Re: Handwriting - worth the effort?
 

Yes, but have you ever used the 2000-series? ;)

Re: Handwriting - worth the effort?
 

I usually enter text with the full screen keyboard.
OS2008 is faster then ever and with the full screen keyboard I am quite fast.
And I can use it on the move.

Whenever I need to use the small one, I prefer the HWR of the OS2008 than tapping small letters on the virtual keyboard.
Only drawback: i need to learn about some non-letters chars and I need to teach it some letters.

I repeat here myself: I was unable to use the OS2007 HWR at all. I find the OS2008 way better than OS2007 on this matter.

Personal taste of course ;)

Re: Handwriting - worth the effort?
 

Time for me to chime in, I guess.

Yes: Comparing the Newton's HWR to that of the Tablet, is like comparing a fine-tuned engine to a squid. And for someone coming straight from NewtonOS, the shell-shock experience is really really bad. The Tablet's HWR sux. It's not good. A Newton user won't like it. It's bad, m'kay?

[gasp gasp]

That said, I find that, after a considerable amount of training (me getting used to the computer, that is), it's actually not too bad for short text entries. I have now accustomed myself to using the (for lack of a better description) HWR for short entries, the big thumbboard for somewhat more extended stuff and my BT keyboard for lengthy text entries.

That doesn't mean I'm not pining for the days when I used my Messagepad for writing entire articles and stories. We've come a long way -- backwards.

Re: Handwriting - worth the effort?
 

Never used a Newton so I can only speak relative to the tablets and the handwriting recognition is much better in OS2008 than it was before to the point of I might actually attempt to use it for a bit and see if I like it. I've have gotten pretty proficient with the thumb board so I might be wasting my time.

Re: Handwriting - worth the effort?
 

Thanks for the input folks :-) I'm might give it a shot once OS2008 comes out of beta. I was quite spoilt with the 2100 I had, as I managed to get virtually no errors with the HWR. In the meantime I guess I will be getting to grips with a whole new OS and a new way of doing things.

Re: Handwriting - worth the effort?
 

I would disagree. The start of this thread asked ex-Newton folks to compare to the Newton HWR, so many have provided their feedback.

It is very unfortuante, that folks accept the current state of HWR. I think we should all strive for HWR ala Newton, and be critical of anything less. After all, it has been 10 years since the Newton 2100 was released, and still the state of open source HWR is weak.

Craig...
Former Newton 2000/2100 owner, and happy N800 owner (but not using the HWR).

Re: Handwriting - worth the effort?
 

This

http://cs.gmu.edu/~sean/stuff/n800/

is a nice page about the N800, by a Newton guru (everybody on Newtontalk knows about Sean Luke!).

AFAIK he doesn't mention about ITOS2008 (yet), but the changes Nokia implemented in 2008 are rather immaterial to his criticism on Maemo anyway.

Re: Handwriting - worth the effort?
 

The really sad side of it all is that ParaGraph, the Newton's cursive HWR engine, lives on as a standalone Windows program, PenOffice/CalliGrapher.

http://www.phatware.com/penoffice/index.html

I bought the multilingual version and have it installed on a Fujitsu XP tablet. It really is almost as good as on the Newton -- the main differences are in the annoying fact that Windows itself is not pen-aware at all and stuff needs to be done via popup menus, that in the Newton was done with a simple gesture.

Phatware -- I hasten to add -- is apparently not at all interested in porting their software to anything but Windows (maybe this was part of a secret Apple/Inkwell agreement?), so Linux users are out of luck.

I recently came across another, Linuxbased, HWR text entry system, Cellwriter:

http://risujin.org/cellwriter/

It's obviously nothing like the Newton, but its clearly defined, cell-based entry system might actually be superior to the current sytem on the Itablets. I'd try it out, but I don't have a generic Linux tablet at the moment (my Pepper Pad is not generic, and I'm not yet ready to start experimenting with it).

Re: Handwriting - worth the effort?
 

You're right that the first poster asked ex-Newton users about the HWR quality of the N8x0, but I still think it is wrong to compare the Newton's HWR with everything else we have today.
I've never used one, but I believe it's quality was something exceptional if ALL the Newton's owners I've met so far said that.
I think they used a commercial algorithm for which Nokia would have to pay royalties to be able to use it in their products.
It's like comparing a Ferrari with a BMW (it was a Fiat in OS2007 :-p).
They both work on cars, but Ferrari has different targets.
True the target in HWR is the same, but the team is different.

I saw the HWR in OS2007 and now in OS2008, and it shows some work on it. I want to believe they'll improve again.

Please note that I am not accepting the current state as is. I would love to see the same level of quality of the Newton's HWR into the n8x0, but they gave us (end-users) other choices and they gave us (the developers community) the opportunity to create a new input plug-in.

Re: Handwriting - worth the effort?
 

FWIW, on the Palm T3 (and presumably the later TX and T5 models) you can write anywhere, not just in the entry area. The entry area can be pulled down completely.

(This doesn't seem to be supported in the Garnet VM though.)