Database Users

Superb Text Entry using Fingertouch ?

Does someone use the Fingertouch text input progi on the Touch?
http://www.teksoftco.com/index.php?section=fingertouch
I'm wondering if this really solves the problem with text entry and make it possible to use the Touch with a single hand without stylus?
Possible to enter text while going on foot or driving in car?
Does it respond reliably?
Can you please report your experience?

IMAO, you're never going to achieve the sort of satisfying, one handed experience on a touch screen keyboard that you get with a real one, be it a slide out qwerty keyboard or a cellphone numberpad. However, I would be very interest too to hear the experiences of anyone who actually uses this product. I've tried others, such as Tengo but to be honest, it's still very much stylus based and as 'two handed' as using the default virtual qwerty keyboard it ships with.
By the way, using your phone/PDA whilst driving a car??? I think you'll find that's illegal in most countries now he he

I use HTK (Happy Tappings Keyboard), it's free and for me works great. I don't like using a stylus, and so far haven't had a need with this phone. The KB has slightly bigger keys, but just enough to completely change the experience. One handed use is very accurate and easy imho.
Google for it and give it a try (there are skins out there too, I use a black one that is quite good and fits well with the default theme). If you like it and want to make it default, search for Sipchange.

I use T9, found it right in here somewhere
Very fast and responsive, nice graphics too...
Phone Pad international...

Tried it, and I dislike it, will stick with HTK for now.

HTK and Pocket CM are my 2 favorite right now. What makes HTK so much better on the Touch over other HTC phones is that you can hit all the side buttons perfectly because of the flat flush screen.

I, have tried about every keyboard out there looking for the perfect one. I have tried the iphone wanna be, virtual, and fullscreen keyboards like.....tengo, spb full, happyT....... etc. etc. And I find no other better than the htc t9 Phone pad, big enough to type with one finger, so simple to switch from T9 entry to Abc, to just Number pad and use of symbols is just as quick to get to. Atleast for me there is nothing like it.

If you can't do one-handed input with HTC Phone Pad app, nothing else will!! I am even faster on the Phone Pad T9 than I am on those with hardware number pad, not kidding!! How can anyone not like Phone Pad?
God knows why HTC left the Phone Pad app out of the Touch, especially when they claimed you can do almost anything on the Touch without the stylus!!! With Phone Pad, I can say that is true!!
Tried Happy Tapping, didn't think much of it as the buttons are only a tag bit larger than the default keyboard.

for all the users which are okay with dictionary-based text entry tools like the Phone-Pad it might be the best solution for sure.
Well for me I have to switch between 3 langauges all the time and I also use many words which are not common and not in the dictionaries, so I need then to switch to ABC, so that's why I'm still looking for a full-sized keyboard method and the fingertouch by teksoftco seemed to fit well to me.
- You have almost the whole fullsized-keyboards which you can "really" operate with your fingers (happy-tiping etc. I really cannot...to small)
- And you still do see the original interface which is the disadvantage for me with SPB fullsize keyboard
But as I unfortunately sold my Touch because of the missing ideal text entry I cannot test it. Few days after I sold it the mentioned application came out

t9 phone pad for htc touch/elf
The phone pad works amazingly. Better than the HW keypads on other devices. It needs a bit of practice but the Touch is designed for finger use rather than stylus. the case is harder than other screens and responds to touch (it does not work with a glove on for that matter.
View attachment phonepad_atom_wwe.cab View attachment Default_IM_WM5.CAB.
Copy both the files to your device and install them. Reset the device once.
The default keypad on WM is the keyboard. To change it, Open IM selector from the programmes and select the default keyboard as phone pad. it works like a breeze hereafter.

fire00 said:
for all the users which are okay with dictionary-based text entry tools like the Phone-Pad it might be the best solution for sure.
Well for me I have to switch between 3 langauges all the time and I also use many words which are not common and not in the dictionaries, so I need then to switch to ABC, so that's why I'm still looking for a full-sized keyboard method and the fingertouch by teksoftco seemed to fit well to me.
- You have almost the whole fullsized-keyboards which you can "really" operate with your fingers (happy-tiping etc. I really cannot...to small)
- And you still do see the original interface which is the disadvantage for me with SPB fullsize keyboard
But as I unfortunately sold my Touch because of the missing ideal text entry I cannot test it. Few days after I sold it the mentioned application came out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. I also need to use it in several languages, so I cannot stick to a dictionary based t9-like keyboard. But I am happy with the fingertouch as I can type using one hand only, the buttons are quite big:
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"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Did any of you try the builtin macroing of the fingertouch? You can define short commands that do specific actions, for eg:
!cap , will capture screen, parameters can be changed here:HKLM, "Software\Teksoft\FingerTouch
!gre , do this in Notes or Pocket Word, will replace the trigger with a phrase, this is good if you need to type the same thing very often like greetings in an email
there are some other combinations, and the user can modify or add new ones:

