Software to ease Tablet PC text entry released by Exideas

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, March 1, 2004

Exideas, a company specializing in Computer-Human Interface, today released Version 2.0 of MessagEase for Windows to enhance full text entry on Tablet PCs and mobile Windows. MessagEase V. 2.0 is now available for download at www.exideas.com. These downloads are complete and free for the first two months of use, thereafter requiring registration. For a limited time MessagEase's registration is offered at $24.95, ten dollars off its regular price. This new offering will provide a fast and easy text entry alternative for Tablet PCs and will revolutionize the way people enter text on their mobile devices.

Based on years of scientific research MessagEase uses an ingenuous yet intuitive system of taps and slides for entering full text-taps for most frequent letters and slides for the rest, making its keyboard compact but with keys larger and easier to target than the soft QWERTY keys.

"The QWERTY keyboard is designed for ten fingers not one stylus or finger. Pecking tiny QWERTY keys is quite arduous and frustrating for Tablet PC users," said Saied Nesbat, Ph.D., President and CEO of ExIdeas. "MessagEase takes only a small area of the screen yet sports larger keys to make browsing, using a spreadsheet, and even serious writing fast, accurate, and easy."

MessagEase Onscreen Keyboard essentially uses 9 keys, yet it enters all letters, numbers and special characters. It also includes Alt and Ctrl keys, function keys, all cursor navigation commands, as well as keys for common editing functions (Cut, Copy, Paste, etc).

"I am very impressed by the flexibility, intuitiveness, and power of the MessagEase keyboard," said Arif Maskatia, Chief Technology Officer of Acer America Corporation. "It provides one of the best alternatives for Tablet PC text entry as it does more than a full keyboard while using a very small screen area."

Especially designed for tablet computers, MessagEase Onscreen Keyboard can be resized, reshaped into vertical, horizontal or square shape, or made transparent to fit any need. Smaller keyboards minimize the real estate occupied and optimize the stylus movement, while larger keys can be used for text entry with even gloved fingers or for wearable computers. The transparent keyboard lets you see the text you type behind it, further optimizing the use of the screen area.

MessagEase technology is also available for PDAs and is applicable to cell phones (demo available today), TV remote controls, watches, car navigation systems, or any small device that cannot accommodate a ten-finger QWERTY keyboard. Currently MessagEase enjoys a substantial and growing number of dedicated users among Pocket PC and Palm PDA owners. To date more than 400,000 copies of MessagEase products have been downloaded and more than 1500 users have joined its Yahoo users group. MessagEase Onscreen Keyboard runs on any Windows system. It can empower VOIP phones to transfer text using a limited number of keys or a small touch-screen area. On screens with passive screen sensing technology MessagEase can be operated with a finger, making it ideal for a wide range of applications ranging from consumer to industrial and military.