Are you an iPhone user who longs fpr good old Palm-style Graffiti input? If so, then a new iPhone keyboard plug-in might be for you. Called HWPen, the native application—so jailbroken iPhones need apply—is the first software to bring handwriting recognition to the iPhone.

Created by Chinese developer iPhone Cake, HWPen adds a button to the iPhone keyboard that, when tapped, allows you to use your finger to write letters and words on the screen. For those of us with fat fingers, an alternative option is to get one of the specially-designed Pogo or TapRight styli that, unlike traditional styli, is compatible with the iPhone display.

Because HWPen becomes standard part of the keyboard, one it's been installed, you're free to use your fingers anytime text input is called for. HWPen, it appears, leverages the iPhone's auto-complete feature as well.

The software is still very much in beta. Some of the folks who've tried it have run into problems, such their iPhone's screens becoming frozen. And HWPen doesn't appear in Mail.app or work when the iPhone is turned into a landscape orientation, for instance.

You can load HWPen with the Installer.app jailbreak by adding http://iphonecake.com/src/new as a new source and restarting your iPhone. HWPen supports Latin, which includes English, and Chinese characters.

[via ModMyiPhone]