WHAT’S
HOT

   MessagEase presents users with an on-screen keyboard
that offers full text entry (letters, numbers, special characters) with
larger keys than the standard on-screen keyboard. It also offers an
enlarged letter-only area for finger-based input.

SETUP

   Setup takes almost no time at all and no configuration
whatsoever. Since it is an input method, you don’t get to select the
installation directory, but it does install a help file and images into
your Windows directory. These files only take up 321 kb.

PRODUCT
FEATURES

    Right from the start, you realize MessagEase
isn’t your average on-screen keyboard. In fact, when I called it up
for the first time, I was somewhat overwhelmed. At first glance, I wasn’t
sure exactly what I was supposed to do to begin using it.

MessagEase as default input method.

   
The key to using MessagEase is effectively is reading the instructions,
and a good amount of patience as you learn. Without reading the help
file, it isn’t exactly clear how MessagEase works. It sure looks different
from the other keyboards!

Comparison of on-screen keyboards.

   
For starters, you will notice the layout of the letters is nothing like
standard Pocket PC QWERTY keyboard. And unlike the Resco Keyboard, the
goal here is not to make what you have prettier, Exideas wants to toss
out what you’re used to and help you become more efficient.

   
Exideas has spent
years researching input methods (and you can read
a PDF about twith their research here) resulting in the unusual
layout of the MessagEase text entry interface. First, the most frequent
letters
(a, n, i, h, o, r, t, e, s)  and
all numbers are in yellow and are placed on nine keys (three rows of
three). These are all entered with a single tap. The less frequent letters
and symbols (covered later) are in white.

Draw a circle for caps.

   
To enter capital letters, you must draw a circle around the letter,
or use the "shift" arrow above the "R." This is
pretty comfortable when you are entering text and doesn’t really require
any extra effort.

Examples of the upper and lower case letter pads.

   
Dragging up on the "R" twice invokes "Caps Lock"
making all letters capital. This can be turned off by dragging down
on "R". One of the nice things about this layout is that the
frequent letters really are letters you use more than the others. I
found myself entering several words using just letters from the frequent
area.

Tap and drag to use the letters in white.

  
Entering the letters in white, known as the "less frequent letters,"
takes a bit of skill. To enter any of the letters in white
(q, u, p, b, j, d, g, c, v, l, x, m, f, w, y, k)
you must tap somewhere inside the box and drag your
stylus in the direction of the letter. The same is true for any of the
symbols in the "Numbers" area on the right-hand side.

Tap-drag-back creates a cap for the letters in white.

   
Capitals can also be created for the letters in white (the less frequently
used letters) by dragging out on a letter, then returning right back.
This back-and-forth motion inserts a capital for one character and does
not invoke the "caps lock’ function.

Middle area used for space, backspace, and enter.

   
To enter a "space" just tap once in the blue bar between the
numbers and the letters. To backspace just drag to the left (backwards)
or use the backspace command on the letters pad.  You can also
drag down in middle area to "enter" or use the enter command
found the lower row of the numbers pad. Another plus is that all the
characters are visible at all times. There is no need to shift to get
at an "@" symbol, or any other less common character.

A
fat stylus and tiny input area do not mix well.

   
The one thing I couldn’t get past was how hard it was to hit the right
letter in the "O" section with my stylus. I think it may have
a lot to do with the Axim X5′s unusually shaped stylus, but I could
never get the tip of it exactly where I wanted it. The number pad and
its symbols are even more intimidating. I found this to be a very frustrating
experience.

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A
fine-point helps your stylus hit the mark.

  
Things were better when I used a stylus with a fine-point. This is not
my Pocket PC’s default stylus, so making sure I had it handy when I
need to enter text became cumbersome. Of course, depending on your stylus,
your mileage may vary.

With
just a stroke, MessagEase becomes a Fingertip keyboard.

  
Thankfully the small input area is not the only option. With an upward
stroke of the question mark "?" the MessagEase input area
expands to fill the lower half of the screen. This makes for an excellent
way to enter text with your fingers or stylus (even, in my case, a clunky
stylus).

Fingertip input presents a few difficulties.

   
A minor problem with using your finger for this input method is that
if you really need to use a fingernails to draw the circle around a
letter for capitals. This could pose a problem for some people. Also
the mimicking the "tap and drag" process of the stylus with
your finger is somewhat awkward. However, if you are using a stylus
it should pose no problems. The number pad is also available, simply
drag sideways across the "?" to bring it forth.

Invoking the Fingertip Keyboard can present problems in some applications.

  
One hitch I did notice was the some programs don’t adjust the text area
properly when the Fingertip keyboard is called up. I found that the
text input area of some applications would often be obscured by MessagEase.
Pocket Word and most text input programs adjusted just fine, but some
other applications did not. Not a big issue, but one of which you should
be aware. The large input area is also handy for low-light situations.

Characters
in the number pad are mapped to the same area in the letters pad.

   
There is an amazing simplicity in the 3×3 rows of letters
and numbers. Even though the numbers pad has an extra row, if you ignore
that fact you notice a little bonus to help speed up your input. The
"drag" areas on the letter pad are not in use on the number
pad, and vice versa. Meaning, that you can drag down on the "8"
to make a period, or drag down on the "E" to make a period.
Even though the period is not shown on in "E" box (the down
drag area is blank) MessagEase still allows you to use the functions
of the number pad symbols on the letter pad. This comes in very handy
when using the large display (providing you’ve memorized where the symbols
are).

Setup
panel changes positions of the ANI-123 layout.

  
If you prefer to have the numbers on the left, you can change this.
Just tap the "question mark" and it brings up the setup panel.
Here you can select ANI-123 or 123-ANI. Once you’ve made a selection,
just return to your application and the numbers and letters have switched
places. The setup panel also allows you to set the "Min Drag"
and "Max Drag" but after making adjustments to these, I noticed
no perceptible change in the behavior of MessagEase. I also found no
documentation on this option.

The "Combine" function offers even more characters.

   
MessagEase also has a very nice feature called "Combine."
The "c" in a box by the "A" character is where you
will find the "Combine" function.  This allows you to
enter special accented characters not found on the keyboard. For example,
to create a tilde on an "n" just enter "n" then
the tilde "~" symbol, then drag up on the combine character
to get "