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Handwriting Recognition Needs To Be Next

L

LadyHoneyBabe

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 22, 2010
465
0
I would love it if Apple would add handwriting recognition to the iPad. I've used that kind of software on a windows mobile phone, but it wasn't the greatest. I think, because the way Apple does things, they could perfect that type of technology and give it to us in a software upgrade (I THINK it would be a software upgrade and not a software/hardware upgrade). I wonder if Apple would consider doing this.:cool:
 
Definitely believe that this may appear in a software update down the line.

Would be helpful to be able to quickly scribble notes down or highlight areas on keynotes and save these.
 
There are already iPhone apps that have handwriting recognition, so I'd assume they would bring these to iPad specific apps. Also, I'm sure others might make handwriting recognition apps for the iPad to make use of the large screen.

I doubt Apple itself will do it, but I don't see why the 3rd party apps wouldn't do everything you'd want to do with handwriting recognition. To me it basically would be to take notes.
 
There will be plenty of apps to let you sketch, draw, write on the screen to accomplish something. Yahoo's sketch-a-search for example.

iPad developers will surely exploit every possible way to interact with it. Compass and accelerometer can be used to detect motion and orientation of the iPad, and simple movement in space could be interpreted as commands.
 
For sure. Where has all that newton tec gone?:D Funny how ten years down the line it's not there and was a prime (not well implemented) feature for the newton.

But, what is more important for the time being is that iwork, pages say, or the pdf reader, will allow some scribbling to be performed even if they are not recognised alphabetically, and then incorporated to the test

How many of us would like to read and perform additions, corrections in all sorts of document and then just have them incorporated there? Plenty. And most don't even bothered if they are recognised as text.

This is very, very important. And I am surprised that they haven't implemented it yet, seeing I have a two year eink device that can do that... and so many tablets do it.
 
Well the reason you see this from most tablets is that they have stylus-based input and not finger input. While I guess you could write with your finger, I think it would be weird for any extended period of time really. I can't imagine Apple would do this.
 
LadyHoneyBabe said:
I would love it if Apple would add handwriting recognition to the iPad. I've used that kind of software on a windows mobile phone, but it wasn't the greatest. I think, because the way Apple does things, they could perfect that type of technology and give it to us in a software upgrade (I THINK it would be a software upgrade and not a software/hardware upgrade). I wonder if Apple would consider doing this.:cool:
Click to expand...

They already have this for the chinese language keyboard. It's already there, just not enabled for the english keyboard layout.

The iPad might be big enough for the handwriting recognition to work well on this, since you can't write long words on the iPhone and it would just suck.

The biggest reason I think that Apple should do this is because it's going to be a bitch to type on the iPad with two hands, with handwriting you can hold it with one hand while writing with the other hand. The question is, which is faster, handwriting or the one hand typing?

There's the pogo sketch stylus out that's ready for iPad. Just need the software to support it. We know already Brushes will work with it on the iPad.
 
the only handwriting i can see is for possibly math/science students working on equations for which handwriting recognition would be of no use. As a math major, I advocate digital notebooks, it really does cut down on the volume of paper a math major can use studying...
 
Meh! I do not see myself ever wanting to scribble notes on the iPad with my finger or a stylus. That has less than zero appeal to me.

Maybe in a retail environment it could capture a signature to complete a transaction on the sales floor like the Apple store model.
 
I'll take accurate, real-time voice transcription over handwriting, but will welcome both.
 
eawmp1 said:
I'll take accurate, real-time voice transcription over handwriting, but will welcome both.
Click to expand...

There's already real-time voice transcription applications for iPhone, I'm sure they'll get ported to iPad. (Dragon Speak is one of them)
 
eawmp1 said:
I'll take accurate, real-time voice transcription over handwriting, but will welcome both.
Click to expand...

voice transcription is a good thing too, but if I'm in a meeting and need to jot down some notes and graphs, I couldn't use it. That's why I'd also like the option of having handwriting recognition instead of pen & paper.

One thing that's annoying to me is when I've typed out a couple of sentences of notes on my iPod Touch, then I have to go back and insert something (iPod Touch could use some arrow keys...) . With handwriting recognition, I can jump around my notes, make arrows and inserts without any huge problems. :)
 
LadyHoneyBabe said:
voice transcription is a good thing too, but if I'm in a meeting and need to jot down some notes and graphs, I couldn't use it. That's why I'd also like the option of having handwriting recognition instead of pen & paper.