Radhoo - I've tested it on Ubiquio 503G (which I sent back again a bit and as far as I know on one of the layouts which seemed the best one there are two letters each button. If you want to enter the second letter on button you have to type twice on that button right?
But what do you do when you want to type the first letter twice e.g. something with double "A"? Do you have to type first "A" then wait to allow a delay and to avoid that "S" gets entered and then type the second "A" ?

fire00 said:
But what do you do when you want to type the first letter twice e.g. something with double "A"? Do you have to type first "A" then wait to allow a delay and to avoid that "S" gets entered and then type the second "A" ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can do it that way
-or-
Adjust the repeat rate from Options, and simply keep the key pressed
-or-
Press the A then press something else that doesn't affect the writing (shift-shift) then press A again.
but what about the macroing, did anyone play with it?

gohyc said:
If you can't do one-handed input with HTC Phone Pad app, nothing else will!! I am even faster on the Phone Pad T9 than I am on those with hardware number pad, not kidding!! How can anyone not like Phone Pad?
God knows why HTC left the Phone Pad app out of the Touch, especially when they claimed you can do almost anything on the Touch without the stylus!!! With Phone Pad, I can say that is true!!
Tried Happy Tapping, didn't think much of it as the buttons are only a tag bit larger than the default keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would never use phonepad on the touch. You can design your own keyboard on HTK and make the buttons larger.

How do you do that? I love the phone pad, like amny have said, i've tried a bunch of them, and I keep coming back too the phone pad. I would use HTkb, if I can make the keys bigger, like half the screen.

hi people, where can I find happy tapping keyboard???
Thanks

maevro said:
I would never use phonepad on the touch. You can design your own keyboard on HTK and make the buttons larger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm interested to know this also..I like HTK but buttons are a little small. Have been trying "Fingertouch" not sure if I like it.
Plus after soft reset HTK always disappears. I understand adding the "default" keyboard selection as only required for WM5 devices. Is this needed with Touch to establish HTK as "default" after soft reset?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=296455
Best to read the whole thread before installing as some people had problems when trying to select it as the default keyboard using 3rd party software and had to hard reset.

Happy Tapping Keyboard- GOOD!
doni said:
I use HTK (Happy Tappings Keyboard), it's free and for me works great. I don't like using a stylus, and so far haven't had a need with this phone. The KB has slightly bigger keys, but just enough to completely change the experience. One handed use is very accurate and easy imho.
Google for it and give it a try (there are skins out there too, I use a black one that is quite good and fits well with the default theme). If you like it and want to make it default, search for Sipchange.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing, I m very happy with HTK with my TOUCH.

Hi all,
Where can I download htk?
Help me please...

Compose text like using mobile phone! Champion.

I'm looking for scrolling key on phonepad like the 2abc, 3def, 4ghi etc... integrated with the concept from the PocketCM 0.15 (contact manager), which utilises "finger friendly scrolling to lettles to display contacts" function.
In this case, we are looking at "finger friendly scrolling to insert charecters"..!
For instant, our tumb press for a key 2abc, tumb press and scroll for choices of lettles a, b, c or number 2. Just like in PocketCM contacts scrolling.
It's not that qwerty pocketcm keyboard, but pretty much looking at pocketcm phonepad-to-be. It will be larger, faster, intuitive, one hand operational and also suits the mobile phone community... like me.

betatalking said:
I'm looking for scrolling key on phonepad like the 2abc, 3def, 4ghi etc... integrated with the concept from the PocketCM 0.15 (contact manager), which utilises "finger friendly scrolling to lettles to display contacts" function.
In this case, we are looking at "finger friendly scrolling to insert charecters"..!
For instant, our tumb press for a key 2abc, tumb press and scroll for choices of lettles a, b, c or number 2. Just like in PocketCM contacts scrolling.
It's not that qwerty pocketcm keyboard, but pretty much looking at pocketcm phonepad-to-be. It will be larger, faster, intuitive, one hand operational and also suits the mobile phone community... like me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To me it look like a very slow way to type.

