Sunday, January 18, 2009

Finger friendly keyboards for Windows Mobile

Default keyboard that comes with Windows Mobile is mostly basic and requires stylus for effective use. This is a major drawback and makes one wonder why Microsoft wouldn’t improve the default keyboard for Windows Mobile.

Fortunately, there are friendly people who provide free finger friendly keyboards for Windows Mobile enabled handsets.

PocketCM keyboard for WM

It offers a visible feedback of the key currently pressed, you can exactly feel that your finger is on the keyboard and you can easily see what key is pressed.

  • It can be used with fingers
  • It can suggest word based on letter position
  • It triggers the key when you remove your finger from the screen, not when you press it. This will avoid typos
  • It can be customized
  • It's a standard Windows Mobile SIP, so to use it you have to select it as the input method, therefore it can be used in (almost) any application
  • Customizable skin and layout
  • Accent recognition and suggestion
  • There is an active forum where you can discuss your problems with PocketCM keyboard (if any)

Visual feedback and smart suggestion by PocketCM

kbshot1 kbshot2

Here is a video from PocketCM.com

Installing PocketCM 

Download the PocketCM CAB from here, copy the CAB to your device via ActiveSync, Run the CAB on your mobile and reset your device. Then open keyboard, change keyboard (little arrow) to PCM Keyboard –that’s it :-)

TouchPal Keyboard for WM

TouchPal Keyboard from CooTek is an innovative software keyboard powered by T+ input technology, which significantly improves the inputting experience on touch screen handheld devices. It supports a lot of features and some of the free features present in Free edition are listed below.

  • Predictive & Precise Input
  • "Flow" your keyboard! "Flow" your keyboard!
  • In-place case switching
  • Display word candidate inline
  • Word association
  • Landscape mode
  • Multi-language support
  • Highly Customizable
  • For questions, there is a forum

TouchPal Pro supports more amazing features.

Here is an official video from Cootek.com

Installing TouchPal

Download the TouchPal CAB from here, copy the CAB to your device via ActiveSync, Run the CAB on your mobile and reset your device. Then open keyboard, change keyboard (little arrow) to TouchPal Keyboard –that’s it :-)

PocketCM and TouchPal soft Keyboards are really capable and could make your stylus a history!

Please leave your comments if you know a better stylus free keyboards for WM.

2 comments:

Satish said...

Well said Vikas. Nice alternative for the annoying default keyboard. The pictures and videos you have provided gives a good idea how friendly the keyboard is.

TouchPal Keyboard said...

Thanks so much for this tutorial! I did this for a friends wedding party and it worked jolly good. It lasts the whole evening