TenGO Thumb - It's Tango for your Thumb!

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=168424&productType=2' target='_blank'>http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/...4&productType=2</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Using the award winning TenGO keyboard design, you now have comfortable thumb-sized buttons that allows easy and fast typing with one hand or two. All these plus a cool new look makes TenGO Thumb? One of the most convenient methods to input text on the Pocket PC! Say goodbye to your stylus and thumb your way to texting bliss."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050712-TenGOThumb.gif" /><br /><br />Working off the successful TenGO Keyboard design, the folk at TenGO have just released TenGO Thumb - a thumb-friendly SIP for the Pocket PC. Neat graphics, VGA support and a smart input engine makes this one enticing product. A trial version of TenGO Thumb 1.0 can be downloaded from <a href="http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=168424&productType=2">Handango</a>. The full version is also available for $14.95. [Affiliate]

[zilla31]

i'll def be giving this a try - i never was able to get good w/ fitaly and i'm in desperate need for something new...

[QYV]

Anybody tried this in Landscape to see how it works? I'm hoping they might be able to utilize the "wasted" space most SIPs have in Landscape.

If so, this might be a good alternative to Spb's Full Screen Keyboard - I really liked the latter, but my thumbs are just a little too big...

[biglouis]

Am I the only one to care about getting thumbprints and dirt on my (protected) screen?

I remember about 20 years ago when touch sensitive screens first came in and everyone was excited about them. Until they realised that in about 5 minutes flat the users covered the screens in fingerprints, grease and dirt.

Then they died a death and have not come back in any mass market sense.

Just thought I'd add a dose of realism to all the excitement

LouisB

[Raphael Salgado]

Sorry to throw a support question in here, but whenever I install a new SIP to test out, all I get is the standard keyboard that pops up. I could have sworn I read some fix or issue that was addressed, but this is annoying.

[axe]

I've been using the previous version for quite a while now and am very happy with it. I never like the new kybd layout concept of Fitally, so I stuck with this SIP.

There are two things that would make this app perfect:
1) have it be the default SIP even after a soft-reset
2) have it work in PocketPuTTY and TermServices. I have to revert back to the default kybd when using these apps, mostly I would like TSC to work.

I will eagerly try this new rev and hope the above works.
AXE

[dan.carter]

I notice the HP 4700 &amp; 4705 are not listed as compatible. I wonder if this is an oversight or a warning.

[Raphael Salgado]

I noticed that Tweaks2K2 allows "TenGO keyboard" to be set as default, but it doesn't "un-grey" the checkbox for the TenGo Thumb. I suppose it's a matter of time until the Tweaks2K2 team open that up for this new version. It looks promising, even though I can't launch it half the time!

[Reidar]

Anybody tried this in Landscape to see how it works?

It works in landscape -- but at least on my Loox 720 only one line of text is visible. Not a good solution, so I will be using it in portrait mode. I don't necessarily think that using thumbs on the screen is the only way to get good use out of this program; it works fast and well with a stylus.

[QYV]

It works in landscape -- but at least on my Loox 720 only one line of text is visible. Not a good solution, so I will be using it in portrait mode.

WOW! I tried it and it is horrible in Landscape - you are right, only one line of text. It couldn't be designed worse for that mode...sigh...what a great input method otherwise, but for "two thumb" entry, I really want to hold my device in landscape. :cry:

[Darius Wey]

Sorry to throw a support question in here, but whenever I install a new SIP to test out, all I get is the standard keyboard that pops up. I could have sworn I read some fix or issue that was addressed, but this is annoying.

Unfortunately, this isn't a problem specific to TenGO, but any third party SIP on a WM2003SE device (usually, VGA devices). It's all attributable to the lack of system resources, and by system resources, I'm not referring to RAM. System add-ons such as Today plug-ins, SIPs, and background operations all run under the same process, which in turn, consumes the number of GDI resources available. As far as I'm aware, VGA devices tend to be more resource-hungry since it draws larger graphics. The problem here is that once the system process runs out of resources, whatever is attempting to load fails (and in this case, the SIP). A suggestion to fix this is to disable your active Today plug-ins to free up resources, but where's the fun in that? ;) Another suggestion is to soft-reset, but this will rarely solve the problem, since before and after the soft-reset, you'll have the same plug-ins, SIPs and background operations loaded anyway.

Bottom line is this is a problem plaguing the OS, and there's diddly-squat that can be done until Microsoft resolves the issue. It may or may not be fixed in Windows Mobile 5.0 - we'll need to wait until these devices and the upgrade CDs are released (but from what I've tested thus far, it does appear to be fixed, though don't quote me on that). For the record, I'm also in the same boat as you. I'm having constant troubles loading the SIPs in CalliGrapher 8.0 Beta, so I can relate to the frustration you're going through.

[Darius Wey]

I notice the HP 4700 &amp; 4705 are not listed as compatible. I wonder if this is an oversight or a warning.

I haven't heard any issues about incompatibility yet. If you're the daring type, feel free to install it on your device, but be sure to backup first. If it works, it works, and if it doesn't, well, no harm done. You can always revert back to your backup file. :)

[kamikun]

Well, on the e800 w/ wm2003 Classic and MyVGA, the SIP shows up in QVGA form down in the lower left of the screen.

But since the whole thing is larger than your average SIP... it sorta works with a stylus. I'll try it for a few days before making a purchase decision.

[zilla31]

anyone know off the top of your head if you can install this to an SD or if that might not be a good idea (even if allowed)?

[Darius Wey]

anyone know off the top of your head if you can install this to an SD or if that might not be a good idea (even if allowed)?

You'd probably want to install it to RAM or ROM since some devices suffer from SD initialisation problems. However, no harm done if you install it to SD. If you experience the odd issue here and there, simply install it on the device's main memory instead.

[zilla31]

i'm having that nasty problem where the damn thing won't load on my x50v. i hate this resource thing - it's a b! i really want to try this out but can't be shutting down my today apps every time i want to load my SIP.

anyone know if the "regular" tengo version is plagued w/ the same OS issue?

[Darius Wey]

anyone know if the "regular" tengo version is plagued w/ the same OS issue?

It's a problem affecting all third-party SIPs, so I think you'll run into the same sort of issues with the regular Tengo.

[zilla31]

strange thing is i had fitaly installed and running ok... i uninstalled that to "make room" in this resource list crunch for tengo but it still doesn't work right unless i disable my today stuff.

[Darius Wey]

strange thing is i had fitaly installed and running ok... i uninstalled that to "make room" in this resource list crunch for tengo but it still doesn't work right unless i disable my today stuff.

I could never get Fitaly working until I activated it as the default SIP. See if you can do the same with Tengo, as long as it permits it. Note: backup first!