back to article Google's new scribble-tab-ulous handwriting interface for Android

Google has popped the lid off its Google Handwriting Input, new Android software that lets you input your text longhand in any 'droid app. 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 …

  1. Phil Kingston

    "Whether there's a genuine need for handwriting recognition is another matter. Just why one would write instead of using an on-screen keyboard in a meeting is anyone's guess: you'll obviously be giving your device more attention than those in the room with either input method."

    Been doing that for years in Windows with OneNote. Take notes/minutes during a meeting, send them out before the meeting's done. Don't have to write them up later when back at desk. Add sketches etc.

    I'm genuinely surprised Android hasn't had this kind of thing until now. The way people go on about their plastic-coated, lagtastic Android toys, you'd think they could also make the lunch.

    1. James 51

      Is the processing done on the device or is it sent to Google for analysis and the text sent back?

      1. Geoff Johnson

        Local Processing

        though Imon-line now, I tried off- line. It seems exactly the same.

        Using it to write this is taking ages though.

        I think it needs more language Knowledge. It could also used better word suggestion system that knows what letters can get missunderstood.

        overall not as bad as I expected, but very slow compared to typing.

        1. James 51

          Re: Local Processing

          I prefer to write first drafts out long hand but then I have to type them up. Could be a resonable compromise but if they really want to impress me it would have to work with mirror writing too.

          1. Tom 7

            Re: Local Processing @james 51

            You have a touch sensitive mirror!

            But seriously it aint no different - so long as you always write that way. If your ambidextrous then who is holding the bloody tablet?

      2. 's water music

        cloud recognition

        Is the processing done on the device or is it sent to Google for analysis and the text sent back?

        There is a Settings option called Cloud button to disable "online recognition". It was on by default. There is a separate "Share handwriting" option which prompted me to opt-in during initial configuration

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: cloud recognition

          I presume the share everything in sight option is implied and impossible to disconnect (no, offline use simply means it's caching it)..

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Been doing that for years in Windows with OneNote.

      I think it's been around since the Apple Newton or so. I remember this working in reasonable quality on a simple Sony Ericsson P1, but it was too fiddly with a stylus on the small screen - the very clever keyboard (IMHO its real innovation) was far quicker.

  2. crayon

    I'm genuinely surprised Android hasn't had this kind of thing until now.

    It has had, just not in "82 languages" that Google is now offering. Chinese handwriting recognition had been available on PCs since Win95/98, on Nokia's touchscreen phones (and on many Chinese touchscreen phones before that), and of course on Android as well. In fact it had been easier to develop handwriting recognition for the somewhat more complex Chinese characters than it had been for the simpler Latin alphabet precisely because the complexity gave more data points for the recognition software to work with, resulting in higher accuracy.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: I'm genuinely surprised Android hasn't had this kind of thing until now.

      Handwriting recognition was also on the western S60 v5 touchscreen phones too, you could squiggle out text messages and so on with it. Albeit slowly.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'm genuinely surprised Android hasn't had this kind of thing until now.

      This has been available on the Entourage Edge Dual book - both 7 and 10 inch versions - since 2011. It is much easier there since the Edge is designed to use a wacom stylus on both the e-ink and LCD screens.

      The biggest problem I can see with this new implementation is the lack of a precision stylus that works on a capacitive touch screen.

  3. Teiwaz

    Reminds me of my old Sharp Zaurus

    Used to have one back at the turn of the century.

    Had quite a usable handwriting recognition. Damn good for meetings. For me, it was quicker than typing (even on the slide down keyboard the zaurus had).

    1. Paul Kinsler

      Re: Reminds me of my old Sharp Zaurus

      Me too ... especially since I was playing it's scrabble-clone game on it only last night. I've even got the (its) Opie environment running on my laptop, but am having trouble getting it to recognise the mouse when run directly in a framebuffer when non root (in a virtual one on X is fine). My aim is to turn my yoga into a giant Zaurus :-)

  4. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. the spectacularly refined chap

      In alphabet-based languages it's basically pointless, the majority of people can type faster and more conveniently even on the ridiculous on-screen keyboards of phones and tablets.