tene said:
To me it look like a very slow way to type.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also believe that it would be slow to type in that way. Yes, keys would be bigger but the "hold button then chose character" function would slow the typing too much.
If you want the advantage of such big keys grouped like a phone pad, they will have to be associated to a T9 dictionary. In that way the typing will be really faster! Infact, even if Tene's PCM Keyboard is really fast and can also be used one-handed, typing with the HTC PhonePad is still faster.
Anyway I prefer PCM Keyboard for the hi (total) customization level, the pretty look of some skins, the buttons bubble... (I could continue for hours ).
Marshall

Marshall07 said:
If you want the advantage of such big keys grouped like a phone pad, they will have to be associated to a T9 dictionary. In that way the typing will be really faster! Infact, even if Tene's PCM Keyboard is really fast and can also be used one-handed, typing with the HTC PhonePad is still faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're faster with PhonePad? Any idea why?

I agree that the keyboard type faster.
In this case i'm actually looking for a one-hand operated text input method that we can use while on the go... like mobile phone sms. Even while driving! or walking. So our focus on the road won't gets much strayed off.
There're lots of people looking forwards for this function, esp for those doing much sms and used to the keypad layout day in day out. Some particulary choose Asus P525, for instant, simply for its keypad function is a great attraction factor.
The concept I'm bringing forward is intuitively integrated to our common habbitual style. Consider about it?

tene said:
You're faster with PhonePad? Any idea why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fisrt of all I use both the SIPs one-handed. Maybe it's because I come from some years of "normal" phones and since I write lot of SMS I gained a big experience with the T9.
Omitting the little difference in the UI response time (it is very little IMHO), I think that having only a 3x3 buttons grid, your thumb will have to move only a little to pass from a character to another. So: the less distance my thumb has to "drive", the more the typing speed will increase.
Here is an example with the word "hello".
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Anyway, this is for a one-handed operation. If I use the stylus or two hands, the things may change (i didn't test the differences in those cases).
However, I still prefer using PCM Keyboard because I don't always need that speed (I'm talking about a very high speed ) in typing and the other (LOT) features it has, like the auto-correction to say one, make me prefer it.
@betatalking: Have you ever tried HTC PhonePad? It seems to have the features you are looking for.
Marshall

Marshall07 said:
Fisrt of all I use both the SIPs one-handed. Maybe it's because I come from some years of "normal" phones and since I write lot of SMS I gained a big experience with the T9.
Omitting the little difference in the UI response time (it is very little IMHO), I think that having only a 3x3 buttons grid, your thumb will have to move only a little to pass from a character to another. So: the less distance my thumb has to "drive", the more the typing speed will increase.
Here is an example with the word "hello".
Anyway, this is for a one-handed operation. If I use the stylus or two hands, the things may change (i didn't test the differences in those cases).
However, I still prefer using PCM Keyboard because I don't always need that speed (I'm talking about a very high speed ) in typing and the other (LOT) features it has, like the auto-correction to say one, make me prefer it.
@betatalking: Have you ever tried HTC PhonePad? It seems to have the features you are looking for.
Marshall
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the detail.
It would be interresting to test completely different layout, I don't think it would work for most user out of the box, because or common keyboard layout are well known. But it could be interresting, also to help autocorrection, for instance, in french "colle" and "comme" are two correct words, and "l" and "m" are close or an french keyboard layout.
Regarding responsiveness, that's the price to pay for autocorrection, I fear. I'm still trying to get some milliseconds here and there, but I don't see huge performance gain coming... unless I drop the suggestino box following the caret, and do it in a separate box (which would remove lot of added value).

Hi Marshall, no doubt the HTC phonepad is the most popular amoung the cataglory, but let's make it more powerful by making it scrollable like what the PocketCM v0.15's contacts scrolling concept does.
That's press and hold a key > scroll for upto five charecters option > release to input. Compare to taping style, scrolling shld be much faster. It's much friendlyer to those with big fingers and also the elderly as well. Because each key is bigger we get less details while inputting.

I found a simple solution to that problem. I just grew my fingernail on my right thumb and I use PocketCM KB. Seriously.. it worked for me.

