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Google Adds Handwriting Input To Android

Posted by timothy on from the dreaming-of-sheep-is-next dept.

BarbaraHudson writes: The Reg is reporting on the release of Google Handwriting Input for Android smartphones and tablets: "The Chocolate Factory's research arm says handwriting recognition is needed because touchscreen keyboards remain modestly effective and while 'Voice input is an option, but there are situations where it is not feasible, such as in a noisy environment or during a meeting." The Google Research Blog notes that it allows recognition both on-device and in the cloud (by tapping on the cloud icon) in any Android app.

It works as advertised on my smartphone, so now I can type, speak, or scribble my searches, texts, etc.

124 comments

  1. Question still remains by NotInHere · · Score: 2

    Did they add it to android or to google apps?

    1. Re:Question still remains by NotInHere · · Score: 1

      I see, they have added it as yet another app in the app store, not open source, and I guess requiring to have google apps installed. I don't need shit like that.

    2. Re: Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Exactly. I still don't use the Google swipe keyboard because they didn't add it to AOSP, so I doubt I'll use this one either. Fucking assholes.

    3. Re: Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can side load, you know.

      I use AOSP and f-droid but even I am forced to sideload a few apps (idiot coworkers who insist I join their WhatsApp group, I'm looking at you). Of course I run it under privacy guard in cyanogenmod, so it's not too bad, but still.

    4. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did they add it to android or to google apps?

      Hahaha sure, of course they added it to Android. haha no. They reeled in all you suckers by pretending to be open. Now that have enough True Believers they start rolling everything in their Walled Toxic Hellstew.

      Free and open? You chumps. You made this happen.

    5. Re: Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least they provide a base for open source roms like cyanogen. Apple does nothing of this source.

    6. Re:Question still remains by Herve5 · · Score: 1

      Maybe it will work from within the android wrapper in Jolla Sailfish OS?
      I'll try it as soon as I receive the tablet (not having their phone)...

      --
      Herve S.
    7. Re:Question still remains by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 2

      I see, they have added it as yet another app in the app store, not open source, and I guess requiring to have google apps installed. I don't need shit like that.

      Wow! We're back to what Palm did quite well 15 years ago! How wonderful!

      Fact is, Palm had it made. The OS had shortcomings but they had a mini-computer in a handheld device, with adequate handwriting recognition.

      They threw it all away to compete in the "mainstream" cell phone business, and producing "mainstream" cell phones, giving up all that made them unique at the time. What a waste.

      Hint to future Palms: don't give up what you're good at, in order to compete in a market that is already doing all that other stuff, better.

    8. Re:Question still remains by technosaurus · · Score: 1

      I still miss mine. The scheduling app they had was the most effective I've used.

    9. Re:Question still remains by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Wow! We're back to what Palm did quite well 15 years ago! How wonderful!

      Actually, it's more like what Apple did 16 years ago, since it's natural handwriting recognition, and the Palm required you to use a special alphabet.

      Fact is, Palm had it made. The OS had shortcomings but they had a mini-computer in a handheld device, with adequate handwriting recognition.

      Yes, that was truly an epic moment in time.

      hey threw it all away to compete in the "mainstream" cell phone business, and producing "mainstream" cell phones, giving up all that made them unique at the time. What a waste.

      And here's where you go straight off the rails. See, space curved there. In specifics, the PDA market went away, and was replaced by the smartphone market.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    10. Re:Question still remains by Henning+Rogge · · Score: 2

      It is a new "keyboard app". Don't expect to add features like this in the coming "core OS" versions of Android... Google is busy getting things out of the core so they can update them independently.

    11. Re:Question still remains by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, it's more like what Apple did 16 years ago, since it's natural handwriting recognition, and the Palm required you to use a special alphabet.

      The original palm pilot is 18 years old, and the original Newton is 22 years old.

      Though Palm required you to learn a modified alphabet in the form of Graffiti, it had simpler strokes that were faster to enter, and it allowed more differentiation between characters by the device, and higher accuracy.

      Then Graffiti 2 came out, which sucked, but was due to patent problems.

    12. Re:Question still remains by RabidReindeer · · Score: 2

      And now we have the tablet market.

      I've been using the Google handwriting recognition installable "keyboard" for 2-3 days now.

      Unlike the Newton, which was famous for its inability to accurately recognize what you input, the Google handwriting actually works pretty well. Although it's occasionally slow. I think it's doing a lot of its magic by talking back to a Google server.

      Unfortunately, I've gotten into the habit of writing Grafitti-style, so using "real" letters and writing them across the input area instead of within a limited box doesn't come naturally to me any more. I could do Grafitti faster than I can type.

      Also, the "forward-space gesture" just enters a dash. There's an actual "space bar" at the bottom of the input area that you have to tap.

