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Filed under: Utilities, Features, Windows Mobile, Productivity, Mobile Minute

Easy text entry methods for your PDA - Mobile Minute

TenGo FreeText entry on mobile devices has never been what you would call a pleasant experience. These days, many PDA and smartphones often include built in keyboards for typing with your thumbs. But if you're an old fashioned stylus warrior, there are a few ways to improve the hunt and peck experience.

While Microsoft includes an on-screen keyboard and several types of handwriting recognition to choose from, here are a few third party programs that might make typing on your Windows Mobile device faster and easier.

Tengo

Tengo is a pretty nifty application that brings predictive text to Windows Mobile. Technically, it was there all along, with Microsoft integrating a word suggestion feature. But Tengo makes typing with an on-screen keyboard a bit more like typing on a cellphone keypad. And believe it or not, that's a good thing.

TenGo divides presents you with a QWERTY-style keyboard, but the 26 letters of the alphabet are divided up into 6 zones. You don't have to hit a letter precisely, you just have to hit the zone it is in. As you add more letters, TenGo will try to guess the word you're trying to enter. It works surprisingly well.

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Filed under: Text, Windows Mobile, Commercial

TenGO Alternative Input panel for Pocket PCs

TenGO text input[Update: Our commenters are the best! In the comments below, Tory mentions that TenGO offers a free version, which is essentially the 1.0 version of their software. While I can attest that there is enough improvement in 2.0 to justify the purchase, 1.0 is a darn good product as well, and if you can get it for free now, I'd definitely recommend doing so! Thanks Tory!]

I use a Pocket PC very regularly, and the one thing that I've always had trouble with is fast text entry. The built-in text entry tools are okay, but have subtle flaws that made my experience with them very sub-par. For example the transcription engine, while quite good at writing recognition considering the constraints of the platform (nobody's expecting Tablet PC quality handwriting recognition) is very hampered by the small size of the screen - particularly with somebody with handwriting like mine. Letter recognition, which is popular amongst ex-Palm users, sort of leaves me cold, and the soft keyboard is simply that - a keyboard, with no added functionality to make it easier to use on a small screen.

TenGO is a soft keyboard add-in for Pocket PCs (and other platforms) that adds some logic to the keyboard that makes it astoundingly easier to use. Anyone that has used the T9 text input method on mobile phones will grok what TenGO is doing very quickly.

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Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

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