Using Transcriber

[Liga]

I previously owned a Casseopeia pocket pc and used the Transcriber (handwriting recognition) feature with ease and great success. Since I've owned the Jornada 568 the Transcriber feature has been worse than useless - it is a major headache! Recognition is poor at best, deteriorating to downright bizarre at worse. Is this unique to MY piece of equipment or a general problem with Jornada Pocket PC's?

[Mark Kenepp]

I personally have no experience with other Pocket PC devices but I do think that the touch screen on the 568 is problematic, especially when I use the provided stylus. When I use my 4 in 1 pen, where the stylus tip is softer than the supplied one, the touch screen is much more responsive.

Maybe just a softer stylus will help.

I personally find transcriber on the 568 unusable.

Cheers,

Mark Kenepp
San Francisco, CA

[Liga]

Thanks for the response. I have tried a variety of stylus points (3) and while one was somewhat better than the other two, none were good with this feature. It's useful to have some confirmation tho - tells me that I do not have a defective unit.

[superbondbond]

Double check how transcriber is oriented. There's a setting for this in the icon menu. if it's set differently than how you are using it, it won't recognize anything.

For example, I have mine set up so that I turn my unit sideway to the right for input (the top of the unit is to the right). I am left handed and find this easier to write.

hope this helps.

[Liga]

That orientation was one of the first things I checked on, so it is not the problem - but thanks for the suggestion.

[guido420]

I just got my iPaq 3835 and was stoked until I tried to use transcriber...it is horrid for a SouthPaw.

I then tried Calligrapher, but as it is who wrote the transcriber code it was just as bad.

I was told by a Phatware Techie that southpaw support is not available YET .

Also that is is too much more coding to do...BS. How hard is it to add the left handed letters?

Bill Gates is a lefty and I am sure it worked when he tried it...why can't the rest of us get the same GOOD code.

Unhappy Lefty in Oregon.....

Guido420

[alraygraham]

Have you looked to see if there are other programs out there? Transcriber is an add-on for the 54xx series. There are likely other programs you can use for character recognition/input.

If you checkout pocketgear or tucows there may be several alternatives.

[LynxDuke]

Hello!!!

Why would You use transcriber anyway?
I can type faster than that. There is Block recognizer, use that is also cool! I think Transcriber is just for fun, because if You make a mistake, while writing, it's a LOT harder to come back and erase all the stuff. Keyboard is the BEST!!!

[alraygraham]

I'm trying out the 30 day trial for Calligrapher 5.3 ($29.99) I'll get back to you on this. So far it seems to be somewhat better than the old one.

[alraygraham]

...Well, I remember now why I didn't like it before!

In calendar and contacts it's way too easy to activate new cells while trying to write a name, number or address (yeah right! Use the whole screen my foot!).

I also don't like how hard it is to correct and how frequently correction is required.

Maybe I'll check it out again in a year or so but the program seems very little different from how it was a year or so ago when I spent weeks trying to make it work last time.