11-10-2005, 05:00 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 46
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TextPlus 1.1: Intelligent Text Prediction
Product Category: Productivity
Manufacturer: SmartCell Technology, LLC
Where to Buy: Handango [Affiliate]
Price: $19.99 USD
System Requirements: Windows Mobile for Pocket PC 2003 or above; at least 700 KB free memory; a desktop computer (Windows 98 or above); and ActiveSync 3.7 or above. The program must be installed to main memory.
Pros:- Eases and expedites the creation of text messages, documents, or emails;
- Cheaper than nearly all of the major competitors' software of this type;
- The dictionary of words is easily customizable by the user;
- Tightly integrates into existing text typing features;
- Includes TextPlus database support, including medical, military, and foreign language dictionaries.
Cons:- The initial vocabulary of included with the software is relatively small;
- Must be installed to main memory;
- The customized database can eat up a good deal of memory.
Summary:
SmartCell Technology�s TextPlus 1.1 has been a tried-and-true application for Palm for years, and it has finally made it onto the Windows Mobile scene. This intuitive text interface works like the Operating System�s puny, built-in predictive text on steroids. TextPlus 1.1 speeds typing and SmartCell provides free downloadable databases for specialty and foreign language applications. If you�re tired of tapping out whole words and want a program that learns to suggest words that you most commonly use, TextPlus 1.1 may be just the ticket.
Read on for the full review!
Figure 1: TextPlus 1.1 tightly integrates into existing input modes.
So Many Words, So Little Time
It's happened to all of us, at one time or another. We�re out somewhere, and we need to respond to an email or text message or modify a text document, and we dread the cumbersome task of having to tap out words, one letter at a time, on a small fingerboard or virtual keyboard. Yeah, okay, so the OS has �predictive text� turned on, but there�s probably a one in ten chance that it�s actually going to guess the word that you�re trying to type. The built-in predictive text, to me, is often more of an annoyance than a help.
The folks at SmartCell Technology obviously felt our pain, and began to offer TextPlus 1.1 to the Pocket PC market. TextPlus is not new product, by any stretch, and has been offered to those using Palm OS for some years past. I might add that the program has racked up a loyal following and many awards and accolades over the years for the Palm OS. There are two main reasons for the program�s past success, and they are the same reasons that I believe that TextPlus 1.1 will also find a receptive market with the Pocket PC market. It is a no-brainer to use, and it suggests a list of words which are likely candidates for the word that I�m trying to spell out.
- Tightly integrates into all of the writing functions supported by the Pocket PC OS and writing applications;
- Provides predictive, commonly used short phrases;
- It bases its word suggestions on the user's frequency of use.
Figure 2: TextPlus 1.1 suggests short phrases, in addition to words.
Words to Tap By
TextPlus 1.1 gets better and better the more it is used. This is a good thing, from a productivity standpoint, but can have a drawback in the aspect of memory usage. The standard dictionary that comes with the program contains about 11,000 words. There are about 100,000 words in the English language; however, most people�s vocabulary is more like 20,000 or 30,000 words, and we don�t use but maybe one-third of those on a regular basis. When using TextPlus 1.1, if a word is entered that is not in the dictionary TextPlus will ask if you would like to add this word to the dictionary. Adding words to the dictionary obviously increases the words that are recognized and suggested by the predictive text, but adding words also increases the amount of main memory that is taken up by the program.
Adding a few words here and there will not make a dramatic difference in the memory usage, but SmartCell has anticipated that some eloquent users with large vocabularies may want to add many words to the dictionary. For that reason, they've provided a control that limits the amount of memory that the program�s dictionary can utilize. The user has the ability to specify how much memory the dictionary can use, and when that limit is reached, no more additions are allowed.
Figure 3: TextPlus displays several likely candidates for the word that is being typed.
