. Current rendering engine does not support Tamil.
Search google on how to root your model. Rooting may differ from phone model to model. You may also refer this article on how to install Sinhala font on your Android mobile.
You may also read more about Tamil in Android via Ravi’s post.
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Gopinath says
Cant you post the Droidsans.ttf file, so that we too can install in in our devices and view tamil.
Mayu says
I’ve updated the post with a link to an Indic font designed for Android.
Thejo says
Indic support is there because the Ace/Ppo devices are targeted at Indian market. Even the Gingerbread upgrade is for Indian sub-continent and is not universal it seems. Whatever it is, the benefit is for us and am glad finally I can read Thamil in Android 🙂
Mayu says
obviously me too 🙂
K. Sethu says
I downloaded the DroidSansFallback.ttf from the XDA-developer’s site to my laptop with Ubuntu Linux and tested.
The font is fully Unicode conforming (i.e., it has no modifications for any conversions). Using the font, the rendering of Tamil content works fine in all applications – gedit (using Pango), LibreWriter (using icu) and kate (using qt).
Looking under fontforge I guess that Tamil glyphs in this font are from the gnu/gpled Lohit Tamil font.
So when you upgraded the firmware, the correct rendering layout for Indic Unicode range also should have got added. Could it be an upgrade of the Harff Buzz itself or be it the use of an alternative rendering stack? – what have you found?
Meanwhile are you also able to add any Unicode font, for e.g., Lohit Tamil itself?
K. Sethu
kumaravel says
hi fri..i had followed your step what you told above but droidsansfallback.ttf font is not support some devices(LG optimus s etc..its showed spell mistake )but its working nicely for some devices…Do you have any idea some devices working good and some devices is not working? plz let me know if you know means
perumal says
is it avaiable for xperia mini pro and neo
manivannan says
Hi Mayu,
Is the firmware update to 2.3.4 compatible for Samsung galaxy tab 10.1? My model is GT7510.