      It depends a lot on the context. If you want to bash out plain English prose then a physical keyboard is fastest. However, I did keep my Newton MP2000 in use long after it was obsolete specifically as a notetaking device - it was the only device I've ever come accross that could replace a notepad and pencil and improve on it. In many situations not being a distraction is more important than sheer speed.

      First would be in a meeting - cursive handwriting recognition in particular is far less intrusive than keyboard clatter or constant tap-tap-tap on an on screen keyboard.

      More important for me though was the absolute focus it allowed on the task in hand. The Newton's notetaking app had four basic input modes that you could toggle between with a single tap - immediate and deferred handwriting recognition, freehand sketching and "smart draw" that automatically recognised and cleaned up lines, rectangles, circles etc.

      You could jot down anything quickly in deferrred mode (only recognising after you had recorded your thoughts) and instantly switch to the other modes to draw a diagram or jot down an equation without losing your train of thought. You could edit as for any electronic document - scribble something out to erase it or select and drag to move it.

      This featured in all the main notetaking modes including critically (for me) the outliner. You have a topic to break down, write down the headline subject. Break that down into principle sub-tasks as branches and then break down each of those in turn. If you miss out a step or need to re-order two points then no problem.

      This made an incredibly natural tool for top-down stepwise refinement in that you could focus exclusively on the task at hand and expand it and re-arrange it as much as you liked without having to constantly re-write things. That facility was worth more than the cost of the device by itself.

      Admittedly, we are talking about something slightly beyond basic handwriting recognition there, but the opportunities exist for a very rich and yet also very natural experience, that can only enhance your working processes rather than distract from them.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm just waiting for dance recognition for those times when a sentence must be expressed in 1950's morris dancing style.

    1. Elmer Phud

      "must be expressed in 1950's morris dancing style."

      Beware of innocent looking damsels with effing big sticks!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Who are you calling a damsel?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Voice input is an option

    Oh yeah ? Not when I tried to set up Android for my wife - discovered the bluetooth stack doesn't connect to "ask Google".

  7. kmac499

    New ?

    Ok it may be a new App in the store, but I've had hand writing recognition on my Sammy Note 8 for 18 months now.

    It's quite good but the main problem is the feel of the drag of the stylus across the screen. They are either too slippy or too grippy compared to a good'ole MkI Biro..

    Very handy for annotating an agenda document to create minutes during a meeting.

  8. Dabooka
    Stop

    Just one question; what permissions does this thing want?

    I only ask as I'm sure buried in the T&Cs of the keyboard is a reference to Google pertaining the right of all data entered via the app.

    1. Badvok
      Facepalm

      Re: Just one question; what permissions does this thing want?

      In case you have forgotten how to use a web browser:

      This app has access to:

      Photos / Media / Files

      modify or delete the contents of your USB storage

      read the contents of your USB storage

      Other

      view network connections

      full network access

      1. Dabooka

        Re: @Badvok

        Cheers for that Badvok, much appreciated use of Google there!

        However, it's the element about retaining input I'm curious of as it wasn't mentioned as a permission per se, it was something buried within one of the permisison's descriptions. As I say it was a while ago and I didn't install it as a result so can't check.

        I just wondered if this does the same, not that I'd use it anyway

  9. James 51

    Someone else confirmed it will run off-line but that would be good to know as well. Not sure why you were downvoted.

  10. Lee D Silver badge

    Really? I thought we'd pretty much established that handwriting recognition is so inaccurate and slow, even at the best of times, as to be useless until we get some quantum computing or similar going (and even then I don't see how the computer is supposed to interpret handwriting until it's able to interpret other things which would bring us into the "AI era" and thus make handwriting obsolete anyway).

    It's a neat trick. I was playing with it back in VB3 with the Windows pen input libraries - I think I wrote a game using it once back in school.

    But throughout university, I hand-wrote notes. I was studying Maths and Computing, and though our computing was up-to-scratch, there was - and may still not be - any sensible way to quickly take accurate mathematical notation on a computer. LaTeX was the closest you got and everything now still seems to be a pretty WYSIWYG GUI (or at least, that's what they used to be called) over the top of it. MathML appears to be a poor cousin to LaTeX. The lecturers I know write on boards or project pre-prepared slides and draw over them because notating maths is hard on a computer, but I'm long gone from my academic years so I might be wrong.

