Quote:
Originally Posted by HansTWN
Chinese character input by handwriting works well in Android,, iOS, and WebOS. This is a function of the keyboard, not handwriting recognition in the usual sense. (The pen doesn't make it any better.) It is, however, slow and cumbersome (fast and sloppy as most people do when writing on paper won't work, though the software usually starts guessing after the first few strokes). I don't know Japanese input methods, but for Chinese phonetic input methods beat handwriting on speed any time. The only reason people use handwriting because there is no learning curve.
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The most common mode for Japanese input is a modified T9 system. It comes from the old regular cell phones. If you push 1 that button will contain the five first characters in the first Hiragana column あいうえお just pushing it brings up あ pushing and twisting to the right gives you い pushing down renders う to the left え and up お.
So by moving around the key in clockwise fashion you get five characters. If for example you have entered こうむ you will be faced with a selection of 公務, 工務, 校務 and 公務員 or 校務員, hence input from the keyboard is fairly fast. However, in order to sell cell phones to older Japanese (they never bought the key based ones) they have introduced hand writing recognition. The older generation prefer clam shell construction, the lower part containing a keypad for phone dialing and an input screen where you can write with your finger, one character at a time.
Newer models allow you turn the phone and write on the screen in "landscape" mode, some have introduced a stylus so you can write whole sentences. High end models come with a dedicated gaphic input chip that only deals with hand writing recognition. The older generation were educated in a strict school system and had to learn each Kanji by rote so the hand writing recognition system utilizes that rote knowledge. Use the wrong stroke order and you can get some hilarious results.