We
all love our HTC Touchs, Xda novas or however they are called, right? Yes, we do
- we do until we have to enter some text, doesn't matter if it is texting a SMS
message, writing an E-Mail or whatever. As great as HTC's Touch interface is on
the first level, on the second level it's pure Windows Mobile Professional again
which means you have a soft input panel (aka SIP aka keyboard) which is, more or
less, not finger-friendly (Not to say useless. Ever tried to enter 0000 if you want to pair your
Touch with another Bluetooth device?). Well, there is a new finger-friendly
keyboard in town called PocketCM Keyboard and it's now available in version 0.5.
If you have an Apple iPhone, you might know already how this SIP works, if you
don't have one, here are some highlights:
- It can be used with fingers
- It triggers the key when your remove your finger from the screen, not
when you press it
- It's a standard Windows Mobile SIP, so to use it you have to select it
as the input method and therefore it can be used in (almost) any application
Furthermore it has such nice features like:
- Tap and hold symbol key for 500ms and quick symbol will appear, choose
your symbol and release (perfect to quickly tap a ? or ! without switching
the layout)
- Build-in copy/cut/paste (press enter key for 250ms)
- Customizable design and localizable keyboard layout
Bellow a short video demonstration with my O2 Xda nova (sorry for the German
UI and German suggestions):
Well, that's quite impressive and such a keyboard should be part of the HTC
Touch default configuration. The original Windows Mobile SIP is way too small
and cannot be used without a stylus but with PocketCM Keyboard, you can leave
your stylus in the device.
Not sure if the way the keyboard works (entering the letter by releasing the
key) infringements any Apple patents so better grab it as long as it is
available and best of all - it's free, even if the developer kindly asks for
donations.
Well done, these kind of applications shows what is possible with Windows Mobile
devices and HTC should consider to license it for their HTC Touch and all
following TouchFLO devices.
By the way, the same developer is also working on a pretty nice looking Contacts
replacement, again finger-use friendly, called
PocketCM Contacts.
Cheers ~ Arne
Perhaps its a step towards another interaction, but at this stage it's just eyecandy + a very small baby-step. It's a long way to the moon! 
