Graffiti for Android scribbles Palm OS memories all over Google's platform
By Ross Miller 
posted July 16th 2010 9:32AM
posted July 16th 2010 9:32AM
posted July 16th 2010 9:32AM
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weeee Palm
@vishal1082
oh I love Graffiti!! I wish Palm included this input method with its WebOS phones. It is not limited to stylus input, I mostly used my finger.
*engadget, you misspelt "our".
Damn you spoiled Android users. I mean, you guys have everything...
@vishal1082 Remember when they replaced Graffiti 1 with Graffiti 2? I got so used to drawing my K's as sideways squiggles, and then they changed it... boy was that infuriating. And they also made you dot your i's and cross your t's in the new version! Oh Palm
I think it was at least two years after I moved on from Palm that I stopped writing my V's with a little tail on them.
@jacres Graffiti 2 was terrible, especially after I had spent many years getting fast at G1! I switched it back as soon as I could!
I still think it took less time to get actual work done on Palm OS3 than it does today on an iPhone, WM, Android, or anything else. Things of course are fancier now, but for basic PIM stuff like writing down an appointment or jotting a note, you never had to wait for the device to catch up with you back then.
All right! Graffiti ! This brings back memories. Gonna put this on my Galaxy S. This is why I love Android.
"I still think it took less time to get actual work done on Palm OS3 than it does today on an iPhone, WM, Android, or anything else."
Yeah, and those '90s Palm OS devices could do crazily advanced things that the iPhone still can't. You know, like syncing third-party applications' data with apps on the computer. And the built-in memo and to-do list apps had CATEGORIES! Oh wait, let's just start with the fact that there WAS a to-do list app.
Too bad Apple's giving up on legitimate computing and making devices that serve as valuable tools, in favor of making gimmicky toy devices that show things but don't let you DO things.
@Information Central How about WiFi sync and Bluetooth sync, yeah my Palm TX did those. Not 90's but still.
@Information Central One of the most aggravating things for me moving to Android was tracking down a good todo list and notepad. I'm still not satisfied with the results and nothing sycs with Outlook anymore.
I remember in the old PDA days being able to enter a contacts birthday and anniversary and it would automatically put the date in your calendar.
Ahhh, the days before smartphones were used or fart apps...
Interesting concept. To bring the past into the future. The question is, does it work well? Doubt it.
@prewreckless
how bout you actually use is before criticizing it
@DefPoet I have. Much to slow for me, to be useful. Better off with something like Swype honestly.
@prewreckless
Don't underestimate Graffiti. It's an awesome system and far faster than typing when you got used to it.
It also killed the Newton but that's another story.
I don't think this would be very fast... with swype, you could type a whole word in the same motion that this makes one letter...
swype is especially fast for long words, because there is only one possibility in the dictionary that is a close match when you go all over the keyboard... smaller words, like "three" are harder because you have to be very precise or it chooses "the" or "thee" or "there" if you don't swype it just right...
@McHoffa
I sometimes used Graffiti in college to take class notes and so far I haven't forgotten too much. I like the swype keyboard but find it to be more of a novelty. I find that i have to spell the word out in my head while Im swyping and it actually makes me slower than typing in individual characters.
I'm giving Graffiti a try, if for nothing else the nostalgia is FTW.
@prewreckless
@MarkAnderson I used Graffiti for a *lot* of years, and have to say that neither my speed or accuracy was ever particularly good. I suspect I can do about 2x my graffiti speed with an on-screen keyboard, with better accuracy. YMMV.
@Androidian Slip Ur mom goes ta college
-Kip Dynamite
@McHoffa
Now do it while not looking at the keyboard...
Tried it out but everyone'e better off typing regularly or using voice input
@PeDe My thoughts exactly.
