Cursor keys on tablet - the Android solution

Ever since this new crop of tablets - iPad and Android - came onto the market, I have been stunned to find the absence of these 4 cursor movement keys - Left, Right, Up and Down.

There was a situation when I was asked to compose a document on an iPad in some meeting and it was a severely frustrating experience to type even two lines. Yes I am not the greatest typist on earth but I am not unaccustomed to writing on a computer either.

It is like stuttering in typing; you type something and then you use back spaces to get back to where your correction point and retype. Surely, this is suppose to be a new generation of touch input over the familiar XP Tablet I once used for over 4 years.

If one search Google looking for answers, you come away with an impression of an ideological war to rid cursor keys on tablet. Why? I have yet seen a report from any user-interface laboratory scientifically measuring the benefit of getting rid of the cursor keys. Equally I have yet seen any substantiation of the harm having these keys present.

You have (almost) all the keys in a real QWERTY keyboard and a cursor on the screen and you still need them to type using your soft keyboard. So what harm is having the cursor keys? If one thinks such keys are unnecessary in a touch environment why not getting rid of all keys - no soft keyboard at all.

Microsoft's XP and Win7 Tablet can function efficiently entirely without a soft keyboard. Samsung Note has a pen input that it converts the scribble into text, much like the Transcriber found in the PDA era, and not using soft keyboard.

Android's development team seems to have a habit of forgetting the more important matter and including so called 'cool' stuff.

Thankfully, a group of developers couldn't put up with this nonsense ideological struggle any more and created the Hacker's Keyboard, which you can download from Google Play. It works wonders and its 4 cursor movements keys are like a torch light in a dark tunnel.

Thanks for this sensible invention (or rather reinvention), my frustrating typing sessions in my Toshiba AT1S0 running Android 3.2.1 tablet are in the distance past.

Since I do not have any Apple device and hence I have not paid too much attention looking for its supplement. A casual Google Search for iOS and cursor keys did not yield any glaringly obvious redress but an endless pleads for solutions.

Windows 7 Ultimate insult to Tablet owners

Sometimes ago, I reported that Microsoft  has decided not to provide tablet recognizers for other languages unless you pay them more money by buying either Ultimate Edition or Enterprise Edition.

The other day, I have the pleasure of using a Tablet running English Windows 7 Home Premium and sadly the pleasure quickly turned sour when I discovered that the TIP was locked into a keyboard when I selected Traditional Chinese. This confirms that Microsoft's early annunciation is true.

On my old P1510 running the trusty XP Tablet edition, I can use the TIP to write TChinese or any other foreign language. Now greedy Microsoft is giving their user an Ultimate insult by forcing them to buy expensive edition so that they can write in foreign language.

No wonder Microsoft is losing market shares on tablet to Apple's iPad as Microsoft's is blinded by chasing money rather than providing their supporters with better support. Now Micro$oft has taken away something that their supporters naturally expect would be in all editions of Windows 7 as they are in XP. Who would have guessed a supposedly 'better' and 'newer' Operating System has fewer supports, unless you pay more? It is just pure greed.

If you are one of those victims of M$ greed and only wanting to write Chinese, by-pass Micro$oft and buy one of this fantastic tool - Penpower Junior. Don't let Microsoft hold you hostage. This tools can be used in Tablet or non-Tablet.

Wonder which tablet is underachievers

The quality of technical reporting on the Internet has sunk with each passage of time, particularly on analyzing product like a Tablet computers. In addition to the previous one, another just surfaced by Dan Ackerman making unsubstantiated statements that

"these Windows tablets have not been very good. Some are slate-style devices, others are convertible laptops with swiveling screens--but all have been underachievers, to put it mildly."

He fails to define what criteria he uses to call them underachievers. In fact, the current crop of so-called Tablets are nothing more than the same kind used in check-out counters or information kiosk and should be termed as touch sensitive device.

It cannot write like Windows Tablet that stores the scribbles as searchable ink. It cannot write and convert to text as you write. It relies on a touch senstive keyboard, which has been found even in good old PDA, and in an integral part of Tablet Windows. In fact Tablet Windows has 2 touch sensitive keyboards - one fixed one and another floating one. The current crop of non-Windows touch sensitive devices cannot provide the user with the ability to annotate, scribble and mark up any documents.