Personally, I prefer Phonepad. I suppose this is because I was a 'normal phone' user in the past. Most phones make use of 'T9' predictive text input, and doesn't have the full Qwerty keyboard. Thus, we are very use to the T9 style of text input.
For T9, you don't need as much accuracy in pressing the (bigger) key cos' you only need to press '43556' to input 'Hello' (and select the word from the suggestion list), instead of pressing 'H', 'E', 'L', 'L' & 'O', and the keys, by the way, are smaller.

Keyboard is good for composing long messages or scripts which long typing is less tedious with both hands griping the device. Whereas, with the support of t9, phonepad inputs can be real fast and accurate also with just one hand.
T9 for composing normal text is a blessing, but when entering names or otherwise we need that switch over button to do the abc or 123. We need another button for Shift and another for Symbols, Left Right etc..
Keeping t9 in view, the phonepad simplifies the UI, centralises the input area and provides more options with only a few buttons.
Above all, I'm using PocketCM keyboard and HTC phonepad for text and sms. They're simply the best I can enjoy currently.

betatalking said:
Keyboard is good for composing long messages or scripts which long typing is less tedious with both hands griping the device. Whereas, with the support of t9, phonepad inputs can be real fast and accurate also with just one hand.
T9 for composing normal text is a blessing, but when entering names or otherwise we need that switch over button to do the abc or 123. We need another button for Shift and another for Symbols, Left Right etc..
Keeping t9 in view, with Touchflo techology can simplifies the UI, centralises the input area and provides more options with only a few buttons.
Above all, I'm using PocketCM keyboard and HTC phonepad for text and sms. They're simply the best I can enjoy currently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also wish I can use both PocketCM Keyboard and HTC Phonepad, but unfortunately, if I switch to PocketCM, I can't switch back to Phonepad without soft reset my phone.

check out tengo

My wm6 device don't have any problem switching between PCM and HTC phonepad so far. Could it be ur ppc's using too much resources at a time? Or maybe some backgrd program's causing the conflict...

Very compact PocketCM skin (3 rows): miniPhone v0.1 (screenshots added)

One problem that I have with most keyboard skins is that it becomes too tall and I find myself typing blindly because the keyboard covers the area that I am typing. SPB Fullscreen keyboard gets around but is buggy and not a "true" SIP keyboard (if you have used this you will know what I mean. The only way around this is to create a not so tall skin. Default WM6 kb is not so tall but is not finger friendly.
Thus I have modified a skin for PocketCM that I thought I would share. The original skin is based on a skin called 2manyiClone, which I believe is from 2manyphones, so many thanks goes to him.
The main features are:
1. Only 3 rows high, but the buttons are still finger friendly (most skins are 4 rows).
2. Most letters, symbols and numbers needed can be accessed through the main layout screen(I hate switching layout screen for one symbol or number and having to change back).
3. What is sacrificed to make this happen: space, return, and backspace are only 1 box wide. No shift button.
4. In place of shift, all capital letters can be accessed by holding down a letter until the "symbol pad" for that letter pops up revealing its capital letter. If you really need the shift key (ie capitalizing whole words) you can find it in the "symbol pad" of the space key (hold space key down).
5. All digits can be accessed on the main page by holding down the letters of the top row (qwertyuiop) for 0-9 revealing its symbol pad. All of the letters in the top row have the corresponding digits in their top right corner to show its digit function.
6. Symbols and punctuations can be accessed either through the default symbol pad of the .!123 key (hold it down) or the "m" key (which has a (') character to designate it is also a symbol key.
7. .com can be accessed through the "c" symbol pad and www. can be accessed through the "w" symbol pad (hold down the respective letter).
If someone finds a use for this, then great. If not, then sorry to waste your time.
Just download and unzip into your PocketCM keyboard folder. It should have two files miniPhone.layout and miniPhone.skin. Under PocketCm options, it is important to select both the miniPhone layout and the miniPhone skin for it to work right.
I am also taking suggestions for improvement. If it suits me I will make the change and post revisions. If it doesn't suit my purpose, then i will just show you how to change it yourself.
Here is also an alternate layout by jomo25:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2105928&postcount=14
Here are my screenshots:

Nice job
This is a nice adaptation of my iClone keyboard. The small numbers on the top row of keys is a nice idea. I'm sure some people will like this smaller footprint. You may want to take a look at the layout file in my "Best of" version (link in my signture). Considering the numbers can be accessed from "qwerty...." keys, I think you could add more symbols or shortcuts to the .!# key. Also the symbol pad goes to 4 lines. You may want to try having two 3 line symbol pads to keep the same foot print, but still allow for access to many symbols.
It is nice to see people taking my (and others) ideas and coming up with their own style.
Keep it up!

works great on my HTC Touch, thanks!