Didn't someone do testing and find that Graffiti was by far the slowest input method, slower than both virtual and physical keyboards.
yay for technology rendered obsolete by phone keyboards and screens...yaaaaaaay
@tasteskindasalty
Todays virtual keyboards are undoubtedly better because of multi-touch and resistive screen technologies. But back in the day (10+ years ago) ago virtual keyboards on Palm OS and Windows Mobile (the only significant touchscreen mobile operating systems around then) were horrible afterthoughts. So graffiti WAS the best text input and was better than the attempt at handwriting recognition on Apple's Newton (not slagging the Newton - it was a key piece of the PDAs evolution).
This is new? I'm pretty sure I had this app like 4 months ago...
@dirtyjeep
This is the app your thinking of:
http://gesturesearch.googlelabs.com/
This is the word you are thinking of:
"You're"
@dirtyjeep
it was either this or another reminder for Apple press conference today at 1pm est. which one you want? let engadget know!
@DTJ Did you like that? Did that make your day complete? Did you smile as you hit the submit button?
Tool.
@dark star haha we dont need Engadget to remind us. you just did, thanks :0)
Google has a very similar app, but as far as I know it's only for searching your phone, not for use as a system-wide keyboard. It's actually better than Graffiti though in that you can draw the letters however you want and it will recognize them.
@ Ross Miller
from *our* youth
just tried it; feels much too clumsy to be useful. probably need to use a stylus
Android apps are so lame:(
@746674 cuz you NEED a million fart apps on the iOS
/silently mourns for the death of my Palm OS4 powered Sony UX50
This makes me really want an Android phone. Ha, pretty cool.
http://www.professorhobo.com/2010/07/16/new-car
I had this for my Newton. Compared the the really crap handwriting recognition, Graffiti was awesome. I was pretty fast with it, and it worked well. In fact, I'm pretty sure Graffiti was Palm's first product. They did PDAs later.
Now I've got to go dig up the Newton and play with it. Nothing like playing with a 15-year-old PDA.
Worked for me back then. In fact, the Palm Pilot was infinitely better thought out and usable than most 'smart' phones today. It's designer, Jeff Hawkins was and is one of the few people who get it with regards to product form factors and GUIs. Not only was graffiti very reliable, but there were thoughtful little touches throughout the OS that made day to day use seamless. Another little tidbit, the square displays on Palm devices were based on Jeff's research that shows that such a display provides the most comfort to the human eye. Much of what is sold today is pure bling and offers short term productive value and the term 'Smart' phone is incorrect. A true smart phone will provide seamless syncing between features (calendar, contacts etc), the cloud and your desktop apps.
And ironically, the only company taking that seriously is Microsoft, with their forthcoming devices that may well fire a broadside across all other players, from Apple to Google to H(P)alm to Samsung.
Etc.
@Oflife Agreed, my Palm TX died last Feb. and I finally got a smart phone. Man, I miss that thing.
Did you really call the Palm OS "bulky" by modern standards??? REALLY?? I'll bet the palm OS has a smaller memory footprint than most of the flashlight apps out there for Android and iOS. The latest iOS update is 300 MB, my Palm III had 8MB TOTAL. Silicon is too cheap, no one cares about writing tight code anymore.
@whiskeybravo It reads to me like they're talking about the PDAs themselves being bulky.
Point taken about the poor quality of flashlight code though!
@whiskeybravo Palm OS is underrated. I also love how people say the Galaxy S with the Touchwiz copied iOS with the "3x4 grid plus 4 additional main functions at the bottom" WITHOUT saying that this actually originated on the Palm OS.
Reminds me of my Palm Tungsten T3 and my Palm m505 :')
@guitarkid
Yea, the Palm V and later the Palm 505 kicked ass!
some palm geek had too much time on his hands .. grafitti vs keyboard with predictive text? not even a challenge.
maybe they did it just so they could say they did it.
Typesetting the individual brass letters in a printing press in the 1700's was a faster method of inputing text. Ben Franklin would be disappointed.
Just kidding, I use to use it on my Palm IIIc. And, I spoke disparagingly of those pussies who had a virtual keyboard on their new Compaq ipaqs.
Now, where's morse code for Android?
@Bioran23 Tempted to get right on that to be honest.