    13. Re:Question still remains by NotInHere · · Score: 2

      Then google should at least open-source those apps. They can still update them, just like the chrome browser.

    14. Re: Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you really just compare Google's handwriting recognition to Apple's 22 year old Newton technology? Of course the newer system as the Newton was a pioneer in the space. If nobody, especially Google, didn't improve on its accuracy and spread in 22 years, shame on them.

      The original poster noted that the Newton predated the palm.

    15. Re:Question still remains by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      The vast majority don't give a crap whether the apps they use are open or not. Just that they work as expected. This has always been true, and it's not going to change any time soon.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    16. Re:Question still remains by tepples · · Score: 1

      the PDA market went away

      Then how did Apple continue to sell iPod touch?

      and was replaced by the smartphone market

      So where does that leave people who aren't willing to pay hundreds of dollars per year for a cellular data plan?

    17. Re:Question still remains by Pope+Hagbard · · Score: 1

      Psst:

      https://play.google.com/store/...

      There's a Graffiti input method for Android. Haven't used it so I'm not sure which version of Graffiti it is or how close to the original Palm implementation.

    18. Re: Question still remains by the_humeister · · Score: 1

      They've had it for several years in the Google store in the form of Chinese pinyin input, which recognizes both handwritten Chinese words and Latin letters.

    19. Re:Question still remains by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Then how did Apple continue to sell iPod touch?

      There's still room for one PDA. That, as it turns out, is the iPod touch.

      So where does that leave people who aren't willing to pay hundreds of dollars per year for a cellular data plan?

      In the minority.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    20. Re:Question still remains by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The original palm pilot is 18 years old, and the original Newton is 22 years old.

      Yeah yeah, I didn't bother to look up the timescale this time, but I got all the other particulars correct.

      Though Palm required you to learn a modified alphabet in the form of Graffiti, it had simpler strokes that were faster to enter, and it allowed more differentiation between characters by the device, and higher accuracy.

      Actually, Palm originally didn't require you to learn a modified alphabet in the form of Graffiti, on the Zoomer. That was what was so inexplicable about Graffiti. Making it the only input method was a bit odd.

      In any case, I visited Palm before the Pilot even hit the streets, I had a friend who knew those guys. And I had a Zoomer and I still have a GRiDPad 2390, although it doesn't quite work properly.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    21. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This guy types faster than he does graffiti - even on an iphone software keyboard:
      http://www.gyford.com/phil/wri...

    22. Re:Question still remains by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      we're back to before we had any sort of screen writing. We'll be posting letters again soon

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    23. Re: Question still remains by biojayc · · Score: 2

      assholes? For offering a free app that adds functionality that wasn't there? They aren't even charging for it! A company releases a complete OS open source, and then gets called an asshole when it releases a free closed source app... You may not like anything closed source, and that's fine and your prerogative. But that doesn't make Google an asshole. Serious question, would they be less of an asshole if they didn't release the app at all? By releasing a free app to those that want it, and making no change to those that don't, their assholery has increased?

    24. Re:Question still remains by DarkOx · · Score: 1

      Although, put out by HandSpring (with palm OS) and than later required by Palm, the Treo phones were some of the earliest of what we might consider to be modern 'smart' phones and they really were the best of their generation. Yes Blackberry might have had some more feature richness but needed a lot of propriety costly infrastructure behind it to deliver that functionality. A Treo could do IMAP etc so was actually useful to 'regular' people and businesses that were to small to justify a BES server.

      I don't think HandSpring/Palm were wrong to move into the mobile phone market. I don't think they positioned themselves well. Had they gone after the consumer market and branded themselves as the Blackberry for anyone not a shyster^H^H^H^H^H^H sales professional they might have succeeded. If anything they were perhaps to early to market.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    25. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Entitled, much?

    26. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Another mistake Palm made was just sitting on BeOS. They were originally going to phase out Palm OS in favour of BeOS, but they never did for some reason. BeOS's extremely low latency and flawless multitasking ability would have made it a perfect OS for devices such as PDAs, phones and tablets.

    27. Re: Question still remains by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      yeah how DARE they release a FREE app! we should stone them for their audacity right away

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    28. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And Microsoft has had client side hand writing recognition embedded within Windows since Windows XP Tablet Edition. It required going through an easy training wizard to get good enough results until Windows 7, but it was still there, and usable, and didn't spy on you unless you said it could, and worked offline.

      But no, lets give credit to Google because they're releasing a less capable product and to Apple because they bought out a touch based, hand writing recognition 'keyboard' and killed it to prevent competition with their own touch products. Apple stalled handwriting tech for years and Google is only doing it to data mine you. Microsoft had real use cases for it and like most things Microsoft failed at PR.