Nice screenshoot...I'll try...Thanks....

Spanish layout
Hi,
How can I add accented vowels support?
I mean á, é, ...
Thanks

longj49 said:
works great on my HTC Touch, thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wait...it's not suppose to look like that. It's suppose to have only 3 rows not 4. Are you sure you selected miniPhone under skin and layout? I think you forgot to select miniPhone layout.

2manyphones said:
This is a nice adaptation of my iClone keyboard. The small numbers on the top row of keys is a nice idea. I'm sure some people will like this smaller footprint. You may want to take a look at the layout file in my "Best of" version (link in my signture). Considering the numbers can be accessed from "qwerty...." keys, I think you could add more symbols or shortcuts to the .!# key. Also the symbol pad goes to 4 lines. You may want to try having two 3 line symbol pads to keep the same foot print, but still allow for access to many symbols.
It is nice to see people taking my (and others) ideas and coming up with their own style.
Keep it up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So i see my thanks needs to go to you for the skin. It is the most "authenetic" *phone skin out there.
Funny that I never looked at that thread before when I came up with my ideas, especially having caps for each letter symbol pad. I am quite surprise more layouts don't have this. i guess great minds think alike..lol. I got the idead for that from using default wm6 kb with gestures in which if you upward gesture any letter you get its cap.
Again, thanks a bunch.
Aslo, perhaps you can link this thread to your original thread?

I am considering adding punctuations and symbols onto the qwertyuiop keys, with each letter getting a symbol on the upper left hand corner to go with the digits on the right hand corner. The problem with this design is that things may start to look cluttered.
What do you guys think?

screenshots added to first post!

very nice work! works great on my cruise but there's a small bug. sometimes when i press space, it would go to the symbols pad itself. weird but it's not a big deal. also, all the buttons seem overlapped on landscape mode. visible especially on the top row and the space, return, symbols and backspace buttons. thanks for the great skin!

raggastani said:
very nice work! works great on my cruise but there's a small bug. sometimes when i press space, it would go to the symbols pad itself. weird but it's not a big deal. also, all the buttons seem overlapped on landscape mode. visible especially on the top row and the space, return, symbols and backspace buttons. thanks for the great skin!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry but I designed this for use on Portrait only, never really use Landscape myself.
On the spacebar bug, which symbols pad are you referring too? Spacebar has its own "symbols pad" which include the Shift key, period and comma, as well as the space bar.

SuperFly, this is awesome...You inspired me to use this one which takes up much less space...I've modded yours to this:
Code:
keyboard_layout_1=qwertyuiop\nasdfghjkl\N\n\Mzxc vbnm\2
keyboard_layout_2=QWERTYUIOP\nASDFGHJKL\N\n\MZXC VBNM\1
keyboard_layout_3=&@[1\]$*789+?\n.':/!456-\B\n\M[1http://www.]()0123=\N
symbol_pad=\M,0123456789
symbol_pad=z,-Z?!_&@$"'
symbol_pad=w,W2[3http://www.][2.com][2.net]
symbol_pad= ,[2LoginID2][3LoginID1][2Password1][3Password2]
symbol_pad=),[2;)][2:)][2:p][2:D][2:*]
symbol_pad=(,[2:S][2:(][2:|][2:o][2:/]
symbol_pad=/,[1\]
symbol_pad=-,_
symbol_pad=:,;
symbol_pad=http://www.,[2.com][2.net][3https://www.]
symbol_pad=a,A
symbol_pad=b,B
symbol_pad=c,C
symbol_pad=d,D
symbol_pad=e,E3
symbol_pad=f,F
symbol_pad=g,G
symbol_pad=h,H
symbol_pad=i,8I
symbol_pad=j,J
symbol_pad=k,K
symbol_pad=l,L
symbol_pad=m,\E\T\H\F\DM
symbol_pad=n,N
symbol_pad=o,9O
symbol_pad=p,0P
symbol_pad=q,Q1
symbol_pad=r,R4
symbol_pad=s,S
symbol_pad=t,5T
symbol_pad=u,7U
symbol_pad=v,V
symbol_pad=x,X
symbol_pad=y,6Y
This way it's always 3 rows, and has access to lots of symbols, smileys, and ID/PWs as I like to set mine up...Hope this is useful to some others!
Great idea, SFSC!