    There are things I don't get, about information transference. Videos are the slowest, most horrendous way to impart knowledge. A picture tells a thousand words but a video is a long-drawn-out picture with someone talking. Audio is similarly slow and painful for me - by the time you explain it, you could have just shown me an example. There's a reason audiobooks take twice as long to listen to as it would do to just read the book. Handwriting is SLOW and inaccurate and painful on the reader. Even typing I find myself thinking too fast to get it down on the computer in time despite being a touch-typist for years. I can actually type while head is turned sideways having a conversation.

    In terms of information transference, handwriting is dead and only survives because you can do it with minimal equipment. If you already have a tablet PC or smartphone, why are you handwriting? If typing on a virtual keyboard is too bad for you, buy a real one. There are some wonderful portable keyboards around.

    But handwriting - on a powerful machine - just to get a line of text into a file? So wasteful.

    I work in schools and, honestly, it's only because the schools keep pushing it that the children bother to write with a pen at all. I don't think it would be a huge loss to tell the schools to stop doing that and just have the kids type everything. I believe Finland/Sweden are looking at just that. Maybe just a block-capitals with a pen for emergencies? Past that, I think we'd have much brighter kids if they didn't spend half their school lives trying to curl their esses properly and were able to spend more time on using the words effectively and getting their message across. (As a child, I was always told off for my poor handwriting and despite often sitting the last half of the lesson on extension work or bored out of my brain, I spent FOREVER going back and forth on "neatening" my handwriting instead of learning anything).

    If a politician were to hand-write a policy now, they'd be a laughing stock.

    If the law were written on bits of paper, it would be a mess.

    The NHS has spent decades trying to digitise horrible, old, unreadable handwritten medical notes.

    Every sign, poster, advert, article, etc. you'll ever read is type-set.

    Pretty much the only hand-written thing you'll see is a Post-It and school-work.

    I don't get why we do it. I don't get why we need technology to do it.

    Like the quill, and stone tablets, and hieroglyphs, handwriting is dead.

    1. Phuq Witt
      WTF?

      Handwriting Ain't Quite Dead

      I was also surprised to find this didn't already exist on Android. Every platform out there seems to have had several handwriting recognition apps for a long time. I think what's new here is that, being from Google, this is likely to end up being 'built-in' at some stage –unless it's added to Google's ever-growing mountain of abandoned technologies.

      I've tried it out myself and, for all the fanfare, it doesn't seem any quicker or any more accurate than anything else of similar ilk I've tried over the years. In addition, I can't seem to get it to make spaces between words. Everything I write gets run together into one word. [I suspect this may be because, over the decades, my handwriting has evolved into something akin to 'joined-up capitals'. Perhaps the system doesn't leave a word-break unless a block of text ends in a recognisably lower case letter?]

      As regards handwriting in general as a dying art, I'm partially in agreement. When I'm handwriting just to 'get stuff down' as fast as possible, my writing is awful and only legible to myself. I'm far better off typing. However, I'm also a graphic-designery-arty type and, when time is no object I can produce elegant hand drawn 'calligraphy'. I'm also an inveterate doodler and most of what I write by hand is decorated, annotated, defaced with illustrations, cartoons, doodles and the like. I always carry a notebook/sketchbook and have dozens of these filled with writings, sketches, diagrams, notes, whatever. So far I've not found anything in the digital world that remotely approaches the utility, ease of use and immediacy of a nice pocket sketchbook and a favourite drawing pen.

      For me, the ideal gadget would be something I could type into when I just wanted to get blocks of info down, but which would also automagically recognise and digitise any text I wrote by hand, as well as equally automagically digitising and vectorising anything I doodled in the margins. And, most importantly the screen and stylus would be constructed of futuristic advanced materials which, whilst tough and resilient to breaking or scratches, would feel when you drew or wrote on them like when you used to doodle on the bottom of your slippers with a biro, as a kid. The "ballpoint pen sliding across a sheet of glass" sensation we currently endure using tablets and stylii is just awful.

      [While proof-reading this back, I just had really strong déjà vú of writing all this before in a similar thread. Then, when I thought that, I had further déjà vú of me thinking I had déjà vú last time I wrote it too. I think I better stop now, before time folds in on itself and destroys the galaxy]

      1. D@v3

        +1 specifically for

        "ease of use and immediacy of a nice pocket sketchbook and a favourite drawing pen."

