When I wrote my original review of input methods, I was criticised in some quarters for overlooking a number of pieces of software, most notable being PhatWare's Calligrapher and Decuma’s OnSpot but also Fitaly's Letris - a training tool for Fitaly. Since then I have had the opportunity to continue using a number of the packages I reviewed, plus Calligrapher and the latest version of TenGO (recently released). So how have I got on and have my opinions changed much? Read on...

Calligrapher 7.2 - USD$29.95

Calligrapher from Phatware (www.phatware.com) has been around since my Psion days. The fact that I still have it on my old Series 5 makes it all the more remarkable (ridiculous) that I overlooked this product. When installed on a PPC, Calligrapher replaces the in-built Transcriber in the input methods list, not surprising really since Transcriber is effectively a previous version of Calligrapher with most of the advanced functionality removed.  I am now using version 7.2 which has just been released very recently.

In much the same way as Transcriber, Calligrapher allows the user to write on the screen with the stylus using natural cursive script. Naturally it operates at its best if trained to recognise how the user writes each letter but is not that bad straight out of the box. Training is performed via the options screens by selecting each character and selecting which of the various ways are used always, sometimes or never. One point about the training that did annoy me was that Calligrapher did not "import" the existing Transcriber settings, so I to redefine all my preferences which is not an insignificant task.

When selected as the default input method, Calligrapher appears as a simple toolbar at the bottom of the screen. Needless to say, Calligrapher occupies the least screen real estate of all the input methods since the whole screen is available for writing on and almost all the native application is visible. The toolbar is highly configurable, permitting a wide variety of options and tools to be readily available.

Calligrapher permits data to be entered in any of six directions, permitting the unit to be held in portrait or landscape mode and two diagonal orientations. Data styles supported include mixed (normal), capitals, numeric and internet (no spaces). A full QWERTY keyboard similar to the native one is available as is a mini one which can be configured to give fast access to common but awkward characters such as punctuation.

In addition to the normal recognition, Calligrapher also permits shortcuts to be defined for text, formatting and application shortcuts. Pen Commander, as it is called, can launch almost any application in the PPC by simply writing the appropriate code on screen then drawing a circle round it. Likewise textual codes can be defined using an almost macro-like language to expand brief codes into more complex statements - e.g. com becomes http://www..com, with the cursor sitting between the dots. On top of all that, Calligrapher has what I like to call punctuation intelligence - when a particular word combination is entered which requires an apostrophe the program puts it in for you e.g. “hes” becomes “he's”. There are various other little nice features such as this, automatic capitalisation of characters after full stops and so forth.

The latest version of Calligrapher is vastly superior to the version masquerading as Transcriber within PPC 2003, the additional functionality making it a delight to use. Whether it is real or just perceived I can’t say but I also believe that Calligrapher is far better at recognising my scrawl. While it does still suffer from the very occasional ''brain block" when it just won't seem to recognise anything I write, these are very few and far between. I doubt I’ve covered half of all the features of this very excellent product, I can only recommend that you download it and try it, even if you do not normally use Transcriber.

I have to say that Calligrapher is now definitely my input method of choice for all circumstances which do not need a keyboard (large volumes of text such as these reviews), otherwise I tend to swap between the Calligrapher keyboard and TenGO (see below). If I could make one change it would be to permit the in-built Calligrapher keyboard to be replaced by one of the other available input methods so that I could more easily swap to TenGO for those occasions when a keyboard is more efficient.

I give Calligrapher an almost perfect 9.9/10.

Decuma OnSpot 3.0 - USD$29.99

Decuma OnSpot (www.decuma.com) is another handwriting recognition program for the PPC but it uses a different approach to that of Calligrapher. OnSpot does not use the entire screen for its input region but instead uses a tabbed input area which occupies much the same area as most of the other input methods. Another difference with OnSpot is the training method - rather than prioritising a set of different writing methods for each character, OnSpot requires the user to enter each character and uses this information to recognise each of them. The final element of the recognition mechanism is the input panel itself which is split into two tabs, one for text and one for numeric (etc.) and which display a reference line for writing relative to.

I didn't get on at all well with OnSpot for three main reasons. Firstly it does not cope with cursive script (by which I mean "joined up" writing) and requires each character to be entered in its entirety before moving on to the next. For example, I write the word ''testing" in one long cursive stroke   then go back and dot the i and cross the t's - oh, what a mess OnSpot makes of that! This means that I would have to change my entire writing style to use it - that is not going to happen. The second thing l didn't like was that OnSpot only allows one way of writing each character - the one example you teach it. Perhaps it's the nature of cursive writing or maybe I’m just slack but I have more than one way of writing certain letters depending on where they are in a word and which letters come before and after them, again OnSpot doesn't cope well with this. Finally I dislike the limited entry area and the amount of effort necessary to get through the entry of a simple sentence - it just didn't flow for me, particularly when having to flick back and forth between the tabs for brackets and the like which did not recognise well on the letter tab.