jomo25,
glad I inspired you. maybe you can post a zip of your layout so we can try it out without going through a text editor.

superflysocal said:
jomo25,
glad I inspired you. maybe you can post a zip of your layout so we can try it out without going through a text editor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Attached. The skin file is unchanged. The layout file is as in last post.
If you want to customize it of course, you should use a text editor to use your IDs and/or PWs...
Thanks!

Additional shots

Anyone working on a portrait VGA version of this?

Best Keyboard for the HD?

Hi I'm currently using PocketCM Keyboard which is better than the default but a bit frustrating when having to use !&- etc as you have to switch to numbers then to exclamations...
I was wondering if anyone have found a better keyboard (perhaps like the iphone with everything on the one screen) but still takes advantage of the screen size?

JetMouse, you know you can easily customise the layout of PocketCM Keyboard to suit your needs? It's as easy as editing a text file to control which symbols appear on which buttons. Since I did that it's easily become my favourite software on my Touch.

SiliconS said:
JetMouse, you know you can easily customise the layout of PocketCM Keyboard to suit your needs? It's as easy as editing a text file to control which symbols appear on which buttons. Since I did that it's easily become my favourite software on my Touch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I didn't know this - can you run me through how to do it?

JetMouse said:
Hi I'm currently using PocketCM Keyboard which is better than the default but a bit frustrating when having to use !&- etc as you have to switch to numbers then to exclamations...
I was wondering if anyone have found a better keyboard (perhaps like the iphone with everything on the one screen) but still takes advantage of the screen size?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use SPB Keyboard (the new one, version 4.0) with fullscreen mode. The non-fullscreen mode is pretty much iphone-like. Don't know if it's "better" - to my taste the stock one is just perfect in all respects except for lack of support for Russian, which I need. Unlike most other keyboards, it has arrows which compensate the absense of the dpad on the device.

Sure thing:
Connect your PocketPC to your computer so you can browse the contents of the device.
Browse to \Program Files\PCMKeyboard
Copy English.layout (or whichever one you're using) to your computer's desktop
Make a backup of the file, just in case
Open the live file with Notepad
You can see four lines labelled keyboard_layout_#=
Edit the characters in those lines to change the symbols on the keys in PocketCM Keyboard
Each of the four lines contains a complete template for the keyboard. Rows are separated by the \n (newline) combination
There are some shortcuts to create special-purpose keys:
\2 seems to be uppercase
\1 seems to be lowercase
\b is backspace
\M is the symbol/text toggle button
\N is the enter key
There is a way of including smilies or combinations of characters on single keys, but I can't remember how. I also can't remember how to edit the row of quick symbols you see if you hold down the '123#?' button
Once you've made your changes, save the file on your computer and copy it back over to the PocketPC.
You'll need to choose a different softinput thing and then go back to PCM Keyboard to see the changes.
Don't forget to save the file somewhere in case you upgrade to a newer version of PCM Keyboard.

My favourite keyboard is Tengo. Allows very fast and forgiving typing. You might like to try it. I hope it works on Touch HD cos I have not got one to try on yet.
They have a free version, a commercial regular version, and a commercial thumb version.

the best keyboard for me is touchpal from http://www.cootek.com/
so many improvements

prospects said:
the best keyboard for me is touchpal from http://www.cootek.com/
so many improvements
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is it compatible with the TOUCH HD

Touchpal
I think Touchpal is the best.

iznee said:
is it compatible with the TOUCH HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tested it, yes it is 100% compatible.
I love this keyboard, but I am trying to get it to run using the Dutch language. It is so blazing fast and accurate in English using the suretype layout, it's not even funny. I SWEAR I cannot type faster using a hardware keyboard, simply because of the fact that it is just as accurate, has big enough keys to type blind, and you don't actually have to depress a button so... works for me
Still stuck with the trial version though...
Only thing that I still gotta get used to is switching keyboards using a finger slide, I just keep pressing buttons instead of triggering the slide really cool function though as it saves button space and basically is just cool to show people
Thanks for the tip people!
EDIT:
Got my own language it in it now, easy... Also really easy to switch languages... Just pull down the ABC key and pick one. This does reveal some non-skinned ugly winmo buttons though, even while the rest of the keyboard is Diamond skinned.