    2. Return To Sender

      Handwriting in schools

      I'd be curious to see if there's any research comparing the (rate of) development of fine motor skills in young children between handwriting and using a keyboard. It's at least partly the lack of those that produces the 'spider on acid' effect, so maybe there;s a spin-off benefit?

  11. wobbly1

    Oh I hope so...

    Experience triumphs over hope on this one . For a variety of reasons including attempted left to right conversion (like the author of the article) coupled with dyslexia, i form my letters backwards. Before the educational psychologists stepped in, I mirror wrote , in way that was perfectly readable held to a mirror. Post their "assistance" I am left with writing left to right whilst still drawing the characters mirrored . I have tried every handwriting input system that has come into my price range , my combination of differences to the expectations of programmers has defeated every system i have tried. Each has had a different set of assumptions , Microsoft's system seemed to use drawing dynamics.So a horizontal stroke on top of a "t" was interpreted as "delete all you have just entered". others pattern match against a generalized model or a personal model of character form or drawing dynamics , none seem to get the mixture right. , but always the algorithms start with some basic assumptions that cut of very close to the centre of the bell curve of style and ability. My neuromuscular impairment affects my ability to use speech input systems and keyboards are hard and slow with groty co-ordination. Until i can output ASCII directly from my cerebral cortex via bluetooth a something like 256 characters per sec, entering text is always going to be difficult . I'll give google's offering a go, but don't hold out much hope the above took 25 mins to enter and correct.

    1. Pookietoo

      Re: Oh I hope so...

      I don't see why lefties and those whose brain is wired that way shouldn't use mirror writing - to me it seems quite readable without a mirror.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Oh I hope so...

        > I don't see why lefties and those whose brain is wired that way shouldn't use mirror writing - to me it seems quite readable without a mirror.

        It's sometimes called boustrophedon and was a feature of many early writing systems, although eventually most cultures west of Afghanistan settled on choosing consistently one direction or another, Leonardo notwithstanding.

      2. wobbly1

        Re: Oh I hope so...

        The education system nor the examination boards didn't share your view, oh and it was coupled with learning to write with a dip pen with a left handed italic nib, a device designed by a right handed sadist ;)

  12. cupperty
    Childcatcher

    Just un-brick my Nexus 7 & I'll use it ...

    Lollipop ate my Nexus ...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Just un-brick my Nexus 7 & I'll use it ...

      Mine too.

      I actually decided to get a Linx 10 windows tablet, on the basis that Windows 8.1 isn't going anywhere without my permission and so the tablet will remain usable for as long as *I* want, and not for as long as Google or Apple want.

      Plus it's a good device, IMHO.

    2. Pat Att

      Re: Just un-brick my Nexus 7 & I'll use it ...

      And mine. How hard is it to go back to Kit-Kat?

  13. Irongut

    The app works in 82 languages

    Is that "works" in the same way that Google Translate "works" provided you're capable of translating from the wrong tense, wrong word order, swapped subject and object and often opposite meaning to the original language on the fly?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The app works in 82 languages

      I hope the one you're writing and giving away for free will be ready soon, we could all do with the improvements.

  14. SVV

    This will be useless for me

    After 20 years working in IT sat in front of a keyboard and monitor, I can sometimes barely read my own handwriting anymore if I leaf back through my jotter pad further than a month or so ago, so the chances of an app being able to do so are very liow indeed.

    Shame, as I really hate using the on screen keyboard on my tablet.

  15. Unicornpiss
    Paris Hilton

    Swype?

    Having gotten completely used to "Swype", I'll bet the handwriting recognition is quite a bit slower, but I'd still rather use it than a fiddly virtual keyboard on a touch screen.

    1. Cuddles

      Re: Swype?

      Swype is great on phones, but I don't find it any faster than normal typing on a tablet-sized touchscreen. If the recognition is accurate enough handwriting would certainly be faster, and if you're just taking notes for things to be written up properly later you don't need perfect accuracy anyway. The main problem I can see is that in order to use handwriting recognition you kind of need something to write with. Just using a finger isn't going to be anywhere near as fast or accurate as a stylus, and very few phones and tablets come with one these days.

