Pocketnow Reviews Calligrapher 7.1

[Brad Adrian]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=335' target='_blank'>http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?...=reviews&id=335</a><br /><br /></div>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.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/adrian/calligrapher71.gif" /><br /> <br />A couple of weeks ago, <a href="http://www.phatware.com/">PhatWare</a> 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 <a href="http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=335">under-the-hood analysis</a> 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.<br /><br />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.

[Techtoys]

Can anyone tell me the advantages of Calligrapher over Transcriber?

[KH]

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).

[Brad Adrian]

Can anyone tell me the advantages of Calligrapher over Transcriber?
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.

[Techtoys]

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.

[Jacob]

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.

[ChristopherTD]

In an unscientific test Calligrapher seemed better than Transcriber at recognising my handwriting - but it is a little slower to initialise.

[gohtor]

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.

[Rune]

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.?

[ctmagnus]

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.

[tanalasta]

re: Differences between calligrapher and transcriber

Calligrapher 7.1 uses a newer recognition engine compared to the original transcriber. It is meant to be quicker and more accurate and recognizing handwriting and some people do find this to be the case - myself included.

Calligrapher also adds many more features such as:
It's own mini-keyboard
Smoother and more natural handwriting on screen
Pencommands or macros (one of the main reasons for getting calligrapher over transcriber)
Integration with phatpad
Add-on's which cost money - language and medical dictionary packs
Improved editing and also allows point & click without turning calligrapher off

A full list of calligrapher functions and features are available from the website at www.phatware.com

As to the question whether it is worth the money? Well, to be honest... after using calligrapher for the last 3 months I find when it works, it's wonderful! However, it still fails to be as accurate or as speedy as other input methods and I believe I'm going to return to letter recognizer soon. Especially when it comes to writing words that are not included the in-built dictionary such as medical / bible terms. For day-to-day use calligrapher does work nicely. (e.g.I do believe calligrapher is overpriced - especially their new bundle packages that force to you purchase several utilities to get the full functionality out of them.

I haven't noticed the battery draining issue - and i use both PI and calligrapher atm.

[dmjames]

Many more features in Calligrapher, toolbar options and i find the keyboard very handy particularly as I am a neophyte it helps with corrections. I am using a HP5450 and sometimes get problems with calligrapher not working and have to soft reset.