wfhowell said:
I think Touchpal is the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Completely Agree, it is very usefull, Fast and easy to use Keyboard

TouchPal
I would at least try the demo of this. I personally prefer TouchPal to a Blackberry hardware keyboard. I am serious. The seplling correction and word prediction is simply amazing. Completely altered my view of software keyboards.
BTW- I am 6' 2" and weigh 220 with BIG hands, and Have been happy with TouchPal since the first Touch.

Virtual D-pad

Any programs out there that create a virtual on screen D-pad?
The lack of a hardware D-pad seems to be putting off a lot of people.
Given that virtual keyboards have D-pad arrows on them, does anyone know of any software that produces a virtual D-pad on the screen without the keyboard. This would obviously save a lot of screen realestate and provide some added functionality.
If there is no such software, would anyone be interested in programming a utility. I have no experience with programming but can assist if given help.
Thanks

I'd be interested in a tweak that turns the display in VGA, (640x480) and adds in the other 160 x480 a virtuall D-pad...
Or a tweak that turns the motion sensor into a d-pad, tough i dont think that will work with gaming......

masrinz said:
Any programs out there that create a virtual on screen D-pad?
The lack of a hardware D-pad seems to be putting off a lot of people.
Given that virtual keyboards have D-pad arrows on them, does anyone know of any software that produces a virtual D-pad on the screen without the keyboard. This would obviously save a lot of screen realestate and provide some added functionality.
If there is no such software, would anyone be interested in programming a utility. I have no experience with programming but can assist if given help.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got an idea:
Perhaps some of those 3rd party keyboard softwares has user defined layouts. Than you could try to develop a layout including only the directional keys, perhaps even making them large keys. In the end you get an alternative softkeyboard as the desired soft (or virtual) d-pad.
Might be wort a try and much easier then developi9ng a completely new software.
Please report any results.

goody said:
Got an idea:
Might be wort a try and much easier then developi9ng a completely new software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good idea, but I guess it's a bit more complicated than this - the virtual d-pad would be most needed in games which work in fullscreen, and the keyboards don't just pop up.

vangrieg said:
Good idea, but I guess it's a bit more complicated than this - the virtual d-pad would be most needed in games which work in fullscreen, and the keyboards don't just pop up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using the d-pad for scrolling in texts, spreadsheets, web-browsers etc. A virtual d-pad might be useful.
And some games might use just vga resolution. As Lord.Bachus wrote, the HD's screen will give enough place for VGA plus a virtual d-pad. Therefore a virtual d-pad wil help gamers too, at least in some situations.

If the virtual D-pad is in the form of a specialised keyboard that has to be changed using, then I don't think it is a good idea at all. As you know, changing software keyboard involved too many steps. It would be much easire to simply use the arrow key on whatever keyboard you're using for that purpose. It's faster anyway.
To be truely useful, it should involve one and only one touch/click to move left or right or up or down. It should not interfere with software keyboard already there.
I'm going to explore using AEBPlus to assign the phone on, phone off, and volume button for the up/down/left/right action. I think it should be possible to rely entirely on the screen to use the phone so it is not necessary, although nice to have dedicated phone on and off buttons.

Using a moded soft keyboard is just one idea. A dedicated virtual d-pad will be a better option.
Redefining keys is another method.
Another idea is using GController software from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=429569
There are many options to substitute the missing hardware d-pad.... Lets hope anyone finds the best for him-/herself.

GController is interesting SW but for reading documents it would be better to have a "gesture D-pad". Simply something what would interpret finger flicking on the screen in different directions as up,down,left, right. Of course this would not work for games but would be great for e.g. PDFs, ebooks...
anyone seen something like this?