    29. Re:Question still remains by tepples · · Score: 0

      So where does that leave people who aren't willing to pay hundreds of dollars per year for a cellular data plan?

      In the minority.

      Women are a minority, yet there are plenty of women's health care products. I'm not sure what you meant. Are you claiming that people who don't want yet another phone bill deserve to do without hardware too?

    30. Re:Question still remains by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      And here's where you go straight off the rails. See, space curved there. In specifics, the PDA market went away, and was replaced by the smartphone market.

      Nonsense. Palm had the Tungsten. It was a perfectly good color handheld, with color touchscreen as big as a modern smartphone. I used to play Bejeweled on my Tungsten and IMO it was just about as good as Bejeweled 3 is on the desktop now.

      Then came the Treo... their smartphone. They reduced the size of the screen to 1/2 or even less of what it had been before, added chicklet-style keyboard ala Blackberry, and dropped the Graffiti written input.

      In other words, they were trying to copy Blackberry. They dropped the things that made them truly unique: a full-size color touchscreen, and Graffiti.

      Now, finally, we have smartphones that match or best the Tungsten's color screen in size and resolution. We could have had that many years ago, if Palm had simply added a phone to their existing device, and left the rest alone.

    31. Re:Question still remains by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 2

      In the U.S., women are 50.8% of the population. I'd hardly call that a minority.

    32. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you're just part of the gender which is a minority in positions of power like government, CEO's, etc.

    33. Re:Question still remains by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Then came the Treo... their smartphone. They reduced the size of the screen to 1/2 or even less of what it had been before, added chicklet-style keyboard ala Blackberry, and dropped the Graffiti written input.

      Oh, you mean like the Tungsten C?

      Now, finally, we have smartphones that match or best the Tungsten's color screen in size and resolution.

      So I looked it up, and the highest-resolution Tungsten device was at 320 x 480 and now median phones are 720p, the display was only TFT and now phones are starting to be OLED, and the screen was 3.7" while modern phones are 4-5". The specs of the best Tungsten phone were beaten by feature phones some years ago.

      We could have had that many years ago,

      We did, and no, Palm's 3.7 inch display with almost no dots and also very few colors by modern standards was not comparable to a modern smartphone display. Not even a cheap one.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    34. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The original palm pilot is 18 years old, and the original Newton is 22 years old.

      Though Palm required you to learn a modified alphabet in the form of Graffiti, it had simpler strokes that were faster to enter, and it allowed more differentiation between characters by the device, and higher accuracy.

      Then Graffiti 2 came out, which sucked, but was due to patent problems.

      Step 1: License Graffiti (or Graffiti 2) for use with Android Wear
      Step 2: People have an easy way to input text into their smartwatches
      Step 3: Profit!

      (Captcha: teletype)

    35. Re: Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck you, asshole. Go buy an iPhone.

    36. Re: Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes.

    37. Re:Question still remains by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      Oh, you mean like the Tungsten C?

      No, I mean like the Treo, exactly as I wrote before. The screen was 320x320, it had a chiclet keyboard, and did not come with Graffiti.

      So I looked it up, and the highest-resolution Tungsten device was at 320 x 480 and now median phones are 720p, the display was only TFT and now phones are starting to be OLED, and the screen was 3.7" while modern phones are 4-5". The specs of the best Tungsten phone were beaten by feature phones some years ago.

      Yes. I didn't say it was high-resolution did I? But it has only been a relative few years that smartphones have had screens bigger than about 3.5". THAT'S MY POINT. Where's the argument?

      We did, and no, Palm's 3.7 inch display with almost no dots and also very few colors by modern standards was not comparable to a modern smartphone display. Not even a cheap one.

      No, we didn't. Not until a few years ago. Nothing you are saying (except that) has contradicted my point in any way. Size of the screen does matter, even if the resolution was not stellar.

      I'll repeat my point since you don't seem to have gotten it: they shrunk the screen (compared to most Tungstens), added the Blackberry-style keyboard, and ditched the handwriting input. In other words, they were competing with THE OTHER CELL PHONE MAKERS of the day, rather than marketing the things that made Palm unique. They could have simply added a phone and left everything else alone.

      I didn't try to claim the resolutions were the same as today. That would be ridiculous.

    38. Re:Question still remains by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 2

      No, you're just part of the gender which is a minority in positions of power like government, CEO's, etc.

      The word "minority" has a pretty well established definition, and that isn't it. I think you mean "protected group", which is something altogether different.

    39. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I could sort of understand if one of those GamerGate "Men's Rights Activists" dudes were claiming that most government leaders and CEOs were women. But why on Earth would a woman make such a bizarre claim? Have you been living under a rock?

