funkylogik
share the love peeps ;)
Lol I know mate.
Sorry OP
Sorry OP
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Google Handwriting Input
- Thread starter jefboyardee
- Start date
Stuntman
Android Expert
I tried out this keyboard for a week. I've decided to switch back to Swype.
The good thing about the handwriting keyboard is that it is way more accurate than typing on a touch screen. I make many keying errors when typing and must rely on auto-correct to keep from having to use backspace on every single word. The handwriting keyboard is very accurate when recognising my handwriting. It is extremely rare that the keyboard recognises the wrong letter that I want to write. I had a little trouble with the period because I seem to keep dragging my finger down when tapping the screen. The keyboard kept thinking that I want to a comma instead. It took some training to prevent sliding my finger when I want to type the period.
Writing is much slower than typing. I found that the amount of time it took me to write messages is significantly longer than it take me to type the same message. The longer the message, the greater the time difference. This was the main reason I am going back to Swype. It is a trade-off between speed and accuracy, but the increased accuracy just was not worth the slower speed.
Writing with my fingertip feels a bit awkward. I actually wanted a stylus when writing. I think that a stylus would make writing with this keyboard faster.
What I cannot do with this keyboard is use it one handed. With Swype, I can easily type a message while holding the phone in one hand and using my thumb to type the message using the Swype gesture typing. I found it impossible to write with my thumb. I have to use both hands. One holds the phone and the other writes. If my phone is mounted on my car mount, then I can type one handed. I found this useful when typing in addresses as many street names are not in spell checker dictionaries.
The best feature of this keyboard is actually the key that allows you to switch keyboards. Normally, you have to drag down the notification shade and then select change keyboard there. Then you can choose a different keyboard. The handwriting keyboard has a key you can just press and it brings up the input menu. I would like to see this feature on all Android keyboards or at least the two that I prefer to use.
I would prefer to use SwiftKey in landscape and Swype in portrait. For a while I was switching back and forth or using Keyboard Manager+ to automatically switch. Manually switching is not convenient enough. Keyboard Manager+ doesn't work all the time and would bring up the keyboard prompt when I switch orientations whether or not I'm actually typing. I decided to just use Swype all the time now. If Swype and SwiftKey allows for more convenient keyboard switching, I'd switch back and forth between these keyboards and use Swype for portrait typing and SwiftKey for landscape.
My Chinese writing (and reading) isn't good enough for me to use this keyboard. I do use Translate from time to time, so I know how to write words into this app. I can see a handwriting keyboard being very useful for a language like Chinese. For English, typing is going to be way more efficient even with a few more errors.
The good thing about the handwriting keyboard is that it is way more accurate than typing on a touch screen. I make many keying errors when typing and must rely on auto-correct to keep from having to use backspace on every single word. The handwriting keyboard is very accurate when recognising my handwriting. It is extremely rare that the keyboard recognises the wrong letter that I want to write. I had a little trouble with the period because I seem to keep dragging my finger down when tapping the screen. The keyboard kept thinking that I want to a comma instead. It took some training to prevent sliding my finger when I want to type the period.
Writing is much slower than typing. I found that the amount of time it took me to write messages is significantly longer than it take me to type the same message. The longer the message, the greater the time difference. This was the main reason I am going back to Swype. It is a trade-off between speed and accuracy, but the increased accuracy just was not worth the slower speed.
Writing with my fingertip feels a bit awkward. I actually wanted a stylus when writing. I think that a stylus would make writing with this keyboard faster.
What I cannot do with this keyboard is use it one handed. With Swype, I can easily type a message while holding the phone in one hand and using my thumb to type the message using the Swype gesture typing. I found it impossible to write with my thumb. I have to use both hands. One holds the phone and the other writes. If my phone is mounted on my car mount, then I can type one handed. I found this useful when typing in addresses as many street names are not in spell checker dictionaries.
The best feature of this keyboard is actually the key that allows you to switch keyboards. Normally, you have to drag down the notification shade and then select change keyboard there. Then you can choose a different keyboard. The handwriting keyboard has a key you can just press and it brings up the input menu. I would like to see this feature on all Android keyboards or at least the two that I prefer to use.
I would prefer to use SwiftKey in landscape and Swype in portrait. For a while I was switching back and forth or using Keyboard Manager+ to automatically switch. Manually switching is not convenient enough. Keyboard Manager+ doesn't work all the time and would bring up the keyboard prompt when I switch orientations whether or not I'm actually typing. I decided to just use Swype all the time now. If Swype and SwiftKey allows for more convenient keyboard switching, I'd switch back and forth between these keyboards and use Swype for portrait typing and SwiftKey for landscape.
My Chinese writing (and reading) isn't good enough for me to use this keyboard. I do use Translate from time to time, so I know how to write words into this app. I can see a handwriting keyboard being very useful for a language like Chinese. For English, typing is going to be way more efficient even with a few more errors.