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
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"lightbox_close": "Close",
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"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
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"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
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LGJavaKey which gives you an on-screen D-Pad
[/FONT]Indeed we need it

wiaza100 said:
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
LGJavaKey which gives you an on-screen D-Pad
[/FONT]Indeed we need it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool! I like this DPad as an option, doesn't look to be available anywhere though. It would be even better if it could appear when running VGA games etc. (as others have said).

all we need is the virtual D-PAD that appears in Word to be available every time the keyboard comes up, or without the keyboard.
it is especially needed with the PHONE app. I still cant figure out how to select a previously dialled partys contact WITHOUT dialling it! For example, on my Touch Pro i can scroll to the name and moving left or right select Work, Home, etc before dialling.
Come on... someone out there must know how to write such a CAB???

i have seen how others have edited the keyboard on the diamond to makeit smaller. maybe on the hd a new keyboard with only the dpad keys could be programmed. the difference with the dpad is that it is something you want constantly on screen.
maybe a little widget that floats on screen above all apps.
for those who remember there was a old ppc app called Nyditot virtual display which had floating dpad which allowed you to scroll the screen.
http://www.nyditot.com/Home.asp
i dont have the programming skills but hopefully give some inspiration.

I think the problem is the single touch screen, so also if you get virtual d-pad on screen the HD recognize only one input per time, so you couldn't move a character to any direction and shoot at the same time for example...

ekerbuddyeker said:
all we need is the virtual D-PAD that appears in Word to be available every time the keyboard comes up, or without the keyboard.
it is especially needed with the PHONE app. I still cant figure out how to select a previously dialled partys contact WITHOUT dialling it! For example, on my Touch Pro i can scroll to the name and moving left or right select Work, Home, etc before dialling.
Come on... someone out there must know how to write such a CAB???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
saw a video on youtube where the guy just swiped the contact left or right with his finger, same as you would with the d-pad

ekerbuddyeker said:
It is especially needed with the PHONE app. I still cant figure out how to select a previously dialled partys contact WITHOUT dialling it! For example, on my Touch Pro i can scroll to the name and moving left or right select Work, Home, etc before dialling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very annoying indeed. I had the same. Just disable the phone skin, go back to the original Windows phone. Many descriptions on how to disable the skin, but if you are not happy editing the registry, use Advanced Config Tool V3.3

ekerbuddyeker said:
all we need is the virtual D-PAD that appears in Word to be available every time the keyboard comes up, or without the keyboard.
it is especially needed with the PHONE app. I still cant figure out how to select a previously dialled partys contact WITHOUT dialling it! For example, on my Touch Pro i can scroll to the name and moving left or right select Work, Home, etc before dialling.
Come on... someone out there must know how to write such a CAB???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are very confusing...
"I still cant figure out how to select a previously dialled partys contact WITHOUT dialling it"
In the Phone app?? Just sweep a finger up and down over the last phoned contacts on the Phone App, the dialpad disappear immediately. Alternatively you can disable first the dialpad clicking on the phone mini-picture and then sweep the last phoned contacts.
" For example, on my Touch Pro i can scroll to the name and moving left or right select Work, Home, etc before dialling."
I aslo can can do this on Phone app, just sweep left or right over a particular phoned contact, and I get the rest of the contacts, sms emails phones etc, of that dialed contact.

There is allready a thread talking about this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=460685
I think it should be like this:
Koffein Schluck said:
the idea is to program an emulator, wich opens applications in a 640x480px Frame this way its simulates a VGA screen. the 160px left can be used for virtual D-Pad. when pressing a button on the virtual D-Pad, the direction has to be send to the frame - to the application / game.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

eaglesteve said:
If the virtual D-pad is in the form of a specialised keyboard that has to be changed using, then I don't think it is a good idea at all. As you know, changing software keyboard involved too many steps. It would be much easire to simply use the arrow key on whatever keyboard you're using for that purpose. It's faster anyway.
To be truely useful, it should involve one and only one touch/click to move left or right or up or down. It should not interfere with software keyboard already there.
I'm going to explore using AEBPlus to assign the phone on, phone off, and volume button for the up/down/left/right action. I think it should be possible to rely entirely on the screen to use the phone so it is not necessary, although nice to have dedicated phone on and off buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EABPlus works just fine for scrolling up/down which is main reason I miss D-Pad. So I've assigned scroll up/down to volume up/down hardware keys. Good enough for me.
=====
Saar

That's a great idea. May I know which button mapper you use to assign the scroll up/down to volume up/down hardware keys? Thanks.

ebeyonder said:
That's a great idea. May I know which button mapper you use to assign the scroll up/down to volume up/down hardware keys? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, it's AE Button Button Plus by Alex Eltsyn. Http://ae.inc.ru. It's free. It's WORTHY !!
======
Saar