    40. Re:Question still remains by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      But it has only been a relative few years that smartphones have had screens bigger than about 3.5"

      Yeah, you know why? Because they didn't have the horsepower to drive the resolution that users expected from a display at larger sizes. It's only recently that the hardware has become efficient enough to actually provide a larger display with the features users expect.

      They could have simply added a phone and left everything else alone.

      What makes you so sure that they could have done that in the same package and still got it out of the door for a price that anyone would pay?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    41. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What makes you so sure that they could have done that in the same package and still got it out of the door for a price that anyone would pay?

      The handspring VisorPhone does. It was an add-on card that cheaply added a phone to HandSpring-produced PalmOS PDAs. It was my first pdaphone.

      Apple set back smartphones by a decade. Hell, the first iPhone didn't have apps and then they tried to trademark appstore, despite the handango app store on my old palm. Bastards.

      The only new features on the iPhone were capacitive touch (an incremental improvement) and a better browser. The browser was the key feature.

      The current iPhone still can't play all the expected media formats or handle offline data sharing between apps.

      Hell, I had streaming video, A2DP, an open development platform, a spreadsheet, a word processor, and zero locked-in apps on my palm before any such options existed for the iPhone. It also works as a great PDA when offline.

      Have you tried an offline iPhone? It can't do voice recognition as well as a mid '90s PowerPC mac!

      Oh, and my old palm can act as a bluetooth keyboard or mouse to any other device. Try that with the latest iPhone.

      But the iPhone is pretty, so who cares, right?

    42. Re:Question still remains by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      So where does that leave people who aren't willing to pay hundreds of dollars per year for a cellular data plan?

      Buying an unlocked smartphone?

    43. Re:Question still remains by khellendros1984 · · Score: 1

      Are you claiming that people who don't want yet another phone bill deserve to do without hardware too?

      What does "deserve" have to do with business decisions? Someone who isn't willing to pay for a product+service that's available doesn't necessarily deserve to have an alternative that fits there need better. If there's no workable business case for it, it won't happen.

      And what does paying for a cellular plan have to do with buying a smartphone, anyhow? There's plenty of capable hardware available off-contract. My last two smartphones see some limited use as PDA-like devices, and my current phone. Sometimes you make some good points. This doesn't look like one of those times.

      --
      It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
    44. Re:Question still remains by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I could sort of understand if one of those GamerGate "Men's Rights Activists" dudes were claiming that most government leaders and CEOs were women.

      But that's not what happened here.

      But why on Earth would a woman make such a bizarre claim?

      That's not what happened here.

      Have you been living under a rock?

      Are you a rock?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    45. Re:Question still remains by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The handspring VisorPhone does. It was an add-on card that cheaply added a phone to HandSpring-produced PalmOS PDAs. It was my first pdaphone.

      The VisorPhone originally cost more than a cellphone. Thanks for proving my point.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    46. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By 2001 or 2002, they cost $5, shipped direct from Sprint.

    47. Re:Question still remains by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      By 2001 or 2002, they cost $5, shipped direct from Sprint.

      By 2001, Handspring was making its last Visor, and Sprint was dumping the modules in a vain attempt to attract the last three or four Visor users to their network, and get something for their investment. The Visor never really took off. But if anyone is interested, I have the second or third OmniRemote module made for it, with a blue LED flashlight in. I got it straight from the maker. I think I also still have a cradle around here. Actually, I think I found my last working [translucent blue, basic] Visor as well. I'm in the midst of recycling all my useless electronics right now, so I've been finding stuff. I have a GRiDPad 2390 with power problems, too. I always meant to get the OS off of it so I could freshly load it onto my GRiDPad 1910, also available. It's got a full-size XT keyboard port hacked in... You might say I am familiar with the devices of the era — except the Newtons, which I admired but could not afford at the time, not the good examples anyway. The low-end ones were poop.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    48. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then why did she dispute the fact that women are a minority in positions of power like government, CEO's, etc.?

      Disputing that fact either implies that she's absurdly pedantic, or that most government leaders and CEOs are women. I assumed that Jane isn't an absurdly pedantic woman, but perhaps she is?

    49. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tell that to Hilary, who by all accounts is probably going to be the next president of the USA.

    50. Re:Question still remains by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Disputing that fact either implies that she's absurdly pedantic

      ObligatoryYouMustBeNewHere

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    51. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tell that to Hilary, who by all accounts is probably going to be the next president of the USA.

      The keywords here are "probably" and "going to be". As in, what you're saying lies in a potential future, not in the past or the present.

    52. Re:Question still remains by tepples · · Score: 1

      If there's no workable business case for it, it won't happen.

      Why is there a "workable business case for" a PDA running locked-down iOS but not a PDA running open-userland Android?

      There's plenty of capable hardware available off-contract.

