sMail - Scribbled E-mail
HP is currently developing a new handheld device that will allow anyone to send a handwritten message as e-mail.
The portable device, which resembles a calculator, comes with a keyboard, a low-cost CPU and a “scribble” area for users to compose their messages. There’s also a small LCD screen for users to read their messages. Once a message is written—in any language—all of the content is captured as a jpeg image and, after it is sent, shows up as an attachment for the receiver. Users, however, will need to have an e-mail account for transmitting, or receiving, the messages through a standard telephone line. Messages could be sent to people who have either a similar device or a PC, Gopal said.
The major benefit of this system seems to be its ability to support any language instantly. Clearly, device makers are biased towards the Roman character set utilized by a large portion of the world, but issues arise when dealing with different character sets. The end result is that many segmens of the potentially connected world are prevented from fully entering the communication medium.
I'm not sure why this would possibly have taken so long. It's really a shame considering the glut of technologies that are already in existence that do essentially the same thing ,if not more. The largest handheld platforms, PocketPC and PalmOS have supported one form of handwriting recognition or another for years now. Even Microsoft's Tablet PC version of XP has the Journaler application that does exactly the same thing. I can't imagine that a market this large was ignored for so long.