In July 2001, PhatWare released CalliGrapher 6.0, a product which allowed a whole new way of inputting information into Palm PC and Pocket PC devices. Over the past four years, CalliGrapher has matured into the leading input application available for Windows Mobile devices.  With its low training requirements and accuracy, CalliGrapher  rapidly placed itself head and shoulders above other applications in the field. 

With the release of version 8.0, PhatWare had once again taken a top-of-the-line product and managed to improve it.  

Now PhatWare has updated CalliGrapher to version 8.4 and the improvements and enhancement that make this a great time to purchase or upgrade.  While the fundamental elements of the application have not changed - Soft Input Panels – or SIP - Write Anywhere and Write Pad, complete compatibility with Windows Mobile 5.0, a new color ink pad for ink color in Word Pad, movable ink, the CalliGrapher Statistical Analyzer (which will be covered in detail in this review), and Write Pad Log files, the enhancements to 8.4 are significant if not glaringly obvious.  Perhaps the biggest improvement has come in the Digital Ink Filler which compensates for irregularities in your touch screen.  This is a tremendous and significant improvement for those who have screen protectors on your device, especially when in the Write Pad mode!  Other enhancements include the option for you to hide or show the Write Anywhere or Write Pad icon on the today screen, selectable text gestures in Write Pad and general, under-the-hood performance gains. 

CalliGrapher 8.4 is installed via ActiveSync or .CAB and requires approximately 3.2MB of space on the Windows Mobile device.  It can be installed in either your devices main memory or on a Storage Card but I recommend it be installed in main memory if possible.  During the installation of CalliGrapher, you are given the option of enabling the Soft Input Panel.  By enabling these features you will have them available to you as input method options via the input method icon on your Today screen or another application.  When CalliGrapher is chosen as the input device, an introduction of the basic stylus movements is shown.  While this introduction screen can be disabled, it is recommended to keep this active – especially for new you to the application – for a few weeks until these basic strokes are memorized.

Figure 1:  The SIP Setup During Installation	Figure 2:  The CalliGrapher Gesture Help Menu Shown at Startup

As the name would suggest, Write Anywhere allows for you to write the text – in print, block or cursive – anywhere on your Windows Mobile device’s screen  and it will be converted automatically to text in the application being used. Traditionally, this is the most common way that CalliGrapher is used as it provides almost “carefree” writing without having to worry about staying in a confined area.

Figure 3:  Write Anywhere allows you to write anywhere on the Windows Mobile device’s screen…	Figure 4: …And it will automatically be converted to text

For those who are more comfortable with Microsoft Transcriber or Palm Graffiti, the Write Pad function will quickly feel natural.  In Write Pad, you are provided pad-like section of the display to write within.  Once the text is written, you tap the Return icon on the Write Pad menu bar to have the writing converted to text.  Word Pad also supports separate letter as well.  In this mode, you write out individual letters between small hash marks in Word Pad.  This feature allows for more accurate writing of the letters as well as the replacement of individual letters.

Figure 5:  Write Pad is Much Like Palm Graffiti	Figure 6:  Write Pad Text Entered

The accuracy of CalliGrapher 8.4 is nothing short of impressive.  Whether in Write Anywhere or Write Pad mode, the application has an almost uncanny ability to accurately translate the writing to text.  Now with the Digital Ink Filter in the application, it is even better.  The Digital Ink Filter acts, quite literally, as a intelligent buffer for what you are writing and determines based on the gestures what the intended character is to be.  The advantage of this is if you have a device that has a worn screen or is protected by a screen protector.  In both cases, imperfections can cause your writing to not be translated accurately by CalliGrapher.  With this new enhancement, the need to make corrections has significantly dropped in my use of the application - and it was terrific before!  While it is not fool proof, it is very close to being so.  It is without question above any other handwriting recognition application that has been reviewed at Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! – including previous versions of CalliGrapher!

That said, some you will have a more difficult time with CalliGrapher based on their own handwriting style and skill.  PhatWare has done an excellent job with the recognition engine in CalliGrapher, but some simply “chicken scratch” too much for the application to understand.  Fortunately, like other text recognition applications, CalliGrapher includes a training tool for you.  By tapping the Letter Recognition icon, you will start the Letter Recognition tool.  Once in the tool, you tap the letter they want to train on the bottom list then select the way they most often write a character.  To see how a character is drawn, tap it and CalliGrapher will draw it.  If a user always writes a character as show, nothing further needs to be done.  However, if a user taps another way of drawing a character and never draw it that way, CalliGrapher needs to be told so.  To do this, tap the red X’d “A” on the toolbar. That style will be X’d out and this will effectively tell the application to ignore characters written in this style. Once you have told CalliGrapher how they draw characters, this information can be saved into a file for later use or for restoration.

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