      By "off-contract", which of the following did you mean?

      1. New with warranty at a price comparable to that of an iPod touch.
      2. New with warranty at a much higher price intended for financing alongside a new voice and data plan.
      3. Used, sold as is, if it blows up the day after you buy it used, tough shit.
    53. Re:Question still remains by khellendros1984 · · Score: 1

      Why is there a "workable business case for" a PDA running locked-down iOS but not a PDA running open-userland Android?

      Because most people really don't give a flip about whether a system is open or not. A small percentage of a small percentage is worth ignoring for large companies.

      By "off-contract", which of the following did you mean?

      Any phone that matches the iPod Touch's specs will be in a similar (or lower) price range at this point. Its lower screen resolution and size, non-expandable memory, single camera, and aging CPU point to a budget phone. Something like a 2nd-generation Motorola Moto G kills it in every spec besides on-device storage, and it has a MicroSD slot to help take care of that. It's available new for $180, directly from Moto. Do you have more requirements that you haven't mentioned? Or are you just trying to be difficult?

      --
      It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
    54. Re:Question still remains by Trogre · · Score: 1

      buying Galaxy Note tablets for the most part...

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    55. Re: Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only thing the Newton pioneered was fail. There were PDAs/tablets before Newton, so it wasn't the first. Its notoriously poor performance didn't do anything better (quite the contrary) than any previous PDAs. And then a few years later, Palm completely destroys the Newton by offering a good PDA that actually works.

    56. Re:Question still remains by tepples · · Score: 1

      Something like a 2nd-generation Motorola Moto G

      Thank you.

    57. Re:Question still remains by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      Yeah, you know why? Because they didn't have the horsepower to drive the resolution that users expected from a display at larger sizes. It's only recently that the hardware has become efficient enough to actually provide a larger display with the features users expect.

      I repeat: my Tungsten at 320x480 was very nice, pretty fast, and the graphics were pretty impressive for their day. As I mentioned before, Bejeweled (for one example) played and looked great.

      My point -- which you still seem to be not getting -- is that if they'd simply stuck a phone in it, we'd have CLOSE TO what we have today, years before it actually happened. No, the screen was not AS big. No, it did not have AS HIGH a pixel size. But neither did anything else. It would have been a phone that decently ran apps, AND had pretty good (again for its day) handwriting recognition.

    58. Re:Question still remains by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      Then why did she dispute the fact that women are a minority in positions of power like government, CEO's, etc.?

      Because your original statement

      No, you're just part of the gender which is a minority in positions of power like government, CEO's, etc.

      Can be interpreted at least two ways:

      "part of the gender which is a minority in positions of power like government, CEO's, etc."

      or

      "part of the gender which is a minority in positions of power like government, CEO's, etc."

      I admit, I read it pretty fast, but it struck me the second way. I could have thought about it more. I did wonder why you were saying I was in a position of power. :)

      But just FYI, I didn't claim to be any particular gender, or belong to a minority, or be in a position of power.

    59. Re:Question still remains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course you've claimed to be "any particular gender". Specifically, a gal:
      http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

  2. I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by swell · · Score: 2

    My faithful companion for 20 years has finally met its match. And just as it was starting to understand my writing style I have to consider a competitor.

    But really, why has it taken this long to be able to write on a screen?

    --
    ...omphaloskepsis often...
    1. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      Perhaps because all the modern devices are meant to work with your fingers and not with a stylus? Scribbling with a fingertip isn't all that effective, and even when you get a stylus, they don't work all that well because they have to simulate a fat, soft finger.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    2. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      Not all devices have the same capacitive touch sensors. Devices like the Galaxy Note series of tablets and phablets, or the Surface series, and some of the ASUS VivoTab models have a proper digitizer for styluses.

      Hopefully this resolves a chicken and egg issue and we can start to see more of these now.

    3. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by Jartan · · Score: 1

      Patents on digitizer technology. It wasn't until tablets took off enough that other companies were willing to challenge the market leader.

      Thus the cost of the handwriting tech was prohibitively expensive.

    4. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But really, why has it taken this long to be able to write on a screen?

      It hasn't. Windows 8 devices, for example, have handwriting input. Here's a demo using One Note on a Windows 8 tablet. And another demo. For doing actual work on a tablet you can't beat full x86 Windows for productivity.

    5. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by Herve5 · · Score: 1

      I have a Samsung Galaxy Note that definitely accepts handwriting reasonably (and that, not being capable to gain root control, I'll abandon as soon as I find a reasonably open alternative).
      On android you don't need Samsung techno anyway, you already have apps like Myscript Smartnotes (closed source but no Gapps) working as well...

      --
      Herve S.
    6. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by mrchaotica · · Score: 2

      Because Steve Jobs fucked everything up by refusing to support it on the original iPhone, and Google followed suit.