Windows applications run without modification on tablets; my Firefox can use the tablet input and my Thunderbird, with GeckoTIP, works flawlessly. It offers developers ability to develop ink-aware applications that you can scribble on say a PDF or Word documents just like you can do to a printed document.

Sure the current crop of touch sensitive device has gesture to open, zoom, flick or rotate object. Windows 7 touch sensitive netbook and Tablets have that functionality in addition to use stylus to write. That kind of gimmicky stuff is nothing new but is a good bait for technical bloggers or reporters.

The only thing working against the current crop of Windows Tablet is the price. For a properly functioning tablet supporting stylus, it is a lot more expensive than touch sensitive only device. Until the screen cost can be reduced further, this handicap will continue to exist. No amount of software can overcome that.

As a long term Windows Tablet user, and is still using one to compose this blog, I have found the current crop of touch sensitive devices, like iPad, Dell Streak, even Windows touch sensitive netbook, lacking. The ability to write/scribble notes or to annotate pre-prepared document in a meeting or presentation provides a dimension these touch sensitive devices cannot meet.

The convertible type, degraded by Dan through his obvious lack of usage over a period of time - the one with a hardware keyboard - are the most versatile of the lots. While one can write, with some practice, comfortably a reasonably long document using the stylus, often time the keyboard can give you that much more speed and precision. Of course the current crop of touch sensitive devices like iPad are not composing devices for "business-oriented" operations and are more a presentation device, more like a large size iPod Touch. As a result, there is no need for a keyboard with feedback. In a convertible or hybrid kind the keyboard complement the stylus.

So who is lacking and underachieving - show me how to annotate a PDF on iPad or running something like Excel, Photoshop or other productivity suite on iPad like devices.

Some people just writing rubbish on the Internet

Consider this totally inaccurate and ignorant statement by Jason Hiner on ZdNet:

No Windows 7 tablets have hit the market, or even been officially announced.

Jason has either lived in the wilderness for the last few years or so ignorant to make such a statement. No Windows 7 tablet?

Is he joking? I was using one and listed on Fujitsu's product site. There are plenty of Windows 7 touchy type of touch-screen only device too if he cares to investigate. All of them can do that silly gesture to open and flick. The T4310 can do both - touch sensitive as well as using stylus to write in ink - something iPad can't do.

Just because Apple brought out a touch-sensitive device, just like those in use in check out counters, so may so called tech journalists are totally confused.

It is like saying a vehicle is not a car if it does not look like a Mini while accusing Toyota and Land Rover has yet to produce a car!

Firefox kills Windows Journal Writer in Fujitsu T4310 Windows 7 Tablet

I am rather shocked and annoyed to discover that Firefox 3.6.3 causes the Windows Journal Note Writer to crash in a Fujitsu T4310 Tablet PC running Windows 7. Initially I suspected it was caused by the Adobe Flash plug-in in Firefox but after many hours of painful cycles of recovery to factory settings that I have managed to nail it down to Firefox.

The machine is brand new and hence I can afford to reset it back to factory settings when things goes wrong.

For those new to Tablet technology, Journal is a key component that allows user to scribble electronic ink onto a document. It can be a blank page to start with or you can print an existing document to the Journal so that you can scribble notes on it or to highlight parts. Without it operating a Tablet is pretty ordinary.

The machine is installed from distributed image and then connects to the Internet by WiFi to retrieve all the Windows updates current to May 13, 2010. At each stage, the Windows Journal is fired up to ensure that it can render the blank page and that I can print from say Adobe Reader/IE8 to a Journal file. The Windows Journal still works even when IE8's Adobe Flash plug-in is installed. During my experiment, Microsoft Security Essentials or AntiVirus are not installed.

The installation of Firefox 3.6.3 proceeds without any trouble. I cannot launch Windows Journal or print from any program that once works to Journal Note Writer the moment Firefox is installed. Printing from Firefox causes the Journal to crash.

