PhatWare Writes Updates to CalliGrapher - Now 8.7

[Paul Martin]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.phatware.com/index.php?q=product/details/calligrapher/overview' target='_blank'>http://www.phatware.com/index.php?q...rapher/overview</a><br /><br /></div><p>"<em>PhatWare Corporation, a leading provider of software products and professional services for mobile and desktop computers, announces the release of the CalliGrapher 8.7. To address the customer's needs in a fast-growing market of phone-enabled Pocket PC devices, the new version of CalliGrapher has been optimized for better performance on latest Windows Mobile devices and includes improved handwriting recognition engine. The new version also addresses several compatibility issues reported since the previous CalliGrapher release.</em>"</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//spt/auto/1220748356.usr251.gif" border="1" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I've been using CalliGrapher for several years and it seems to do a better job than Transcriber at converting my hieroglyphics to somewhat readable words and sentences.&nbsp; PhatWare has just updated the handwriting recognition program to 8.7.&nbsp; All 8.x owners can <a href="http://www.phatware.com/index.php?q=product/details/calligrapher/upgrade" target="_blank">upgrade for free</a>.&nbsp; Until September 15th, the price has been reduced by $15 to $<a href="http://hce5.handango.com/minibrand/basket.jsp?authorId=18173&amp;bNav=1&amp;basketExists=true&amp;continueUrl=http://www.phatware.com/?q=page/show/howtobuy/&amp;device=&amp;dpsRepurchase=0&amp;genDemo=&amp;homePath=MINIBRAND4&amp;jid=4X2FA42X2A375BA48A5AB5253DA2XCD2&amp;orderId=&amp;osId=&amp;productId=&amp;refId=&amp;rpcust=true&amp;siteId=78&amp;172193=1&amp;93539=1&amp;deleteItem=93539&amp;code=EC622AB9&amp;email=&amp;password=&amp;paymentType=newCard&amp;newCard=VISA&amp;code=&amp;update=Recalculate&amp;Submit=" target="_blank">24.95</a>, which is also the upgrade price from older versions of Calligrapher.&nbsp; If you've never used CalliGrapher, you can find out more and <a href="http://www.phatware.com/index.php?q=product/details/calligrapher" target="_blank">download a demo here</a>.</p>

[Brad Adrian]

I started using Calligrapher back when it was first released and have loved it ever since (Just ask Ed about all our "FITALY vs. Calligrapher" debates.). Its recognition engine is terrific, and its shortcut and PenCommander features are second to none.

I use it for 95% of all my manual PPC entry.

[Brad I.]

It says there is an improvement to the recognition engine. Have you seen an improvement?

[Reid Kistler]

FITALY vs. Calligrapher" debates

Well, no debate on that point: Fitaly is CLEARLY SUPERIOR for Text Input! ;)

TONING it down a bit: Have had Calligrapher running on my Axim for several years. It has always seemed a fascinating app, & one that SHOULD be Very Useful: and yet hardly ever use it!

Personally, DO find Fitaly to be the best method of inputting TEXT - but every now & then what you want is a Brief Note Plus A Drawing / Map, at which point PhatPad & perhaps Text Recognition of some sort become handy.

Always seems that making the best use of Calligrapher requires a bit - or perhaps a LOT - of training. Same can be said for Fitaly, of course: problem is, having devoted the time to learn ONE of these apps, how likely is one to want to spend the time needed for "mastery" of the other?? (Know what the answer HERE is...:( )

[psyjohn]

I actually found CalliGrapher to be very easy to use immediately after installation. It has gotten better at recognizing my (poor) handwriting the more I use it, but there were relatively few errors even at the start. Fitaly is also installed on my device, and I use it for some apps as well. Using WA3 I have specific SIPs assigned to various apps. More and more though, I find CalliGrapher is just easier to input text with. My work has me taking lengthy observational notes in classroom settings. Using PhatNotes with CG works great for that purpose. I always have my notes at my fingertips, and when I write up reports I can simpy copy/paste into word as needed. In the past I tried to use Fitaly for this, and it worked pretty well, but I've found that with CG I can write while keeping one eye on what I'm supposed to be observing instead of staring at the keys on my screen.

I think my only major complaint about CG is that it never recognizes odd things like parentheses, dashes, slashes, etc, and for some reason it often reads "1" as "l" and "l" as "1" when the context should indicate the correct figure. But for those things I can simply click on the keyboard in the toolbar and go on writing, or just leave it and correct it later when reviewing my notes.

In the end it's really just a matter of personal preference. The great thing is that we have so many choices of SIPs now, and most work really well. (I've tried about everything out there). :)

[Brad I.]

I've run Calligrapher for years up to and including 8.x but I had a lot of problems with the memory usage and recognition errors. (probably just me and my handwriting). I wouldn't want to re-install and set up if the new engine isn't noticably better.

Currently I use Tengo with it's predictive text. But it's prone to errors too.