      If Palm -- or Microsoft, for that matter -- had been the breakthrough smartphone innovator, we'd have had handwriting recognition all along.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    7. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Perhaps because all the modern devices are meant to work with your fingers and not with a stylus?

      You've got the cause and effect backwards: devices are designed not to use a stylus because their makers had no desire to support handwriting recognition, not the other way around.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    8. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My faithful companion for 20 years has finally met its match. And just as it was starting to understand my writing style I have to consider a competitor.

      But really, why has it taken this long to be able to write on a screen?

      Maybe because patents last 19 years?

      (captcha is an appropriate "extort")

    9. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by Pope+Hagbard · · Score: 1

      Even without proper digitizers you can fake it by getting a particular kind of stylus. Your Google search terms are "capacitive stylus".

    10. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by tepples · · Score: 1

      Is there a patent on putting a layer of resistive touch screen over a layer of capacitive touch screen? Resistive is what the Newton and Nintendo DS used; it just doesn't support multitouch.

    11. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      That creates 2 problems, one the GP was alluding to is that the stylus is simulating a "fat soft finger". Maybe there's newer styluses but the ones I looked at a few years ago didn't seem all that hot.

      But the bigger problem is identifying the difference between the stylus and your hand. It's not a problem for mobile phone sized devices, but for tablet sized devices it is very reasonable to be resting your palm on the screen while taking notes.

    12. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even without proper digitizers you can fake it by getting a particular kind of stylus. Your Google search terms are "capacitive stylus".

      You've obviously never used one. They're only marginally better than a finger.

    13. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hahaha, that's cute... Let me take a wild stab: You're not a graphics artist, are you?

      There is no capacitive screen that can come close to matching or even faking the accuracy of a proper digitiser. In fact, capacitive screens still get utterly trashed by resistive screens for accuracy.

    14. Re:I can kiss my Newton Messagepad goodbye? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Handwriting on electronic devices has never been good

      And now it's moot, because handwriting itself is soon to be obsolete.

      Don't get me fucking started on cursive. That shit has been backward since typewriters became standard in business and law, and to a lesser extent widespread printed books. (Teaching children a written script that doesn't even slightly resemble 99.9% of the text they'll be reading is a dumb fucking idea)

  3. LOL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hilarious. When the iPhone and Android phones first started gaining popularity, I remember telling someone that they should be using an input method more similar to the old Palm graffiti. Having actually owned Palm PDAs, I knew how well it worked but the idiot I told it to had never even used a PDA and claimed that a tiny, thumb sized keyboard was somehow much better.

    I hope he reads this because Google has just admitted that the tiny keyboard approach was fucking stupid.

    1. Re:LOL! by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      Graffiti was the fastest way I've ever input text into a PDA. Second fastest was the Blackberry keyboard. A very distant third is the Android virtual keyboard that most people are using now.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    2. Re:LOL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I haven't looked in a while, but there used to be graffiti keyboards available for android.

    3. Re:LOL! by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 2

      The best part about Graffiti was that you didn't have to watch the screen while entering text. When I travelled across Europe by train, was able to look out the window and enjoy the scenery while I wrote my travel diary on my Pilot (actually a Handera TRGPro with a compact flash slot). I didn't have to move my hand like I would with a paper diary. I didn't have to key my eye on the screen for when I hit the wrong key or auto-correct decided to change what I meant to write. It was a very liberating experience.

    4. Re:LOL! by marcello_dl · · Score: 1

      Indeed, it reminds me of non T9 sms input from the old style cellphone: once you got accustomed you could type with the phone in the pocket (useful in winter).

      --
      ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
    5. Re:LOL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I travelled over Europe for several years with my Palm III. That thing was awesome for writing my journal and keeping contacts.

  4. Yawn by sexconker · · Score: 2

    Not added to Android, but Google's fleg of "services" and "apps".
    Besides, the Samsung Note line has had handwriting recognition (in the note taking app and in the keyboard) for ages, and it works really fucking well.

    1. Re:Yawn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GHI seems to work pretty ok, too ... unless you have a transformable Android device. Something with a physical keyboard has to be undocked before the GHI scrawl area will become visible.

  5. graffiti? by roc97007 · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty sure I remember how to do graffiti, and it's still better than any handwriting input I've ever used.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    1. Re:graffiti? by emag · · Score: 2

      I'm pretty sure at some point in the past, I've installed a Graffiti input method for one or more of the Android devices I've owned, after seeing someone I knew using it. Ah, yeah, found it and it's listed as "Installed", though it's not on any device I'm *currently* using...