      1. Pookietoo

        Re: stylus ... very few phones and tablets come with one

        They're 99p on eBay, or two for a pound in Poundland. I got one the other day because my large hands just weren't meant for small touchscreens, and it really helps speed and accuracy both typing and writing. The feel is good on the screen, I have yet to fit a screen protector.

  16. leon clarke

    Finally

    My android tablet is better in every respect than my Apple (Newton) tablet.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Finally

      "My android tablet is better in every respect than my Apple (Newton) tablet."

      Kearney: Hey Dolph, take a memo on your Newton: 'beat up Martin'.

      Newton : 'eat up martha'.

  17. Dr. Mouse

    While it is obviously a welcome option on generic Android, I have to say that if it doesn't understand cursive, it's not much more than a gimmick. (I don't know if it does, but it seems not from the examples show)

    I have terrible handwriting, but my last 2 tablets have had styli, and I have used handwriting recognition on them to great effect when the situation called for it. The first was a Tegra Note, and my current one is the Shield Tablet. Writing on these is a breeze, and recognition is reasonably accurate even with my awful handwriting. I can't remember what combination of apps etc. I used, but I was very impressed.

    OTOH the on screen keyboard is much quicker in most situations. The only problem is it needs you to look at the screen. Handwriting recognition allowed me to take notes during presentations, and they were accurate enough that I could make them out when I reread them (unlike a lot of my handwritten notes on paper lol).

    1. Pookietoo

      writing this in fairly scruffy cursive with no problem, except I haven't figured out how to do Spaces yet! . Not bad for a first try, I think.

  18. John H Woods Silver badge

    I just want...

    a microwriter-style bluetooth device that sits comfortably in the (either) hand... Never really understood why the portable one handed chording keyboard has not been resurrected.

  19. Yugguy

    Can I draw a GIANT cock and balls on it?

    This is my basic criteria for any application of this kind.

    1. Pookietoo
      Headmaster

      Re: Can I draw a GIANT cock and balls on it?

      "This is my basic criterion" or "These are my basic criteria"

      1. Yugguy

        Re: Can I draw a GIANT cock and balls on it?

        Dammit - Normally it is me what points out them there grammatical errors.

        My colleagues' illiteracy must be contagious.

        As Sherlock Holmes said - "my well of English seems to be permanently defiled."

    2. the spectacularly refined chap

      Re: Can I draw a GIANT cock and balls on it?

      Of course you can't. In my case you'd need at least an A3 screen to draw them actual size, let alone exaggerate them.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Can I draw a GIANT cock and balls on it?

        > In my case you'd need at least an A3 screen to draw them actual size

        Living up to your screen name, eh? :)

        Anyway another smartphone generation or two and you should be able to draw it no problems.

  20. bep

    Graffiti anyone?

    I got quite good with Graffiti on the old Palm Pilots and I'd be happy to try it on Android. For those who haven't used it it's a sort of shorthand script with minimal key strokes. I think that approach is better than handwriting recognition because handwriting is still likely to be slower, regardless of how good the recognition is, simply because there are more actions required with handwriting.

    1. Unicornpiss

      Re: Graffiti anyone?

      @bep: Your comment makes sense. It's the same reason that in the days of typewriters that secretaries used shorthand to take notes. I like Swype. Someone mentioned that Swype is great on phones but not so wonderful on tablets and larger devices. I'd agree with that, but why couldn't you just use a smaller (or adjustable/scalable) Swype keyboard on the tablets? What is making you use a keyboard that spans the full screen and forces long distances between characters or using 2 hands?

      1. Dr. Mouse

        Re: Graffiti anyone?

        Swype is great on phones but not so wonderful on tablets and larger devices. I'd agree with that, but why couldn't you just use a smaller (or adjustable/scalable) Swype keyboard on the tablets?

        I'd love that. I use the swipe input on my phone all the time, and it ends up taking me longer to type on my 8-inch tablet than it does on my phone! Bringing the keyboard down to the bottom right (or left) corner of the screen would make it usable.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Graffiti anyone?

      Graffiti is available as an app for Android, and it's my current input method for my Android phone (I reluctantly gave up my Palm Pre3).

      I briefly tried the Google handwriting interface. I still haven't figured out how to get it to recognize a single quote (it recognizes double quotes).

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is this open source?

    i.e., something that could be found on F-Droid?

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