As you can tell, Decuma OnSpot was definitely off spot for me, I found it got in the way rather then helped my data entry. Perhaps it would be better for those people (like my sister) whose writing is very neat and disciplined and who print each character individually, for the rest of us I would suggest you skip this one. I give Decuma OnSpot a scrawly and cursive 5/10.

Xrgomics TenGO 1.20 - USD$19.95

I previously reviewed version 1.11 of Xrgomics TenGO (www.tengo.net) and was quite unsure about it, however it has since grown on me to the point where it is my favourite keyboard entry method. As I was writing this follow up and a new version has just been released I decided to take a quick look and see what improvements have been made.

For those not familiar with TenGO, it is an alternative input method which used predictive text combined with letter grouping to provide an unusual but effective input mechanism which minimises stylus travel and improves accuracy by providing fewer but larger keys to strike. See my previous review or the TenGO website for more information.

The first thing I noticed about the new version was that the double chevron at the top right had disappeared. This previously provided access to further choices when too many options were presented. This button has not been replaced by a right arrow at the end of any such list. The benefit derived from this becomes apparent once text is entered - the individual characters which are touched when typing appear in that location and may be selected as a new word. While scribing already permits new dictionary words to be entered, I did find this method to be faster and therefore beneficial.

According to the press release the new version includes a number of additional features from the user wish list though it does not detail them,  the only obvious change being the one detailed above. Nonetheless I do feel that this is a worthwhile upgrade which appears to be at no charge for existing registered users (my previous key unlocking the new version).

TenGO has become and continues to be my input method of choice for those circumstances where Calligrapher is not well suited, I now give it 9.5/10.

KeyStroke CE and Quikwriting

Key Stroke CE is another very unusual input method, much like Quikwriting (see previous review) which presents a panel containing nine zones and a small keypad.  The letters, numbers and characters are laid out around the perimeter of the zones and written by stroking the stylus from the centre through one or more zones to select the relevant character.

Like Quikwriting (which I finally managed to play with for a while), this is a method designed to reduce the amount of stylus movement (including lifting and contacting the screen) required to enter text, it should also be more accurate than the traditional keyboard alternatives as the target areas are larger and therefore more tolerant of inaccuracies. Key Stroke CE is a clever concept but unfortunately not really practical. Despite my best efforts I was unable to achieve a realistic input speed, even on practiced texts I could always enter the information move quickly and accurately using Calligrapher and TenGO.

Key Stroke CE gets a 6/10 for effort, as does Quikwriting.

Full Screen Keyboard (USD$9.95) and Wordlogic (USD$38.95)

So what of my two previous favourites, Full Screen Keyboard and WordLogic? Well, in truth, the trial periods expired and before I got around to registering them I rediscovered Calligrapher and started to fall for TenGO's finer charms. I still consider FSB to be a very good product, though I suspect I probably was being a little adventurous trying to use it with multiple fingers when it is really more suited to just thumbs - I’m just not a phone ''texter". As for WordLogic, the more I use TenGO the less attractive WordLogic becomes. It is still one of the best of the keyboard types but I do prefer the larger key targets that TenGO provides.

FSB retains its 9/10 but WordLogic is demoted to 8/10.

And the rest …

One respondent to another site’s forum commenting on my original review criticised me for not using Fitaly Letris to help me train myself in its use. I eventually found Letris and another called Quikgame (from the author of Quikwriter) and used each for a while with each input method. Both applications operate in a similar way - they present character sequences (some random, some phrases) and provide metrics on both speed and accuracy. Despite practicing a series of particular phrases until I could do than in my sleep, it did not change the fact that Calligrapher and TenGO were still my most effective input methods. The pick and poke keyboards still fell behind, and the two stroking methods (Quikwriting and KeyStrokeCE) just couldn't cope easily with non-alpha characters, they were just too slow.

O2 XDA II Alternative Input Methods Overall Score

Verdict: In the end, the easiest way to determine which method to use is to try them all, although I would not recommend you test them all at the same time like I did, it can all get a little too much. The revised scorecard is as follows. Mike's Scores: Calligrapher 9.9/10 TenGO 9.5/10 FSB 9/10 WordLogic 8/10 KeyStrokeCE  6/10 Quikwriter 6/10 OnSpot  5/10 Fitaly  5/10  Resco 3/10