      --
      "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
    2. Re:graffiti? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Little known fact, Graffiti was originally a software upgrade for the Zoomer. It also works on other GEOS pen devices, like the GRiDPad 1910 running Geoworks. 640x400 stylus-based PC...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:graffiti? by dabrowsa · · Score: 1

      It's virtually abadonware, lasy updated January 24, 2011, lots of complaints about it not working on various devices. A shame.

      --
      `Perche non reggi tu, o sacra fame de l'oro,l'appetito de' mortali?'
  6. Palm Graffiti? by Chromium_One · · Score: 2

    The only relevant questions I can think of in regards to handwriting input are "Who the hell owns the corpse of Palm?" and "Why the hell hasn't Graffiti been brought back yet?"

    --
    When you live in a sick society, just about everything you do is wrong.
  7. Dunno by penguinoid · · Score: 1

    Seems like a whole bunch of hand-waving to me.

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    1. Re:Dunno by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Seems like a whole bunch of hand-waving to me.

      Seems like a whole bunch of finger-pointing to me :-)

      Try the fish.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  8. PalmPilot / Newton by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, Android finally reaches the level of an Apple Newton or the Palm

    1. Re:PalmPilot / Newton by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

      It's like the Newton, but this one doesn't eat up martha.

      --
      Circumcision is child abuse.
  9. QWERTY by short · · Score: 1

    "is needed because touchscreen keyboards remain modestly effective and while 'Voice input is an option"

    So what about ... a keyboard?

    1. Re:QWERTY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm still using a 3-year-old phone for two reasons: It still works, and it has a physical QWERTY keyboard.

      If it breaks, I'll switch to my backup, which is another instance of the same model.

    2. Re:QWERTY by short · · Score: 1

      The last Linux QWERTY phone was N900 which I still use. But that is 5+ years old. (Maybe you have N950 but that was not a really public release.)

    3. Re:QWERTY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The last Linux QWERTY phone was N900 which I still use. But that is 5+ years old. (Maybe you have N950 but that was not a really public release.)

      I never said Linux, though there's a Linux kernel on this phone. If Nokia had ever released a version of the N900/N950 that worked on Verizon in the US, I would have bought one. But they didn't, so I didn't. I do have a Nokia N770 that eventually died on me, but it was never a phone.

      I'm using a Motorola Droid 4, the last Motorola Android phone with a keyboard, released in February of 2012. My active one is running the officially approved Android 4.2 build, while my backup has a reasonably recent Cyanogenmod on it.

      LG had a QWERTY Android that was slightly more recent, but everything about it was a downgrade from the Droid 4.

  10. And it will still be bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And it will still be bad. Why? Because there is no such thing as standard hardwritten text.

    I'd rather just have a notetaker with an infinite canvas that can scan and interpret the text AFTER I have written it, be it the next day or 15 years later.
    I don't want it shitting on what I have written only to throw me in to a spiral of panic trying to undo and catch up with what was said in the process of trying to clean up its mess.
    I don't want anything touching any of my handwriting, as messy as it is. AT LEAST I KNOW WHAT IT IS, I DON'T CARE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE, well, maybe that girl in front of me, she looks kinda cut... oh nope, turbo feminist, straight outta tumblrton.

    1. Re:And it will still be bad by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      It doesn't need either a "standard handwritten alphabet" like graffiti, nor really good penmanship, nor a stylus. I tested it on my smartphone with my index finger. It scrolls letters to the left as you complete them, If you're using it to make notes on what was said, why not just use the phone's speech-to-text and devote your attention to the speaker?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  11. Useless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wuld rather have proper root so i can limit rights i want application to have.. So i can control phone i own.. Why is this not shipped by default?

  12. HWR on Android by Trogre · · Score: 1

    I guess this is needed for people who don't already have a Samsung Note.

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  13. Samsung had it as standard and a lot more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well if you buy a Samsung Note tablet you get handwriting recognition already. Also the whole sNote experience, which lets you draw shapes that snap to the actual shape, photograph pictures and turn them into text and drawings. Have multiple windows running different apps. And a zillion other little features missing from 'Google's Android'.

    So Google announce this like its a big deal, but its not, its one of the input standards available to Samsung (and probably other) tablets.

    You can see how Google is slower and slower and more and more like Microsoft was, and IBM before that. It's big corp lethargy.

    1. Re:Samsung had it as standard and a lot more by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      You also pay a lot more for it.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  14. It's a start by c · · Score: 1

    I'm kinda hoping that having a handwriting engine allows them to do something useful, like OneNote-style integration with Google Docs.

    --
    Log in or piss off.
  15. Really? by Feral+Nerd · · Score: 1

    Google has added handwriting support to Android? And people complain about every single minor feature upgrade to iOS being big news.... for Pete's sake there was handwriting support in Windows Mobile and on Symbian a decade ago and it worked pretty well. Plus those guys weren't the firs to include this feature in a mobile device by any stretch...

