Re: tlug: palmtop PHS (Toshiba GENIO)

[Craig Oda <craig@example.com>]

On Mon, 8 Dec 1997, J. David Beutel wrote:

> Good point.  I'll be sure to get the hang of writing before
> buying.  I need to practice writing kanji--the kana input
> systems make it too easy for me.

David,
I'll share my opinion again since I've been through a number
of PDAs.  In my experience, I didn't use the Kanji input
that much.  For example, when taking to someone over the
phone and writing their name, I would write it in English
or romaji.  The reason is that although I could input
the kanji for certain characters, I never knew if
my stroke order was correct or not.  If I was in a meeting,
I would write the notes in English and review them. 
My schedule was in English too.  If I was on a plane and
wanted to jot down an outline for a report, I did it
in English.  For Japanese things, I need the FEP found
on the Linux mother-ship.  

So, although it would be nice to learn Kanji, in actual
practice you may spend 90 percent of the time in English
input mode.  If this is the case, you _may_ find that
the most critical function is the English input system.

When I was in the U.S., my friend had a Newton and was
using the Pilot software graffiti input system on his Newton.  

just my opinion.  A PDA is one of those devices that you
use all the time and if something about it is inconvenient,
you often just end up not using it. 

Anyway, I'm about to read the Twiddler files now.  I tried
the Twiddler at Jim Tittsler's office and it was a little
hard to use for me.  Should have taken guitar lessons in my
youth. 

Regards,
Craig


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