[NTLK] Using Newton - Simple Pleasures

[Laurent Bourrelly]

Message: 10 Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:32:43 +0200 From: Jon Glass <jonglass at usa.net> Subject: Re: [NTLK] Using Newton - Simple Pleasures To: newtontalk at newtontalk.net Message-ID: <AANLkTi=qssB_wbc2edTdmh2G8GXE=oP3iDFgVa7fePLf at mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 3:21 PM, Riccardo Mori <rick at newted.org> wrote: > quoth Bob Adamson: > >> ?Are we expected to believe people would rather type on a touch screen than write and have their handwriting recognized and turned into text? > > My answer is yes, but wait, here's my theory. <<snip>> > So, what happened? Cheaper devices like Palms grew more popular and so did their sad, poor, counter-intuitive HWR method. I believe that many people tend to remember more the Palm's HWR method rather than the Newton's. No wonder they want to get rid of it. After trying to learn Graffiti (I like to know what I'm criticising), hell, I'd rather type on a virtual keyboard like the iPad's (or even the iPhone's!) any time! :) > Actually, for me, it's a simple factor of speed. My fastest handwriting probably took place on my Newton (somewhere shy of 30wpm, vs 25 wpm on paper). But I type at least that fast on my iPhone or Treo keyboard. I actually type faster on my iPhone since I learned to trust its autocorrect ("trust but verify" gets me over 35wpm). As much as I like writing on my Newton, typing is still much faster for me. The fact that Apple tuned the Newton's interface to work with just the stylus (no buttons), and also succeeded with the iPhone, in tuning it to fingers helps immensely with using either interface. That was the one great lack on the Palm OS. It always felt like a hybrid between the keyboard and mouse and tap or touch interface. There were always barriers. There were none of those on the Newton, and there are none in the iPhone, IMO. Granted, I think that the Newton approach is more organic than the iPhone, but I wonder how much of that is just my perspective, coming from a 10 year-plus user of the Newton interface? -- ?-Jon Glass Krakow, Poland <jonglass at usa.net> "I don't believe in philosophies. I believe in fundamentals." --Jack Nicklaus 
Hi all,
Thing is typing on a keyboard or writing with a pen reaches out to different part of the brain.
In case of a pen, the creative side of the brain is activated. The keyboard involves more the mathematic part.
Even if it might be quicker to type on a keyboard, I prefer the pen. Thus, Newton will also win it for me.
In fact, I will never let down a device, which recognizes my ugly handwriting.

Laurent

My Apple blog : http://www.pomme-c.com/
My Apple museum : http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurentbourrelly/sets/72157622614451066/