All the crashes cause Event ID 1000 and pin-pointed to mostly "C:\Windows\System32\msvcrt.dll" or occasionally to "C:\Program Files\Windows Journal\NBDoc.dll". In all events, the exception code is 0xC0000005, which means Access Violation and the fault offset for MSVCRT is the same. Here is a typical Event message:

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          5/13/2010 11:55:08 AM
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      ABCD-PC7
Description:
Faulting application name: journal.exe, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5bc80a
Faulting module name: msvcrt.dll, version: 7.0.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5bda6f
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00009c7f
Faulting process id: 0x14d4
Faulting application start time: 0x01caf25012163ca9
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\windows journal\journal.exe
Faulting module path: C:\windows\system32\msvcrt.dll

Finally, after I've uninstalled Firefox, I launched a command prompt that "Run as administrator" and to apply the following steps to recover the Windows Journal:
In the "C:\Program Files\Windows Journal" directory
1) Run
Regsvr32 /u NBDoc.dll
Regsvr32 NBDoc.dll

2) Run
Journal /repairnotewriter

If you happen to run the last command in a CMD running as the log in user, a message box will inform you that it cannot find the specific file.

3) Then reboot.

When the machine is restarted, you can try to bring up Journal. It may still crash or it may bring up the Windows Journal Recovery dialog box as the last one you tried to print from Firefox did not go to completion. Do not choose to recover and this should bring up the blank page. You can then close the Journal Writer to complete the recover process.

You may also choose to launch the Journal Writer with an existing JNT file when launching by itself fails.

After the Windows Journal is restored (with Firefox uninstalled of course) you can print from IE or any programs.

I have been a long time Tablet user and is still using my P1510 running XP with Firefox and I have never seen this bizarre interference.

If anyone has any idea what is exactly happening in the background causing them to be hostile to each other or similar bizarre interference, I would like to hear from you. If you have a way to fix this, it is even more welcoming.

A review of two Windows 7 Tablet PCs with touch support

I was looking to buy a Windows 7 tablet PC that was more than a touch sensitive notebook. I am not a novice to Tablet as I am still using a T1510 when it was first release several years ago. Any candidate must be able to write like a tablet PC as the primary requirement, which means you can input without the use of the keyboard by means of the TIP (Tablet Input Panel) and touch support was a secondary requirement.

I narrow down to two: Acer Multi-Touch and Fijitsu T4310L both running Windows 7 Home Edition. The processor specification was of secondary concern to me. The functioning as a tablet was more important to me.

Because of the price difference and the weight, the Acer was the first that attracted my attention. In all respect this machine had every tablet tools and support - TIP, Journal Writer, Snipping tool and sticky note, except one thing.

This machine does not come with a pen and rely solely on touch operation which was currently in vogue. This decision by Acer defied the natural human instincts. No human I know of writes with a finger otherwise Quill was never discovered.  But Acer, in search of being vogue failed to deal with this probably. Most likely buyers' ignorance and misconception of a touch computer and a tablet. I placed the blame on the level of competence on the sales people.

A quick test of writing my name was a real struggle with the TIP and I challenged anyone to write more complicated text such as any Chinese characters on it. Even the sales person had a real struggle. Sure you could flick through image files with ease with a finger but you could not flick out a sentence or even some basic words.

Seeing several people struggling with it, I declared that Acer was not only an unsuitable Tablet PC but also bordering on not being a Tablet PC either. It is basically a touch sensitive notebook with all the Tablet tools, that no one can basically use. Its bias towards touch robbed its market share. It was more than a touch (pardon the punt) of disappointment.

I would definitely not recommend this to anyone as a Tablet PC. If your sole purpose was to get that flicking and touching actions, then you could do a lot better with a purely touch sensitive notebook, rather paying for an imitation Tablet PC.

With this shocking disappointment, I moved over to a Fijitsu T4310L with Windows 7 Home edition. This machine came with a special pen and also reacted to touch, like flicking. Writing on the TIP with that pen instantly showed the difference between this and the Acer. It was like comparing a Harley Davidson with a bicycle.

It was pure joy to write with the pen on this machine, even to a novice by-stander. Coupled with the smart recognizer, which was also available to Acer but incapable to exploit it properly, the degree of accuracy was several order of magnitude of improvement over my T1510. The special pen had programmable buttons on it as well as an eraser at the top of it.

The only disappointment was that it used a special pen that was expensive to replace. Without it, one had to resort to using the finger and this brought it back to the level of incompetency of the Acer.

With respect to some of messages from Microsoft on the combination of hand writing recognizers one could have in a Home Edition, I was pleasantly surprised to see the presence of Traditional and Simplified Chinese recognizers in an English Windows 7 Home Edition.

I was so disappointed with the Acer that I did not bother to try to discover this support. The other reason was that I could not use the finger to touch that tiny down arrow to drop down the language options in the TIP. Not such frustration on the T4310.

