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Nokia Smart Phone Recognizes Handwriting

Posted by timothy on from the needs-to-recognize-snacks dept.

San writes "Nokia on Tuesday announced it plans to start selling a new smart phone capable of handwriting recognition. The 7710 model features a touch screen, pen input, a digital camera, an Internet browser, a radio, video playback and streaming and recording capabilities, the company said."

10 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Ugh ... No Wi-Fi? by buro9 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    conflict of interests... cellphones are subsidised by the phone companies, wi-fi would allow us to email rather than SMS and VOIP rather than phone.

    why would a company subsidise a cell that would cut into their profits?

  2. doomed strategy by carnivore302 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think it will become clear that the approach of "put everything in a phone" will be doomed.

    Yes, I'm guilty of buying a too expensive phone that has everything but the kitchen sink. What do I do with the phone? Well... just calling people.

    I've only once used the camera. I've once downloaded a java game (and played it). I've looked at the calender functions but never seem to use them. Yes, I do in fact enjoy a nice ringtone, but hate the whole WAP thing.

    Other people I speak have the same experience - we only use the phone-functionality. Everything else is a waste of money. One thing is for sure, I'll never buy an expensive phone with bells and whistles again.

    I appreciate the fact that companies like Nokia, Ericson, Motorola and Siemens are looking for ways to get more marketshare. But really... aside from better looks and lighter weight the customer doesn't seem to benefit and will eventually realise that.

    --
    Please login to access my lawn
    1. Re:doomed strategy by gmuslera · · Score: 4, Insightful
      In the other hand, if you already carry/need a "plain" cell phone, a pda, a digital camera and a mp3 player and even a gps, if you can have all that functionalities in a single device (assumming that do fairly well all of those things and are well integrated) will be better.

      Of course, if you just need a portable device to just talk, then all the extras are not needed and you can choose to buy cheaper/simple phones, but that depend on each people. For me maybe is no use the camera, or ringtones, but be able to access google and other sites, launch a ssh terminal, locate myself in a map to find where i must go and be able to take notes while talking or after are between the things i felt in some moment or another that really needed.

    2. Re:doomed strategy by MarkKnopfler · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I really do not agree with that. A smart phone IS a very useful tool if you you actually NEED it. One has to exactly know why one is purchasing the phone. If you do not and you still are purchasing a smart phone you are not a very smart person. This is how I use my phone. FYI I use a gaming console + smartphone combo

      -- I have a few mp3s on it which I can hear when I commuting to work
      -- I sync my calendar/todo with my phone so I exactly know whether I can turn up late for work or not and am in sync with the whole day when I start for work
      -- I play games on it (including FPS)
      -- I use my XHTML browser/GPRS to check my webmail and also catch up on the cricket scores when I am on the move

      As far as I go. my smart phone serves as my mp3 player, my PDA, a web browser and a game deck. It actually benefits me and I think smart phones are good things.

  3. the phone is not that new by geighaus · · Score: 5, Informative

    It was supposed to come out last summer, but since the phone was so ugly, they decided to postpone it. Now they changed the form factor a bit and from the picture they have in the article, it looks better. I wonder if they've got rid of side-talking. Nice features though: big screen with VGA resolution, Opera browser, video and audio playback, text processing and spreadsheets (not sure about the latter though), touch screen etc etc Cannot say that hand writing is any better than just "pressing" the buttons on the screen, as you have to write only a single letter at one time and pattern recoginition is far from perfect. But it is a nice feature nonetheless.

    1. Re:the phone is not that new by tao · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, this is not really a postponed version of the same phone; the phone (the 7700 if I remember correctly) you're refering was indeed cancelled (and for good reasons too...), but this model (7710) was initially developed as a follow-up. In fact, the 7700 was until very recently available in the list of phones on Nokias website as "Technology preview. Not for sale" or similar.

  4. use it first by RMH101 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    i've had an SE P800, a P900 and am now using a Nokia 7610. All run Symbian OS, but the Nokia's *way* better to use. It may look odd, but it does the business with much less mither. One thing they're good at is usability.

  5. Re:a phone that recognizes handwriting... by BadDoggie · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Why would you want to write messages when you can simply speak them?

    SMS messages. Handwriting is faster than input using the often poorly-implemented T9 method. And don't rant about SMS -- it's cheaper than a call, doesn't have to be received immediately, will go out even with the spottiest link, can be stored, and it allows communication when you can't hear or use a telephone (hospital, lecture, concert).

    Text entry is also necessary for storing numbers and personal information in the phone.

    woof.

  6. Future of Series 60 smartphones by Late · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Nokia has a way of hiding interesting future information in press releases under phone releases. Check out this press release from series60.com which is also available directly from Nokia and in some of the press coverage. It basically says that, Series 60 will have higher resolutions, pen and keyboard input and a lot more in the near future.

    Also in the press coverage is a neat little snipped about testing the new 3220 Near Field Communications shells as contactless public transport tickets in Germany. That would be a great improvement over the current state of the art which is at least here in Finland is text message single trip tickets, which are handy, but hard to check quickly and probably crackable in the long run.

  7. Re:Uhm, hi. by dnaumov · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Then for the love of god buy a phone that is just a phone and shut up:

    Nokia 3100: http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,32954,00.html
    Nokia 3510i: http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,2187,00.html
    Nokia 1100: http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,42112,00.html

    I'll take my digital camera, music player and web browser containing phone, thank you.