I struggle getting information into my Pocket PC. Take a look at my Input choices (Screen 1); you'll see I've tried everything.
Screen 1: Input programs installed into my Pocket PC
I find that each approach has its uses. For example, I find the built-in Character Recognizer most useful in Pocket Excel, where I frequently switch between numbers and letters when working on a spreadsheet. When accuracy counts, I've used the Resco Keyboard (www.resco-net.com), similar to the built-in Keyboard but with a more useable layout and the ability to assign keystrokes such as my name and e-mail address to easy-to-get-to function keys. And I've written about Transcriber, a user-installable program that comes on your ActiveSync CD. Once you customize it, it does a very good job recognizing print or cursive handwriting. I use it for notes or quick tasks when 100% accuracy isn't needed. However, I find making corrections in Transcriber quite frustrating. I also use RapidCalc from DeveloperOne (www.developerone.com). It isn't really an input method but a simple calculator, easy to pop up on top of any application.
I recently discovered the Fitaly keyboard (www.fitaly.com). Fitaly is a "soft" keyboard that you tap on to enter characters. But instead of using the traditional QWERTY key placement, the patented Fitaly layout is optimized for pen entry (see Screen 2). Its inventor, Jean Ichbiah, created a
revolutionary programming language, ADA, for the U.S. Department of Defense 25 years ago.
Screen 2: Fitaly keyboard
The theory behind Fitaly
Jean based the design of the Fitaly keyboard on a number of computer studies of English text. Whether text is normal prose, technical, or
poetry, the letters "i, t, a, l, n, e, d, o, r, s" and the space character are used 73% of the time. The Fitaly keyboard reflects this and places these characters in a tight central area. Adding the letters "c, h" and "u, m" brings this frequency to 84%. The remaining keys are two keys or less away from the central area. Furthermore, each key is placed near the keys most likely to follow it in English text.
The effect of this layout is to minimize pen travel and practically eliminate hand movement when typing text. This means that you can type resting your hand, moving only the fingers holding the pen. In fact, the
winners of a contest held at the Fitaly Web site (www.fitaly.com) claimed that a stationary hand while using a Pocket PC on a flat surface was the key to an incredible 80 words per minute (WPM) score.
Fitaly keyboard features
After introducing Fitaly on early pen machines and more recently on the Palm, Jean began improving it based on user suggestions. In addition, since Jean is from France, he wanted to make entering accents and other special characters easy. The latest version has lots of functionality
packed into its small keyboard. For example:
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