03-11-2004, 10:00 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,060
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Pocketnow Reviews Calligrapher 7.1
I don't want to start another heated discussion about what everybody's favorite input method is, but I've gotta state again that I think Calligrapher ROCKS! It's fast, recognizes my crappy writing, and doesn't require me to re-learn a funky new keyboard layout.
A couple of weeks ago, PhatWare released a new version of Calligrapher (I know, I'm a bit late with this), and Pocketnow's Mike Kurziel has put together a good under-the-hood analysis of it. And, while the new features added in the new version might be considered trivial by some people, the dissection given by Mike most certainly is not.
So, if you're interested in handwriting recognition, go give Mike's review a read. I'm still a little hot under the collar about the fact that PhatWare charged existing customers like me 20 bucks for the previous upgrade, but maybe this will help you decide whether you should take Calligrapher for a spin.
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03-11-2004, 11:53 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 56
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Can anyone tell me the advantages of Calligrapher over Transcriber?
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03-11-2004, 02:01 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 120
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This is a good review, and although I've been using it for years, I picked up a couple of new pointers. It does miss the fact that Calligrapher handles more than single character entry - it allows cursive input. It is the only handwriting recognition application I have tried that handles my mostly-cursive-some-print style of writing and it does it well enough that I can take notes at conferences, or minutes at meetings, and come home with them all 'typed' up.
Calligrapher is the first application I install on a new Pocket PC (or re-install after a hardreset).
About Transcriber - I don't use it now, but when I did, it didn't seem to recognize as accurately, even though at one time the engines were the same, I think (that is the subjective part). It certainly doesn't support the pen macro capability, and I use that a lot. I have even added a few macros to deal with accurate entry of special characters (a t with a circle around it gets me a tilde, an L with a circle around it gets me a line of underscores, an 'ms' yields Microsoft).
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03-11-2004, 02:06 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,060
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Techtoys
Can anyone tell me the advantages of Calligrapher over Transcriber?
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You can think of Transcribe as "Calligrapher Lite," because they were both developed by the same team and the work in very much the same way. Calligrapher has many more features, including the ability to create macros and shortcuts. For instance, I find that I write the word "application" a lot, so I configured Calligrapher so I can simply write the letter "a" and draw a circle around it and Calligrapher writes "application."
There's really a lot more to it, because you can create shortcuts that open applications, execute files, etc. But, if all you want is the handwriting recognition part, Transcriber will give you what you need.
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03-11-2004, 03:10 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 56
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Thanks. I'm not a macro type of person, so I would probably seldom use the additional features. It would be good to get an accurate side by side review on the two though, so we can see if the recognition engine is better.
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03-11-2004, 03:57 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,162
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From what I understand the recognition engine is better in Calligrapher - that has been my experience.
It also allows you to customize its toolbar - which seems quite handy.
Unfortunately it makes too many mistakes for me and so I'm forced to use another input method.
I think I might give this another shot though.
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03-11-2004, 04:26 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 485
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In an unscientific test Calligrapher seemed better than Transcriber at recognising my handwriting - but it is a little slower to initialise.
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03-11-2004, 06:29 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 155
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this macro thing is kinda cool. I'll definately try it out.
My major peeve right now with transcriber has been it's failer to recognize my way of writing 'x' and the word 'clear' (recognizes as dear).
i found at times to recognize the number 1 it is easier to write 12 and then erase the 2 just to get the end result =)
I'll give calligrapher at definate try.
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03-12-2004, 01:02 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 31
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H2215
Has anyone seen any problems with this version and battery power loss along with Pocket Informant as the previous versions did on the H2215s? Remember, when you'd have to hard reset etc.?
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03-12-2004, 01:17 AM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,616
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The only advantages I see that Calligrapher has over Transcriber are the option to start automatically after a soft-reset and the on-screen keyboard.
I wouldn't find Pen Commander very efficient as I would spend as much time looking for the shortcut as I would entering the full text, except for cases like if I had to enter my full, multi-line address several times a day.
For the (imo) few features it offers over Transcriber, I really don't think $30 is worth it. Maybe $12 but I wouldn't pay much more as I can do most of what was mentioned in the review, in Transcriber.
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Linear Mode