Hence I could not be certain if the policy reported had been repealed quietly for the sake of good common sense and now an English Home Edition could have any other language recognizers one needed, just like previous editions of Windows. But I could be certain that it was available in my T4310 running Windows 7 Home Edition.

T4310 was a clear winner, even though it was dearer. What's the use buying a cheaper Tablet PC imitation.

Microsoft is not encouraging Multi-Lango Tablet PC in Windows 7

I am a user of XP Tablet PC and is looking for a replacement. Over the last several years, I have monitored the feature set they built into each OS to support Tablet operation. One of the main demands, and I believe plenty others, are that it must have recognizers for other languages. For example, if the OS locale is English, it must have Asia hand writing recognizers.

People using XP Tablet PC and Vista, takes this for granted even as it is available for base model of Vista on a tablet PC.

So when the Windows 7 comes along with the much touted expanded International Support when I tested a Tablet PC running English Windows 7 Home Premium naturally I expect that I could just add the Chinese recognizer and be able to interpose English writings with Chinese characters. Sadly, Microsoft take 2 steps forward and 4 steps back encouraged by pure greed to deny their customers this supports from the past.

While all the languages are available via keyboard inputs for all versions of Windows 7, hand writing recognizers for different languages are only available at the really top end of the spectrum:

Vista Home Premium customers could do handwriting recognition in up to 12 languages. In Windows 7 they will only get recognition for whatever Language Packs are installed (normally one language) and have no options for additional languages other than upgrading to Enterprise or Ultimate.

Home Premium customers will get the handwriting recognizer that corresponds to the language of their OS; i.e., a Swedish customer running Swedish Windows 7 will be able to use the Swedish handwriting recognizer.  Enterprise and Ultimate customers can deploy additional recognizers by downloading the desired Language Packs and enabling the respective keyboards.  The English recognizer is available to all Tablet PC customers on all SKUs.

New handwriting recognizers enable more people around the world to take advantage of handwriting recognition.  If you have some type of pen input device, you have access to handwriting input. In fact, you can use your mouse as a rudimentary input device.

With this kind of pricing policy Microsoft sends a clear message that she is more interested in money grabbing than to provide a truly affordable multi-lango tablet market. No wonder the tablet market is dwindling aided by Microsoft's greedy policy. Its downfall is not so much caused by technical issues but rather scuttled by its creator through greed.

"New handwriting recognizers enable more people around the world to take advantage of handwriting recognition." Not likely with that kind of greedy and backward policy.

Fujitsu has slate tablets before even Apple considering it

Fujitsu has released several slate tablets many years before Apple even has considered it. They just did not put an 'i' in front of the slate and did not impose all sorts of constrains on the owner.

Why does software suck - WSJ's latest format

While WSJ's latest update of its web pages are a welcome sign, it adds one very damn annoying feature when showing the indices and the graph as shown here:

This represents the worse design I have ever seen, namely:

• There is no obvious UI clue of which index that graph represents. If you peer hard enough you might see the first index is of different colour to the rest and that indicates the index that graph represents. What's wrong with a dot or a symbol next to it.
• If you want to see the graph of another index, you have to hover the mouse over the index. If you are using a mouse that is fine but if you are using a Tablet PC, it is a pain in the neck as that often brings up Market Data Center. A terrible piece of design.

Comodo Anti-Virus Ver 2 beta not suitable for Tablet PC

Over the weekend, I decided to trade my trust AVG 7.5 with a new boy on the block called the Comodo Anti-Virus Version 2 beta, which is also free.

Anti-Virus these days in my mind has kind of grown beyond what they are suppose to do - catching virus. But this thing seems to do more - HIPS (Host Intrusion Protection System). Isn't that is your Comodo Firewall's role?

Anyway, this tool is not suitable for Tablet PC because it prevents the TIP (Tablet Input Panel) from coming up. If you cannot use TIP, you may as well be throwing the tablet away. It is probably being too aggressive equating to being dumb. It keeps asking me to allow and disallow things that Comodo Firewall is fully aware as harmless. Kind of like the Mac Vs Vista advertisement poking fun at the Vista UAC. Both Comodo Anti-Virus and Firewall are extremely dumb!

After trying in vain to get the TIP up, the next best thing was to uninstall it and put my trusty AVG back on. So good bye Comodo Anti-Virus.