Fitaly 4 released for Windows Mobile

Although I've never used it, many folks swear by the Fitaly keyboard method of text entry on mobile devices. In speed tests, people have achieved upwards of 50 words per minute using Fitaly, so it clearly has to work if you can get used to a new keyboard layout. Fitaly version 4 includes Windows Mobile 5.0 support as well as additional enhancements over the previous version.

The premise of Fitaly is to minimize the distance between between key "presses" with 73% of the keys most often used in a central area. The new version is free for users of Fitaly 3.5; for new users, the price is $29, but you can download a free, 30-day demo here.

UMPC and Tablet PC owners should take note: there's also a 32-bit version of Fitaly for Windows that runs on XP as well as older Windows versions. The cost is $39 and might be worth a look if you're searching for a TIP or Dial Keys replacement. Alas, no free trial available for Windows users. :(

(via Pocket PC Thoughts)

-kct

Comments

[Cheryl]

Hi, Kevin.

A while back I stumbled upon this other alternative text entry application called TenGO. I personally haven't tried it yet, but the demo on their site is compelling:

http://www.tengo.net/tengo_demo.html

What's nice about it is that it's a regular QWERTY keyboard layout. The difference is that they divided up the letters into 6 "keys" instead of 26. Then the predictive text brings up a list of possible words to choose from. Supposedly it's easy to add words to the dictionary. This program is also cheaper than Fitaly at $24.95.

It's a very interesting concept because you can limit your stylus taps to a central region once you get used to the system, which allows you to type faster without having to learn a completely different key layout. I was partial to MessageEase a long time ago when I was using Sony Clies.

I just wish that there were PDAs (non-phone PDAs) that had keyboards! I would be perfectly happy with a Windows Mobile PDA with WiFi and a keyboard for quicker text entry (nice mobile RSS reader). But I guess a Dell Axim x50v with TenGO could be comparable...