Welcome to PDA247

When I first looked at PhatPad, I just wasn't sure what it did. Or, rather, I knew what it did, but not whether it did anything that I particularly needed. On the face of it, I had an application on my PDA and an application on my desktop, which allowed me to synchronise notes- much like Notes and Outlook. As both Notes and Outlook are supplied with a PocketPC, my immediate question was “Why do I need PhatPad?” Well, after a week of using it, I believe that it is worth the space on my machines.

PhatPad is similar to the Notes application, in that it allows you to take freehand notes on your PDA- as such, writing this in a hurry is much easier, as you do not have to worry about correct Transcriber characters, or about waiting for text to convert to typeface at the end of each screen. All you need to do is select a new note, and then start writing. When you have filled the first page, tap on the blue arrow at the bottom of the screen, and start writing on the new page- easy as that! If you find that you need to insert a page, or change the page order, you can do this through a neat graphical menu. If you work on the principle of one paragraph to a page, then it becomes very easy to edit documents and the like, changing where the information is located with ease.

You can select the size of page from a series of presets (corresponding to A4, Legal, A3 etc), but I prefer simply to have one page width per screen- on my device, this equated to 1200*1100 . By setting it in this manner, I know that once I've scribbled a screen-full, I just need to move onto a new sheet, without worrying about scrolling. Obviously, if you never use your PDA in landscape mode, you can shrink the width accordingly. I find it helpful to have horizontal lines on the screen, to aid writing, but, these are optional- you can have no lines, or vertical lines instead.

Page size options

Unlike Notes, PhatPad allows for the use of colour- making it a far more practical application for jotting down diagrams, or for taking notes in an easy-to-follow manner. Similarly, it is possible to vary the thickness of the pen in question- ideal for emphasising particular points, or showing your contribution to a collaborative document. Now, this may sound crazy, but writing with PhatPad feels much nicer than writing in the default notes application. If someone had said to me that "digital ink" technology would make a difference, then I would probably have been sceptical, but it really does seem to be smoother and easier... I couldn't go as far as to say that it feels similar to writing on paper, but it does get closer to this than the "default" ink.

If you want to go further than a simple line drawing, then you might be interested in exploring the animation feature. Each new frame is drawn on a separate page, and so the principle remains the same- tap the blue arrow to get the next page. Once you have completed your animation, you can tap on the “animate” button, and then select the delay between screens- by default, this is 25ms, which is probably fine if you are drawing a small cartoon, but it of no use if you are using the function as a way of easily reviewing existing notes, for example. If you need to represent progressive building, for example, or track a process, then the animation feature will probably come in very useful- however, I am not sure if I will use this function much myself- however, I would prefer to see an option available and not use it, then to be missing something necessary.

Animation options

PhatPad incorporates a basic shape-recognition algorithm, which assists you if you need to draw basic geometry. I say “basic”, as I was able to get a square, circle and triangle, but nothing else. I don't see this as a huge problem- unless anyone can think of an occasion when drawing a dodecahedron would be useful. If you are planning on using the text recognition component (below), you must remember to switch off Shape Corrector first, or else the recognition will not work correctly. It is possible to handle individual items on their own, thanks to the “Selected Ink” menu- through which you can select elements, and deem them drawing or writing.

Rather than drawing on a "plain" background, you are able to select an existing image file, and then annotate it. The screenshot below shows a very basic example of what is possible- annotating a small map image- but, if you had bigger plans, this should be possible too. One example which I have heard suggest is for insurance workers, and the like- you could obtain a map of an accident scene, and then add your notes or comments. Altenatively, you could just draw moustaches on people's photos...

As well as the “drawing” side of PhatPad, it is possible to have a text note as well- this comes in useful for describing / titling a document, but is less useful for describing individual pages, as the text note relates to a document as a whole- thus, if you add a note for the front page, it will be visible on every page. However, the main use of text note for me came through the integration with Calligrapher. Writing notes in freehand is easier than using real-time conversion, but, for me at least, having notes in hand-written form is not particularly useful- far better to have them stored as text. This is where Calligrapher steps in, providing the system behind the “recognise” function. As such, when you've finished writing, you simply tap “recognise”, and everything is converted into text, and stored in the text note, from where it can be copied and pasted into other documents. As it is the Calligrapher algorithm, the level of recognition is very high, but, when you are paying more attention to getting notes down on the page than to character accuracy, it is inevitable that some words will need manually correcting. For me, at least, this is the most useful part of the application, and alone justifies its existence on my PDA.

You are able to schedule an alarm to a particular note, but I found this quite disappointing. Ideally, I would have wanted to write myself a quick note (“Call Tom”, for example), and then set a reminder for a designated time. When the time came, the alarm would sound, and my note would flash up on screen. As it is, the alarm sounds, but I have to manually go into the PhatPad to check my note, which is a shame- this feature could be made considerably more powerful and useful.

PhatPad comes with a PC version, allowing you to create notes on either platform, and synchronise between the two. I was a bit disappointed to find that there was no conduit for this, using instead the File Synchronisation feature. At the end of the day, I am not sure that this has any real problem, but I don't think that it fits with the overall slickness of the rest of the package. On the PC component, you are able to draw images and write text in freehand, but, will not be able to convert any writing to text, without purchase of additional software, unless you transfer the note to your PDA, and perform the conversion there. Other than this, as you would expect, all the options available on the PDA seem to be incorporated into the desktop. Primarily, I use the PC component for adding drawings etc for syncing over the my PDA, and for viewing notes which I have made during the day- other than that, it does not get used much at all.

You are not limited to transferring the file via the desktop component, as PhatPad has options for both e-mailing and beaming files. This part is very well thought out, as there is the facility for saving notes as JPG, BMP and PNG files, as well as the native PhatWare Ink format. If you are working on something with someone, and you know that they have PhatPad, then this latter (the default) option is probably the most sensible- however, if you are sending to someone without PhatPad, then converting your note to an image, and attaching it to an e-mail seems very sensible. If you have synchronised the note, then you are able to print via the desktop component, and, if you use HP Mobile Printing, you should be able to print any notes you have saved as image files directly from your PDA.

Conclusion

On balance, PhatPad justifies its place on my PDA- the ability to scribble pages of notes and convert that at a later time sells it too me. If the alarm function were altered slightly, then I would find this of considerably more benefit, but, at the moment, I find it a little lacklustre. Animation support is a novelty for me, rather than a necessity, but is nice to have, whereas I am sure that the ability to e-mail images of notes will be of benefit to a fair few people. Shape recognition is accurate for the three basic shapes, but cannot handle anything more- for me, this is no big deal, as most drawings will be for rough ideas, rather than exact pictures. Without Calligrapher, PhatPad would be of far more limited use to me, as it would not have the benefit of the conversion system- looking at it as a standalone application, you would really need to consider whether you needed the ability to add colour, thickness and text to your notes to warrant the purchase price, as opposed to the default notes application.