At 5:01 PM -0500 3/4/06, Denis Bélisle wrote:
Anyone here with experience using RB and a
tablet pc? I am particularly interested in its
handwriting recognition capabilities. Can they
be harnessed directly (dll, API, ?), or do we
have to dance, wiggle and pray?
I haven't worked with a Tablet PC myself, but
I've been told that the handwriting recognition
is completely transparent -- i.e., anywhere you
could get input from the keyboard, you can get
it from handwriting as well.
I own a TabletPC, and am GENERALLY very impressed
with the accuracy of the translation from
handwriting to text. But "generally" isn't quite
good enough. See below.
Folks not interested in performance and user
interface details of handwriting recognition on
Tablet PCs need not read further.
=========================================
I have Version 1.0. There may be a more recent one.
Joe is correct; wherever there is a text input
field in any app, including editfields in RB, the
text from the handwriting input panel (also
called the Writing Pad) on the Tablet PC gets
pasted when you click "Send". The user does not
need to do anything extra. Neither do you as a
programmer (sorry I won't get to see you dance or
wiggle, Denis). It's pretty cool, much of the
time.
The accent mark in your name suggests you may
have been educated in Europe, so you may have
good penmanship. That will be an advantage for
you.
The biggest problems come with the matters of accuracy and convenience.
Printed text works better than cursive, but even
cursive gets transcribed quite well, but again:
not always. But some people's print writing is
pretty terrible; and cursive can be worse. Can't
make a blanket statement; try it, but don't be
persuaded by your first impression.
One problem is my own expectations. I start to
try to speed up because the
plastic-pen-tip-on-glass-surface is so smooth
(and my brain is racing far ahead). I must
resist that temptation, or my writing gets worse
and so does the recognition.
Sometimes my system (a Gateway/Motion slate,
Pentium 3, ~930 MHZ) hangs or does something odd
for a fraction of a second, resulting in a
seriously garbled word, both in its handwritten
form and in transcription. I hope more current
machines do not hiccup like this.
When the system can not figure out the letters or
words that "you wrote," it starts to guess. Its
dictionary mainly contains perfectly spelled
words. So when it makes a mistake, it usually
(but not always) substitutes a legitimate word,
not a misspelled one. But this uncontrollable
guessing makes proofreading hard, becuase you
don't get the visual clues of illegal or abnormal
letter sequences.
The process of correcting errors is a bit
cumbersome. During input, you can scribble over
an error you make, but sometimes it's too late;
the error will get converted anyway. And often
you change your mind. This is not a system
mistake, but the word or phrase needs to be
corrected anyway. In the text field, you select
the incorrect text (which can require very
careful pen-down and pen-drag); then draw correct
letters into the pen input area, and hit Send.
Or switch to the soft keyboard and type the
correction; then switch back to pen mode.
Hitting Send is optional; there is a timer that
waits a few seconds, and if you do not hit Send,
the system does it for you. But the delay is a
bit upsetting. I prefer to hit Send.
Another correction process lets you look at the
list of alternate words that the system
considered. IF the correct one is there, you
can click on it. But getting the list to appear
requires a tap with the pen on a SMALL target
that appears next to the offending text.
Tapping on that teeny target is a bit
challenging, at least for me.
Ultimately, sooner or later, you have to go back
and proofread everything, carefully. And the
correction process cuts your productivity a lot.
You can NOT have total confidence in the accuracy
of the conversion, good as it usually is. This
disrupts your flow, takes time, and significantly
lowers the value of using this technology in the
first place.
I live close to Stanford University, and I go to
occasional lectures. I will not claim that I am
seeing a representative sample of the whole
student body, but I know/see only ONE person who
uses a Tablet PC and its handwriting recognition.
He is a strong young guy, but he also complains
about the bulk and weight of his hardware.
Getting and keeping it at a comfortable angle for
writing requires frequent body shifting. The
glare from windows or overhead lights is so great
that you can not really ever just put the unit
flat on a desk. These physical aspects of the
current generation of Tablet PCs are not ones you
have asked about, but they are a non-trivial part
of the overall "user experience."
I had to spend time in Stanford Hospital last
spring; did not see a single Tablet PC in use.
There were a modest number of handhelds.
My overall view is that this technology is fine
for entry of a few words or phrases, but not for
significant quantities of text, and not when you
are in a hurry.
We can look forward to Microsoft's Origami
announcement in a couple of days. And the Vista
OS is supposed to include more Tablet PC
features; I don't know whether handwriting
recognition is one. Also FWIW, Apple has applied
for some patents involving new touch screen
technology that looks very flexible and powerful,
including multiple points being detected at the
same time. Smaller, lighter hardware will be a
step in the right direction, but other
improvements are needed as well.
One thing I would like is a multi-line input
area, like the full pages in OneNote.
Denis, I encourage you to try to find someone who
has a Tablet PC, and experience the handwriting
feature for yourself. You may have skills, use
conditions and needs that make it work for you.
Please post your reaction here.
If anyone else has a Tablet PC faster than mine,
I'd love to hear your thoughts, on this list or
direct to Denis and me.
Bill Gates has said that handwriting recognition
and voice recognition are two big technology
challenges in the current decade. They are
trying and definitely making progress. There is
clearly more to be learned and done, but what
this system can already do is impressive so long
as that old devil, expectations, is kept under
control.
HTH,
-- Jeb
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