One thing that's annoying to me is when I've typed out a couple of sentences of notes on my iPod Touch, then I have to go back and insert something (iPod Touch could use some arrow keys...) . With handwriting recognition, I can jump around my notes, make arrows and inserts without any huge problems. :)
Click to expand...

Look at PadNotes (onenote-ish app for the iPad), it's probably what you're looking for.
 
MikhailT said:
Look at PadNotes (onenote-ish app for the iPad), it's probably what you're looking for.
Click to expand...

PadNotes? I'll check it out for handwritten notes, but I'd still like to have handwriting recognitions throughout my whole iPad if possible.

Thanks for the app info. :)
 
Yes, dodo birds, platypusses and handwriting recognition.

All on the top of the list.
 
MikhailT said:
There's already real-time voice transcription applications for iPhone, I'm sure they'll get ported to iPad. (Dragon Speak is one of them)
Click to expand...

I have DragonSpeak. It's not bad but not quite there yet.

MikhailT said:
Look at PadNotes (onenote-ish app for the iPad), it's probably what you're looking for.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but PadNotes is a PDF editor. Sure, you can insert text and draw on existing docs. However, this isn't quite what the OP is asking for. Hopefully the increased screen size will make editing typed text easier.
 
eawmp1 said:
Sorry, but PadNotes is a PDF editor. Sure, you can insert text and draw on existing docs. However, this isn't quite what the OP is asking for. Hopefully the increased screen size will make editing typed text easier.
Click to expand...

You're right. A PDF editor is great if I have PDF files (textbooks or something), but I want handwriting recognition to be as adaptable as the keyboard. Like Transcriber for Windows Mobile. Then I can get a Pogo Stylus and have another option of text input.
 
We already got it for Kanja :D

All kidding aside, i really hated the Palm alphabet. Talk about rearranging brain cells just to write on a mobile device.
 
ciaran00 said:
We already got it for Kanja :D

All kidding aside, i really hated the Palm alphabet. Talk about rearranging brain cells just to write on a mobile device.
Click to expand...
agreed. I'm hoping Apple could perfect that and release something better.
 
Handwriting recognition actually worked reasonably well on my 2003-era Toshiba Tablet PC, with whatever was built into Windows Tablet XP to do the job. However, that generation of Tablet PCs had Wacom digitizer/stylus technology, and I don't think the iPad will come anywhere near that accuracy/resolution, especially when the only styli seem to be those third-party blunt thingies (Pogo).

Don't get me wrong, I'll probably get a Pogo to play with, but I've never seen anything that attempts to compare the iPad's touch sensitivity/resolution to that of a traditional graphics tablet (i.e., Wacom), so I am skeptical about both handwriting and drawing apps. (Yes, I've seen the finger painting. I mean more detailed artwork that requires more precise control.)
 
As long as using a stylus is not a core part of the UI experience. This is what killed the tabletpc.

The stylus should only be for writing notes/sketching and should not attempt to change the text onscreen to what it recognises it as. At least not until the user asks it too. The moment it starts 'recognizing' text and throwing up incorrect words, the whole experience degrades.

The value is in eInk notes and automagically adding the keywords so that spotlight can find your note, 6 months after you've written it. Turning it into prestine typography is really only the cherry on top.

M. :D
 
MikeDTyke said:
As long as using a stylus is not a core part of the UI experience. This is what killed the tabletpc.
Click to expand...

Agreed. You either had a frankenstein monster like my Toshiba (one of the ones where the screen twisted around to cover up the keyboard to make it tablet-shaped), or a keyboard-less one that NEEDED a keyboard dock, period...or you could tap out letters with your stylus on the on-screen keyboard. Speedy and efficient, there.

And honestly, even with the Wacom-produced digitizer, attempting to use something like PhotoShop or Painter resulted in jaggy, aliased lines (at least on my model).
 
eawmp1 said:
Sorry, but PadNotes is a PDF editor. Sure, you can insert text and draw on existing docs. However, this isn't quite what the OP is asking for. Hopefully the increased screen size will make editing typed text easier.
Click to expand...

Have you even look at PadNotes? It's far more than an PDF editor. PDF is what it can import ant export, it doesn't need existing docs to draw upon. It supports vary of paper format for different needs, like for example graph papers for graphing, noted papers for notes and so many others. It's not a PDF editor, it's a whole suite for note-taking.

BTW, that is what I was quoting,
LadyHoneyBabe said:
but if I'm in a meeting and need to jot down some notes and graphs, I couldn't use it. That's why I'd also like the option of having handwriting recognition instead of pen & paper.
Click to expand...
PadNotes does allow you to jot down notes and graph, it doesn't seem to have handwriting recognition.
 
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