    1. Re:Really? by samwichse · · Score: 1

      What's epic, is that I just tried inputting cursive and had 100% recognition success (although I was writing extra carefully to play with it).

      Sam

  16. Slap in Samsung's face by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Galaxy Note uses a handwriting as a premium value-add.

    By Google making handwriting apps commonplace, any cheap Android OEM vendor can bundle phones with styluses.

  17. Seems to be an already solved problem. by wvmarle · · Score: 1

    Every day I'm on the MTR or the bus I see numerous people around me writing away on their phones. Handwriting input is the norm, not the exception. It seems to work pretty well, considering the very few corrections they have to make.

    Or is recognising and distinguishing between those thousands if not tens of thousands of different Chinese characters really that much easier than the 26 letters (well, make that 52 to account for capitals) in our alphabet? I always thought they'd use handwriting input because it's so darn hard to input Chinese on a regular keyboard, let alone a mobile phone keyboard. In contrast, entering English on a mobile phone keyboard, combined with automatic corrections, works quite well for me, not as good or as fast as a real keyboard but I think I still type way faster than I could possibly write on a phone or other mobile device.

    1. Re:Seems to be an already solved problem. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chinese users do not use handwriting input. Using a pinyin keyboard is very fast. I use swype-style input for Chinese and the first entry is almost always the correct letters.

  18. NSA will now know what your handwriting looks like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    but it's up to you to decide what the implications of that may be.

  19. Cursive by tepples · · Score: 1

    Or is recognising and distinguishing between those thousands if not tens of thousands of different Chinese characters really that much easier than the 26 letters (well, make that 52 to account for capitals) in our alphabet?

    Joined-up cursive writing in the Latin alphabet is very different from drawing each stroke of a Chinese character. I used to have a Newton MessagePad 2000 and it worked mostly because I stuck to manuscript (separate letters).

  20. 8pen FTW by ezakimak · · Score: 1

    I've used 8pen on all my android phones for years. Much faster than handwriting or typing for that matter, and it can be used one-handed without even looking. Best $0.99 I ever spent.

  21. OCR by o_my_ghosh · · Score: 1

    Hello. I am interested in knowing about OCR of handwriting. As far as I know, it is not possible, at least of scripts such as Indic scripts. With Google Handwriting Input supporting 82 languages, including several Indic languages, does it enable OCR of handwriting? If so, how can this new technology developed by Google be used to facilitate large-scale OCR?

    1. Re:OCR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look up specifically HWR (handwriting recognition) or ICR (intelligent character recognition). The fields behind OCR have specialized and the algorithms behind optical character recognition are very different from online handwriting recognition (aka stroke analysis).

      Google adding support changes nothing in the field. Some more people will try it out because of Google PR, but there's nothing new they couldn't have done a few weeks ago.

  22. My smartphone has a small screen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have an old smartphone that has a 3.5 inch screen (or is it 3.4 inch)? Please don't laugh. No, I do not have $200 to buy a new Boost Mobile CDMA phone with 4G LTE. The keys on the on-screen keyboard are so small. I wouldn't mind writing on the smartphone using a stylus.

  23. Old news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who remembers GO's PenPoint??

  24. All your scribbles are belonging to us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Indeed it works as advertised:

    Google stores, remembers and analyses everything you write using this input method. Every password, every PIN, every conversation, everything now and past.

    Am I the only one that sees a problem with this scheme?

    1. Re:All your scribbles are belonging to us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, go back inside your tin foil suit, dookie.

  25. I had this 24 years ago with GO and EO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A tablet computer with integrated mobile phone / mobile internet / email and handwriing recognition. 1991. http://www.hembrow.eu/personal/eo.html

    1. Re:I had this 24 years ago with GO and EO by MouseTheLuckyDog · · Score: 1

      Until Microsoft decided to go after GO and cut off their airsupply with Pen for Windows.

  26. Re:Graffiti App by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One of the first apps that drove my choice between IOS and Android, was the availability of a Graffiti app for Android. Reasonable clone of text input that Palm made popular.

  27. Asian languages by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    They even do Chinese. But it may be easier than Latin language, after all, as characters are not linked (melted?) with each others.

  28. Sony Xperia Z Ultra handwriting recognition by MobyTurbo · · Score: 1

    The Sony Xperia Z Ultra has a handwriting recognition "keyboard" as well, and it can even recognize ballpoint pens and many other objects as a stylus. (No S-pen required.)

    It's a bit bigger than a Note though, 6.4" screen. I keep mine in my jacket pocket and think of it more as a PDA than a phone, and use a bluetooth to answer calls rather than put it next to my face. :)