Type and Read Malayalam on Android (Samsung Galaxy Phones)

Are you looking for a way to read and type Malayalam on your Android Phone? Here is a solution!

Opera Mini is a great source of comfort for people who want to read Malayalam on their Android Phone. Type "opera:config" in the address bar and change "Use bitmap for complex scripts" into "Yes" and you are ready to go. Now, that is good enough to read Malayalam on Opera Mini Web Browser. But what about those people who want to read and type in Malayalam, no matter what Application they are using?

Android does not provide any support for Malayalam. However, there is a workaround if you want to read Malayalam and type in Malayalam using your Android Phone, if you are using a Samsung Galaxy Phone. Following are the steps you need to follow, if you would like to do that, if you are using a Samsung Galaxy device:

1. Download "Font for Galaxy SP" (Fontomizer) from the Android Market
2. Go to your Settings > Applications > and make sure that Unknown Sources is checked. Checking Unknown Sources allows you to install Android Applications from sources other than market.
3. Download "Akshar Unicode" from "Font for Galaxy SP" and install on your phone. "Font for Galaxy SP"  lists fonts in alphabetical order. Click on alphabet "A" to download Akshar Unicode font
4.  After installing Akshar Unicode, go to Settings > Display > Font Style and select Akshar as your display font.
5. Download PaniniKeypadMalayalam IME from the Android Market
6. After installing PaniniKeypad Malayalam IME, go to Settings > Locale and text and check PaniniKeypad Malayalam so that the key board is enabled on your phone
7. Now, when ever you want to type in Malayalam, long-press on your text box and choose PaniniKeypad Malayalam as your input

Remember: Akshar Unicode is not that evolved a font. Malayalam may not render as good as it does on your computer. However, something is better than nothing.

Remember: Fontomizer works only on Samsung Galaxy devices. I have not tested this workaround on any other device than Galaxy. If it does not work on your Galaxy Phone, it is probably because of the Android fragmentation issue. The fonts from Fontomizer are based on Flipfont library. Now if your phone has Flipfont function, it may work on your phone even if it is not a Galaxy device. [Try and let me know, please!]

I hope Android will soon start supporting Malayalam Font in its full glory and we will be able to seamlessly type in Malayalam and read Malayalam without much stress.

Note: This workaround will not void your warranty as you are not rooting the phone or unlocking the boot loaders when you install a font from Fontomizer. If you have a rooted phone and do not care about warranty , I suggest you to download a Malayalam .ttf font like Karthika or Meera and replace your Droidsansfallback.ttf with it.

Update Again:  looks like Fontomizer has more Malayalam  fonts than Akshar. Check out!