Grafitti vs. Handwriting Recognition (Transcriber)

[Marvinh]

Hello - What are your thoughts between Grafitti (on the palm) and Handwriting recognition on the PocketPC. Grafitti seems to be older technology and also hard to learn. Handwriting recognition seems far superior. And that's a major reason why I would consider a PocketPC over a Palm.

Thanks! - Marvinh

[ThomasC22]

Hello - What are your thoughts between Grafitti (on the palm) and Handwriting recognition on the PocketPC. Grafitti seems to be older technology and also hard to learn. Handwriting recognition seems far superior. And that's a major reason why I would consider a PocketPC over a Palm.


Well, two things:

On Handwriting recognition vs. Grafitti (called block recognizer on this side of PDALand) - It all depends on how good your hand writing is. Mine is aweful and so I always thought Transcriber was complete bunk, false advertising. Then I deployed the first round of PDAs at my work and I found that, for example, our School Principal (who was a teacher, a profession known for it's good hand writing) could make transcriber work perfectly. So, if you have good handwriting then Transcriber is for you, if not, don't bother with Grafitti/B.R. learn something worth while like Fitaly, you'll get much further.

Second thing, as you probably got form the above comments, this really isn't a PPC vs. Palm issue since the PocketPC has both.

[lderooy]

A few years ago I was a PalmV user and taught myself grafitti. I now have a PocketPC with Transcriber and found that it recognizes my printing or cursive with about 95% accuracy. (You can train Transcriber a little to increase the accuracy.) I have been pretty happy with it and like it better than the Grafitti.

[Janak Parekh]

Second thing, as you probably got form the above comments, this really isn't a PPC vs. Palm issue since the PocketPC has both.
Sure it is :D. On the PPC you have choice between Graffiti, lowercase separate characters, Transcriber, and keyboard (and optionally Fitaly and others); on the Palm you have Graffiti (Fitaly is optional and keyboard only on the Sony N*70 series) and that's pretty much it.

Theoretically, the processing power of the Tungsten could support handwriting recognition, but I don't know if there are any plans to support it.

Strangely enough, I like using Graffiti with my 3870... I used a Palm for too many years. I even used the Uppercase mode of Letter Recognizer on my 3650 running PPC2000.

--bdj

[sub_tex]

Well, you have the keyboard on a Palm device as well. My girlfriend always uses the onscreen keyboard over grafitti.

But i myself found that i can write faster in grafitti than i can in my own handwriting which is pretty sad. I tried the block transcriber on the iPaq and i guess my handwriting is just as bad as Thomas. I had horrible results.

I'm waiting for a PDA to know what i'm thinking and write it. :wink:

[Steven Cedrone]

I used Palm devices (and I did like them) for a few years before I went with Pocket PC. I noticed that the better I was with using Graffiti, the more I had problems trying to write on plain paper with a pencil/pen. Any one else notice this?

Steve

[Kati Compton]

I'm waiting for a PDA to know what i'm thinking and write it. :wink:

No! Bad idea. :)

[editing text file while sitting in a public park]

"...which explains the results we see when we increase... boy I'm hungry... the atomic unit of operations by 20%. The performance of our design actually... wow - that person is wearing really tight shorts ... decreases due to fragmentation effects. Therefore, it is clear ... I'd really rather be playing games than working ... that an increase of the atomic unit should only occur after careful experimentation to determine the resulting effects."

[Janak Parekh]

Well, you have the keyboard on a Palm device as well. My girlfriend always uses the onscreen keyboard over grafitti.
D'oh! I've stopped using the keyboard so many years ago. Apologies. :D

--bdj

[Janak Parekh]

I used Palm devices (and I did like them) for a few years before I went with Pocket PC. I noticed that the better I was with using Graffiti, the more I had problems trying to write on plain paper with a pencil/pen. Any one else notice this?
Yes. Especially with the T. However, for me the Graffiti-on-paper tendency wore off after about 6 months after I bought my PalmPilot Pro, and now I can use Graffiti, lowercase, and handwriting without having to think.

--bdj

[Steven Cedrone]

I'm waiting for a PDA to know what i'm thinking and write it. :wink:

No! Bad idea. :)

[editing text file while sitting in a public park]

"...which explains the results we see when we increase... boy I'm hungry... the atomic unit of operations by 20%. The performance of our design actually... wow - that person is wearing really tight shorts ... decreases due to fragmentation effects. Therefore, it is clear ... I'd really rather be playing games than working ... that an increase of the atomic unit should only occur after careful experimentation to determine the resulting effects."

Man, your thoughts are tame...

Mine would be like this:

"...which explains the results we see when we increase... boy I'm XXXXXX... the atomic unit of operations by 20%. The performance of our design actually... wow - that XXXXXXXXX tight XXX ... decreases due to fragmentation effects. Therefore, it is clear ... I'd really rather be XXXXXXXXX than working ... that an increase of the atomic unit should only occur after careful experimentation to determine the resulting effects."

Replace the X's as you see fit... :wink:

Not a report I'd want to send without editing...

Steve

[Dave Beauvais]

I've found that once I configure Transcriber to recognize letters the way I write them, its accuracy is surprisingly good. The key is to not only tell it how you do form certain letters, but to also tell it how you don't. That way, common characters like "i" and "1" or "O" and "0" are less likely to be confused. For example, I've told Transcriber that I never form a zero without a cross-bar in it. That way, if I draw just a circle, it knows that it's the letter "O," not a zero.

In most sentences, I get an average of one or two letters wrong. Still not great, but considering I can enter that sentence in a fraction of the time it would take with the other standard input methods, I can live with it.

By the way, once you've got Transcriber "tweaked in," be sure to save your settings. That way, you can import those settings later or restore them to your defaults if something happens to reset them later.

--Dave

[Kati Compton]

Man, your thoughts are tame...


Not really, but I'm good at pretending. ;)

[Steven Cedrone]

I used Palm devices (and I did like them) for a few years before I went with Pocket PC. I noticed that the better I was with using Graffiti, the more I had problems trying to write on plain paper with a pencil/pen. Any one else notice this?
Yes. Especially with the T. However, for me the Graffiti-on-paper tendency wore off after about 6 months after I bought my PalmPilot Pro, and now I can use Graffiti, lowercase, and handwriting without having to think.

--bdj

Mine didn't wear off until I switched to Pocket PC (And then it took months before I stopped catching myself doing Graffiti Keystrokes - at the time I was using a Palm V, long after my Palmpilot Pro...)

Steve

[Marvinh]

A couple of people responding mentioned "Fitaly" as a type of handwriting recogniton. Excuse my ignorance, but what is "Fitaly"?

[Steven Cedrone]

A couple of people responding mentioned "Fitaly" as a type of handwriting recogniton. Excuse my ignorance, but what is "Fitaly"?

"The Fitaly keyboard for the Pocket PC is an ergonomic replacement for the standard on-screen Qwerty keyboard."

http://www.fitaly.com/wince/pocketpcfitaly.htm

Steve