Handwriting recognition on the iPad?

Ok. Let me see if I understand. The Android tablets don't provide built in handwriting recognition but there are third party apps that do so that means they have an advantage over iPads. On the other hand, iOS doesn't have built in handwriting recognition but there are third party apps that do but the iPad is inferior.

You should buy which ever device meets your needs best.

If you want to USE handwriting recognition on your iPad, just get WritePad, a nifty note taking app which, IMHO, works extraordinarily well.

It's all the clearer that Apple have the technology to provide handwriting recognition if they really wanted to.

And Ferrari has the technology to build a dump truck if they really wanted to. Clearly, though, Ferrari has decided that their product model doesn't call for a dump truck, just as Apple has decided that their product model for the iPad, which I might point out is designed around touch input, not stylus, doesn't call for handwriting recognition to be built in at the OS level.

I even got in touch with someone at Access Software (who made the Grafitti used on old Palm Pilots) -- they have an ap for handwriting recognition for Android but not iOS. Why? Because Apple's licensing policy won't let them create a keyboard template (which would be the mechanism for enabling handwriting recogntion).

Doesn't seem to be much of a barrier for the developers of the other apps that offer handwriting support including handwriting recognition. If you are referring to third-party developers being able to add OS-level services, you're right, Apple doesn't allow that. The ability for third-party developers to add service-level functionality to Android is one reason why there is such concern over Android's security (or lack thereof).

In all honesty, I regret having bought my iPad 2 at this stage -- not that it isn't capable of doing this technically, but Apple's sheer will.

Sell your iPad, then, and buy something you feel better suits your needs. There are many people who'd willingly buy it from you. Posting here, particularly in a thread that was last active several months ago, won't be of any benefit to you.

Regards.

Posting here, particularly in a thread that was last active several months ago, won't be of any benefit to you.

Psychologically speaking Dave, it does. Among many other personal benefits it allows her to rage against the machine. She does not really expect anyone to respond at this point, as is obvious by some of her illogic that Meg points out. Best to ignore her and leave her to her raging.

There's no indication that "iPadforwriting" is a she, just to avoid any appearance of sexism. I say "no benefit to you" meaning of course not likely to yield any technological solution if a third-party app doesn't fit his/her needs.

As to ignoring, I don't see the post as "raging", only perhaps a bit under- or ill-informed. So I have made the attempt. You are free to ignore such posts if you wish, but - and I say this not meaning to be rude in any way - I make my own judgements on who to reply to and who to ignore. Sometimes I regret it, but sometimes the poster actually has come to see things in a different way.

Regards.

Sorry I was not actually trying to dictate to whom you replied, more trying to show the frivolity of the whole matter. 🙂

IPadforwriting wrote:

The simple message is: If handwriting recognition is important to you, don't buy an iPad -- get a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or the like. If it's not important to you, then an iPad is great.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn't have handwriting recognition built in either so I fail to see the advantage in this instance.

Huh. Looks almost like a scaled down version of NoteTaker HD, the handwriting recognition program on my iPad. Still can't figure out why it's so much better. But, buy whatever makes you happy. That's what I did. I have an iPad with handwriting recognition.

My experience with iPad 2

I didn't like the iPad any better than the iPhone 4S I returned. It's less capable in some ways, but it's much harder to hold. The screen is wonderful but the handwriting to text is slow and erratic. WritePad works the best of the App$ I experimented with. You have to write huge, so you can get in maybe 4 words before you have to pause, while it interprets what you've written.

This operating system has no file system, apparently. Every applications stores everything for itself.

But, what is most annoying, in some ways, is that it's hard to hold. It's totally smooth aluminum. Maybe I have dry skin, but I found I had to grip it fairly firmly or it would slip. And, my thumb on the screen often messes up the application I'm using. There's no padding on the back so, if you don't want to bang the thing, you have to be really careful when setting it on a hard surface. I'm positive it's a style thing… padding would have interfered with the line of the product. It's kind of heavy for its size and isn't comfortable to write (or even read) in bed with. Spend months worrying about a single sound or color but the text editor doesn't know what an umlaut is, e.g. "ö".

Except for weight and lack of friction padding on the back, the hardware is beautiful, again. The software just isn't there.

If I could get an application that was as good as the old Palm III for handwriting recognition (it read characters one at a time, faster than a normal person could write them) for speed and convenience plus the Palm's convenience in exchanging text files with the computer, I'd have kept my iPad.

MuggsMcGinnis wrote:

the text editor doesn't know what an umlaut is, e.g. "ö".

Could you elaborate on that? Did you not figure out how to type ö, or did WritePad not understand it, or was it something else?

I drew an 'o' with an umlaut, "ö", and the iPad didn't recognize the character. I searched Help for "umlaut" and found nothing. The iPad's writing recognition is too slow and unreliable to be useful, anyway. It's good for writing a shopping list or something, but not for real writing. It's maddening to me that computers lose capabilities over time. If the iPad could convert writing to text as fast and reliably as my Palm Pilot was able to, I would have kept it.