.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE CalliGrapher 7.4 gives you natural handwriting recognition
.AUTHOR Tim Hillebrand
.OTHER
.SUMMARY CalliGrapher gives you natural handwriting recognition on your Windows-powered Pocket PC. To learn how well it works, you’ll have to read this article.
I remember a few years back marveling at how strokes on a Palm device could be converted to text. But I can also remember thinking how clumsy it seemed when the Graffiti writing system required you to learn a whole new inscription method. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, I thought, if you could just write in your normal fashion anywhere on the screen, and it would magically turn to text? Nah, that would be asking too much! But CalliGrapher, from PhatWare, has been doing just that for some time now, and does it even better with their new release of CalliGrapher 7.4. It really seems magical the way it works.
CalliGrapher gives you natural handwriting recognition on your Windows-powered Pocket PC in versions from 2000 and above. It also works on Pocket PC phones. Amazingly, you can even write in a mixture of styles that include combinations of cursive or print. If that’s not enough in itself, you also get a spell checker. Pen Commander comes with the new version and enables you to create macros by writing a key word and circling it to make data entry faster and more efficient.
While CalliGrapher, shown in Figure A, works in a variety of languages, each language is sold as a separate module. Once installed, a simple pen gesture will switch to another language. With the release of version 7.4 three new Scandinavian languages are available for the first time: Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish.
.FIGPAIR A Handwriting recognition works surprisingly well.
Should you need to need access to a keyboard while in CalliGrapher, an excellent one is at your command with a single tap. Only nine icons may be displayed on the tool bar at any one time, but 36 different commands are available, and you can change them to display your favorites.
.BREAK_EMAIL Want to know all about this program? Tap here.
.H1 New features
There are several new features in version 7.4. The auto corrector works on the fly, as you type, similar to the same function in desktop word processors such as Word. Now margins are recognized and can be adjusted. One problem I’ve noted is that while you can set a large page size, the page may scroll while you are still writing and half your word ends up at the bottom of the new page, which can be annoying. The developers have also given us a whole new set of handsome graphics with high-resolution tool bars. The 40 line limit of PenCommander has been removed. This lets you produce a whole boilerplate document with a simple gesture. Think of the possibilities!
The new version of CalliGrapher also provides support for multiple configurations, which can store such parameters as recognition options, keyboard layout, custom keyboard layout, letter shapes, and ink options, customizable soft keyboard, customizable toolbar, reduced memory footprint, improved ink flow and recognition and more.
Of course ink color selection and customizable pen width are available as are various type styles and sizes for conversion. And there’s a "Quick Correct" window for fast correction invoked by a gesture.
Once installed on the Pocket PC, CalliGrapher is easily accessible from within most applications. CalliGrapher seamlessly integrates with PhatPad and PhatNotes, which both allow reminders and hierachical organization of notes with files of up to 1000 pages of both text and writing. I’ll be running updated reviews of both of these in future issues of Computing Unplugged.
.H1 Kicking the tires
Curious about what applications CalliGrapher would work in, I sampled how it worked in Word, Excel, and Notes and found that all the same functions inherent in CalliGrapher worked uniformly across applications. I also discovered that you can handwrite right on top of existing text to use the full screen and it will convert to text when you get to the bottom of the page and keep scrolling. You can vary the speed for recognition to take place so that you care comfortable with it and you don’t feel rushed.
One thing that amused me was that you cannot automatically convert handwriting to text in PhatPad. You have to go through a menu driven character recognition operation. But handwriting in Notes automatically converts to text. This is clearly a problem PhatWare needs to address.
Let me assure you that there is an amazing abundance of features and that an excellent manual is available with tutorials in .PDF format. I really appreciate the well-written, informative, and easy to follow manual that comes with this product.
The advertising says that you can start using the program right out of the box. Well, yes and no. First of all, you need to learn about the various functions and controls built into the program along with a set of specialized gestures. I don’t know about you, but my handwriting does not win any awards and I’m never asked to be the secretary. I was pretty disappointed in CalliGrapher when I first started using it. But I must say that when I cleaned up my act and started writing more carefully and more legibly, it converted with incredible accuracy. This program could be thought of as a penmanship improvement system for it trains you and you train it on an interactive basis.
.H1 Suggestions for recognition improvement
After using the program for some time, I found a few tips on the Phatware site that will help you get the most out of it:
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET You’ll have the best recognition quality when using the default letter shape settings. Disabling too many shapes will decrease the recognition quality. There is only one reason to disable a certain shape of a certain letter, which is if CalliGrapher recognizes this letter incorrectly because you wrote its shape similar to another letter. For example, if your "o" is recognized as "u" you can try to disable some shapes for "o" or for "u" or for both. However, if you disable too many shapes you will decrease the recognition quality.
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET When you click on the selected shape in the Letter Shape Selector it will redraw the letter showing the direction in which you should move your pen. The direction of the pen strokes is as important as the shape.
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Try to write bigger characters. The minimum recommended size of your handwritten characters should be equivalent to size 16 (or bigger) of the Tahoma font (To get an idea how big it is, run the Pocket Word, select the Tahoma, size 16 font and write "something").
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Upper case characters should be at least twice as big (or bigger) as the lower case characters.
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Use a full sized pen stylus.
.END_LIST
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.BULLET Use a block capital letter to start a capitalized word.
.END_LIST
.H1 Conclusion
I probably have never taken so much time to review a product as I have with this amazing program. In the process, I have attempted to explore every nook and cranny of the application, and the deeper I got, the more impressed I became. Starting with my initial disappointment/frustration to a growing respect and ultimate admiration of this incredible program, I can now give it two thumbs up with some authority and recommend it to readers enthusiastically.
One thing that you may find strange is that some of the important features do not work in the trial version. I feel strongly that the trial version should be a full working version. I also wish that text conversion were on the fly in PhatPad as it is in other applications, but that’s really a PhatPad issue, not a CalliGrapher problem. To give it a test drive, go to http://www.phatware.com.
.RATING 4
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on CalliGrapher 7.4, visit http://www.phatware.com.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
