.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Handwriting recognition that is On the Spot
.AUTHOR David Silver
.SUMMARY OnSpot for both Palm OS and Pocket PC does everything it can to make you feel like you’re writing on paper. Read this article to find out if it succeeds.
.OTHER
Entering data into your handheld device is one of the most important parts of using it. What good is that fancy new address book program if you can’t get any information into it? A number of third parties have popped up, offering a variety of replacements for the built-in method of data entry. Some offer specialized keyboards, like MessagEase at (http://www.messagease.com), while others simply modify the built-in method, like TealScript (at http://www.tealpoint.com). Some choose to emulate the writing used everyday on paper.
Enter Decuma’s OnSpot.
.H1 The right way to write
OnSpot (at http://www.decuma.com) for both Palm OS and Pocket PC does everything it can to make you feel like you’re writing on paper. This is evident from the very instant you look at the input screen, which is shown in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A OnSpot’s input area tries to look like a piece of paper.
Entering text is as simple as writing, just as you normally would, along the line. If you need a space, all you need to do is skip a bit of the line and OnSpot will read it as a space. Along the way, OnSpot will take your entered handwriting and replace it with its own predefined letter formations.
When you get to the end of the line, simply return to the beginning and keep on writing. OnSpot will automatically send what you wrote to where the cursor is blinking, as well as add a space after the text. If you don’t want a space, you either draw a hyphen or tap the arrow at the end of the line and it will skip the space.
OnSpot has a separate tab for writing numbers and symbols. While numbers can be written in the ABC input area, it often reads numbers as letters unless entered on the number tab. Interestingly enough, the number tab looks like a piece of graph paper, as you can see in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B The Number Input tab helps OnSpot decide what you are writing.
Correcting mistakes while writing couldn’t be easier. If OnSpot makes a mistake, you can write over the incorrect text, and OnSpot will replace it. If you prefer a more conventional method, you can draw a line across your mistake and OnSpot will delete it, allowing you to continue writing.
.BREAK_EMAIL Want to know what we really think of this product? Tap here for the rest of the article.
If you want to insert between letters already drawn, all it takes is making a caret over the letters and writing what you want inserted inside it. Unfortunately, OnSpot often reads the caret as a "v", resulting in more correction work needing to be done.
.H1 Salvation for the illegible
In practice, however, I found the actual recognition to be very mediocre. I admit, I have below-average handwriting legibility; however I was unable to get anything better than about 50% recognition with the built-in settings.
Fortunately, the folks at Decuma planned for this happening and give users the option to change what OnSpot looks for when recognizing letters, allowing you to replace the defaults with those that represent the way you write, improving the recognition drastically. The customization screen is shown in Figure C.
.FIGPAIR C OnSpot allows personalization of the program’s recognition software.
Customization is simple, but time consuming to make perfect. Every time you want to re-enter a letter, you must hit a "Clear" button. It sounds simple, but it gets really annoying after awhile.
Another design flaw was the placing of various accented letters in the same box used to select the basic, non-accented letters. Many people will never use the accents, so they just get in the way and slow down the process. For some reason I can not comprehend, not all symbols are available for personalization, which means I have no way of teaching OnSpot that my "i" is not a semicolon.
.H1 For when you get lazy
OnSpot allows you to assign up to 10 shortcuts, allowing you to make a special symbol which tells OnSpot to replace it with the text you’ve assigned. This screen is shown in Figure D.
.FIGPAIR D OnSpot lets you assign up to 10 shortcut symbols.
The limit of 10 shortcuts can be very frustrating to people that input large amounts of the same text often. Also, while writing, OnSpot doesn’t show you the text that a shortcut represents until it sends the text to the cursor, so if you have multiple shortcuts that look similar, you can’t be sure you entered the right one until it turns into type.
.H1 The optional part: Options
OnSpot allows you to select the character sets for up to three of the supported languages: Albanian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Luxembourgish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. Each of these have a special set of accented letters that must be enabled. Japanese and Chinese speakers should note that a special version of OnSpot exists for each of those languages.
On Palm OS PDAs, OnSpot also allows you to set it as the default input option, and to automatically open when you double-tap a text field. This is very convenient; but it occasionally pops when I attempt to highlight text to copy, which can get frustrating.
.H1 Accessing the panel
On Palm OS, OnSpot automatically replaces the built-in QWERTY keyboard accessed from the Edit Menu of most applications. This is the most obvious way to pull it up. It can also be set to launch by double-tapping a text input field. You can’t pull OnSpot up this way from a non-standard Palm OS text field, like Wordsmith (at http://www.bluenomad.com) The extra step slows down your ability to start writing quickly, and the extra two (or more) button taps required to access it could be a major turn-off to some users.
Users of the palmOne Tungsten T3 cannot replace their virtual graffiti area with OnSpot, so they are forced to use one of the two methods listed above. Users with either a Sony CLIE or a Pocket PC with a virtual input area, however, can replace their input area with OnSpot using the same method they would normally use to switch methods of input.
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.H1 Conclusion
Decuma OnSpot is a good alternative to standard text entry methods for people that don’t want to take the time to learn a specialized method. There is no clear-cut advantage that would make it a certain switch for users that already like a form of data entry, especially with the price tag of $29.95. While OnSpot may not be a must-buy for some people, it certainly is a must-try, and many users will quickly fall in love.
.RATING 3
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on OnSpot, visit http://www.decuma.com.
For more information on MessagEase, visit http://www.messagease.com.
For more information on TealScript, visit http://www.tealpoint.com.
For more information on Wordsmith, visit http://www.bluenomad.com.
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.BIO David Silver lives in California. He can be reached at dws90@yahoo.com.
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