When did _that_ appear?

I've learned that one of the impacts of ms' closed mouth approach to the
winmobile os on early adopters is the often missed improvement and
changes to the os or default applications.

So, a hug DOH! and tip of the hat for one change that I am very sorry I
missed until now.

I use "handwriting" in notes frequently... it's recognition of my
chicken scratches has been far less than perfect, but sill a valuable
input tool for my uses.

Yesterday, I _finally_ noticed <tap/hold> "alternates" after any recognize.

DOH! <dopeslap> <dopeslap> <dopeslap>

Hope this helps someone else,
Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

jik
Sat Mar 15 21:13:43 PDT 2008

"Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" <BevNoSpamBevHoward.com> writes:
>Yesterday, I _finally_ noticed <tap/hold> "alternates" after any recognize.

What does this mean?

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Beverly
Sat Mar 15 21:35:03 PDT 2008

>> What does this mean? <<

"Notes" has a "handwriting" input option (tap the pencil icon at the bottom)

After entering handwritten text with a stylus, tapping tools/recognize
converts your handwriting to text...

...depending on your handwriting, the results vary ;-)

However, if you "recognize" a block of handwriting and a word was not
recognized correctly...

<tap/hold> the word

one of the resulting menu items is "alternates"

selecting "alternates" shows the handwriting along with alternatives to
the original recognition.

More importantly, it means that you can take a large amount of
handwriting, recognize it, then go back and selectively correct words
which were incorrectly interpreted by being able to see each word in the
handwritten state.

In my case, this discovery probably means that notes handwriting will
supersede the sip keyboard for my text entry needs.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

xTenn
Mon Mar 17 03:16:43 PDT 2008


"Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" <BevNoSpamBevHoward.com> wrote in
message news:%23YTbb8xhIHA.3512@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> In my case, this discovery probably means that notes handwriting will
> supersede the sip keyboard for my text entry needs.
>

Alas, be cautious about being too fond of this method. That is, I think you
are using transcriber in this process, and in yet another attempt to punish
an existing user base, transcriber is not part of most WM6 rom sets (unlike
previous version of PPC). Good news is that you can download a hacked
version of it for WM6... for now...

Beverly
Mon Mar 17 06:51:36 PDT 2008

>> using transcriber <<

While I agree that ms may pull it at any time and it may already be gone
from wm6, as far as I know, "handwriting" is not transcriber but an
embedded inking engine within the default ppc apps... i.e. it's still in
2003se pocketword.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

r_z_aret
Mon Mar 17 06:54:32 PDT 2008

On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:35:03 -0500, "Beverly Howard
[Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" <BevNoSpamBevHoward.com> wrote:

> >> What does this mean? <<
>
>"Notes" has a "handwriting" input option (tap the pencil icon at the bottom)
>
>After entering handwritten text with a stylus, tapping tools/recognize
>converts your handwriting to text...
>
>...depending on your handwriting, the results vary ;-)
>
>However, if you "recognize" a block of handwriting and a word was not
>recognized correctly...
>
><tap/hold> the word
>
>one of the resulting menu items is "alternates"
>
>selecting "alternates" shows the handwriting along with alternatives to
>the original recognition.

I wonder whether that will train the handwriting recognizer. Much like
at least some voice recognition software.

-----------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).

Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
20 Park Plaza, Suite 478
Boston, MA 02116
www.penfact.com

Beverly
Mon Mar 17 07:24:16 PDT 2008

>> I wonder whether that will train the handwriting recognizer. <<

Think the approach is to train the writer rather than the reader ;-)

Transcriber (a different input method) has some customization options,
but, afaik, there are no learning processes in place.


fwiw, one of the primary reasons I embraced "handwriting" over
transcriber years ago is that it allows long sessions of handwriting
input without any interruption or delay for recognition or corrections,
plus drawings can be part of the handwriting process... i.e. you can can
refer directly to the complete handwritten notes after a long meeting.

It's also possible to break the recognition process into chunks using
highlighting so it's easy to exclude drawings and leave or correct
illegible words among the scratchings.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

Donald
Mon Mar 17 07:56:06 PDT 2008

On 3/17/08 09:51 , in article uPSaFYDiIHA.3940@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl,
"Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" <BevNoSpamBevHoward.com> wrote:

>>> using transcriber <<
>
> While I agree that ms may pull it at any time and it may already be gone
> from wm6, as far as I know, "handwriting" is not transcriber but an
> embedded inking engine within the default ppc apps... i.e. it's still in
> 2003se pocketword.
>
> Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
>
>
>

Seems to be gone in WM6. On my T-Mobile Wing (WM6), the recognise option is
not present, but it is on my HP iPAQ hx2115 (WM2003SE).

Don

xTenn
Mon Mar 17 15:46:24 PDT 2008


"Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" <BevNoSpamBevHoward.com> wrote in
message news:uPSaFYDiIHA.3940@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> >> using transcriber <<
>
> While I agree that ms may pull it at any time and it may already be gone
> from wm6, as far as I know, "handwriting" is not transcriber but an
> embedded inking engine within the default ppc apps... i.e. it's still in
> 2003se pocketword.
>
> Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
>

I was under the impression that the internal inking recognizer was the
transcriber component, but now that you mention it there was some earlier
PPCs that had the recognize functionality without transcriber.

But alas that may be even worse, since the option to recognize is gone from
the app in the flavors of WM6 that I have seen (and Donald as well,
apparently), without a ready source to restore it. It may exist, no doubt
(even in cooked roms), but I have not found it.

I mention this just to say, wonder why they took it out... (I would wager
it was along similiar lines that one note mobile did not support ink from
the start - and still does not. That is, focus on the cheaper but more
mass market friendly smart phone...)

Thanks for the info, Beverly. I had to pull out my older PPC just to remind
myself how cool that is. Progress is grand... sometimes...

r_z_aret
Tue Mar 18 10:15:33 PDT 2008

On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:24:16 -0500, "Beverly Howard
[Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" <BevNoSpamBevHoward.com> wrote:

> >> I wonder whether that will train the handwriting recognizer. <<
>
>Think the approach is to train the writer rather than the reader ;-)

Thought and grin noted.

But I want to emphasize that for voice recognition software that
learns, using the software's tools to correct mistakes is important,
because they let the recognition system learn correctly. The software
will learn anyway, so you want it to learn correctly. Same for other
recognizers that learn.



-----------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).

Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
20 Park Plaza, Suite 478
Boston, MA 02116
www.penfact.com