| Product: GoType! Keyboard |
Company: LandWare |
| Web: www.landware.com |
Phone: 201-261-7944 |
| Platform: PalmOS, IBM Workpad |
SRP: US$80
Street Price: same |
Cred Rating: | Special Award: |
Handwriting recognition is a lie. I learned this ugly little secret with the Newton. I hoped things would get better with the Palm platform. They included Grafitti in their firmware and that approach had some smarts behind it. They figured that teaching a human to write in a specific way was more effective than teaching a machine to read many different ways.
Good theory, but for me, any form of handwriting recognition just doesn't cut it. I'm
always surprised when my Pilot actually understands what I write the first time. I'm getting too old to deal with finicky tech, to hang on hope.
Which brings us to the GoType!. It's a clever looking lil' plastic PDA keyboard with a
form-fitting hinged cover that folds down with a comforting click, producing a highly transportable clamshell. It's very light, too.
The GoType! keyboard is easy to set up. You just install the driver -- same as you would with any Palmware. The driver works with HackMaster, the standard app used to alter software in the Palm universe.
With the keyboard opened, in the center of the upraised cover, is a little nub with exposed connectors. They look darn eager to dock with your PDA via the serial port...and they are! Just make sure that the machine is asleep during intercourse. If the connection is not there on boot-up, the keyboard won't be recognized.
Okay, enough beating around the bush. It's time for Mr. Cranky Butt to reveal yet another dirty little secret: I'm not writing this review on the GoType, I'm using my trusty ol' AlphaSmart Pro.
Why? The GoType is convenient, cute and easy to carry. It's all these things because it's small -- too small, in fact, to use for touch typing. I don't have what you'd call big hands, and my fingers are downright clever when it comes to typing, but I consistently hit the wrong keys on the GoType.
The location of the up arrow is a real drag. Located by the Enter and Shift keys, it's prone to being hit by mistake. When you use the keyboard, the PDA is no longer in your hand, as it would likely be for handwriting, but on your desk or airplane tray-table. That distance away, the text becomes too small to see, unless you bump it up to the largest available font.
I can't get any typing speed going on it, either. Even in an emergency, the GoType would be useless in an interview. I also get almost immediate RSI ache after using the board.
And another thing! There are six function keys, so you can call up standard Palm apps (datebook, address book, etc.) straight from the GoType. Great idea, but why the hell didn't they map the keyboard apps buttons in the same order in which they appear on the Palm itself? Introducing this kind of cognitive dissonance for no reason is an industrial faux pas. Shame! Shame!
OK, I've vented enough. So, did I send the lil' keyboard packing back to LandWare? (I certainly formed my opinions of it well within the 30-day grace period.) Nope, I kept it. Even though I can't use the GoType to, well, go type, I certainly can use it to hunt and peck. And, sad to say, that's more efficient than handwriting recognition, which, as we all know...
- Peter Sugarman [1/20/00]
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