Saving Time by Saving Taps
I tried to measure how many taps TextPlus saved compared to typing with no predictive text input, and using the one that's built into the OS. I chose a 50-character sentence, with common words, and did it all three ways. Of course, it took 50 taps, plus spaces to do it with no help. With the built-in predictive text, it took 45 taps, and with TextPlus it took 38 taps. The secret to getting the best use out of the program lies in its ability to �learn� words that each user commonly uses, and suggest that word. However, the real strength of the program comes from suggesting a list of words, not just one word as the built-in program does. Depending upon the first couple of letters of the word in question, TextPlus will suggest as many as ten words that match the first two or three letters. Therefore, the odds of it suggesting the word that is being typed is 10 times greater than the built-in predictive text feature.
Figure 4: Desktop software allows the user to add, import, or convert language-specific databases.
Conclusions
SmartCell Technology has a tried and true program in TextPlus 1.1. The program is very competitive in price compared to similar products. With additional dictionaries to support foreign languages and specialty fields, along with customizable standard dictionaries, the program provides the flexibility and features that most users will find beneficial. It�s still no fun to tap out messages on my Pocket PC�s virtual keyboard, but I must say that TextPlus 1.1 does help to ease the aggravation of creating and modifying messages. Handango and Pocket Gear offer free trial downloads, and I recommend giving it a try.
Steven Sharp is a senior systems analyst by day and a freelance writer by night. He is a 39-year-old native and lifelong resident of Huntsville, Alabama. He has been freelancing for 16 years and his first book, The Art of Managing Everyday Conflict was released by Greenwood Publishing Group in May of 2004.
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11-10-2005, 07:22 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 151
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So how does this compare to RIM's Suretype?
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11-10-2005, 08:28 PM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,067
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This app is indeed very good - I can only recommend it. I've written a review and a step-by-step tutorial of DB creation (it's certainly missing from the official docs) here, in my PPCMag Expert blog - feel free to check it out.
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11-10-2005, 09:45 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 468
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So does it only work with the virtual keyboard input? It'd be nice if it integrated into any of the input methods, like the letter recognizer.
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11-10-2005, 09:49 PM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,067
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Perry Reed
So does it only work with the virtual keyboard input? It'd be nice if it integrated into any of the input methods, like the letter recognizer.
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It supports all the built-in SIP's:
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11-10-2005, 10:00 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 468
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Menneisyys
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Perry Reed
So does it only work with the virtual keyboard input? It'd be nice if it integrated into any of the input methods, like the letter recognizer.
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It supports all the built-in SIP's: |
Very cool!
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11-11-2005, 03:51 AM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,616
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I used this for a very long time in conjunction with Fitaly on my WM2003 device. I eventually uninstalled it as every once in a while, I'd tap on the sip menu and nothing happened. A soft-reset corrected it every time, but that sure was annoying.
__________________
iPhone 4! ☠☠☠ Mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro! ☠☠☠ Gateway LT2102h! ☠☠☠ Dell XPS M1210!
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11-17-2005, 12:48 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 3
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I've been waiting for the release of this software ever since I switched from a Palm... I installed it, and did some tweaking of the user dictionary (adding many new words and phrases to the dictionaries through a trial-and-error approach and then finally figuring it out). This has become an essential part of my PPC now... I couldn't live without it! (OK, I could, but I wouldn't want to.)
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11-18-2005, 07:22 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 56
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watch out
I used this product for quite a while on my Palm Tungsten. It was indispensible. When I moved to a Toshiba e830, I asked them to make a Windows Mobile version, and I'm glad to see that they have.
Caveat: make sure you frequently save your work while using this tool. In the version I tried (1.0), my unit locked up several times while using TextPlus, and I eventually decided to remove it from my system. Maybe the 1.1 version is better in this regard?
S
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11-20-2005, 03:38 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 46
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Re: watch out
Quote:
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Originally Posted by midtoad
In the version I tried (1.0), my unit locked up several times while using TextPlus, and I eventually decided to remove it from my system. Maybe the 1.1 version is better in this regard?
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I've experienced this problem since writing the review. I am using version 1.1 on an O2 XDA2 and it has happened about 3 times, forcing me to do a soft reset and causing me to lose the messages I was writing. I thought it may have just been an oddity that was peculiar to my PPC or the installation of my software, but maybe it's not. I wish I could have reported this in my review, but it didn't start doing this until I'd already finished the review and it had be posted.
Steve
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Linear Mode
