Use Palm's Graffiti on Android phones

If you’re one of those who remember or use Palm’s PDA (personal digital assistant), you know about Graffiti. It’s Palm’s input method. Back then, the use of a virtual keyboard as an input method is not something popular.

Well, Graffiti is now available as an alternative input method for Android mobile phones. Access Inc., who has rights to the technology, has created an mobile app that you can install on your Android phone. The app provides Graffiti as an alternative input to Android devices.

You can install the Graffiti app from the Android Market and follow the steps below to enable it on your Android mobile phone.

1. After installing it from the Android Market, go the Language and Keyboard Settings of your Android mobile phone and enable Graffiti by clicking on the checkbox (see image below).
2. Now open the Android web browser and do a Long Press on the input box to the screen below. Select Input method.
3. Select Graffiti as the new input method.
4. You should now see the familiar Graffiti input areas where you write the characters.
   
5. If you’re not familiar with Graffiti or have forgotten the strokes, you can swipe your finger from the input area going up to the top of the display. This should show you a help screen of the possible finger strokes recognized by Graffiti. Just tap on the screen to go to the other pages.
6. For example, here’s the finger stroke for the letter “C” as in connectedphone.
   

I’ve installed it on my Samsung Spica and it works so far. I’m going to use it for a while and see if it’s actually a viable alternative to the stock Android keyboard input that I actually find hard to use especially if I’m trying to send text messages.

Enjoy.