Google Handwriting recognition lets user write search queries on userr mobile phone or tablet without using the keyboard. It can recognize shapes as well.
Google recently added handwriting recognition capabilities to their web search interface thus giving users an option to scribble search queries without opening the keyboard. Once user turn on the Handwriting mode, the entire Google page turns into a scratch pad – user can write anywhere on the screen and Google will instantly convert userr freehand drawing into digital text.
The results are accurate and though the conversion happens on Google’s servers, user won’t notice the delay. Google suggests using block letters but cursive writing works as well.
You can use Google’s handwriting search on most touch-screen mobile phones and tablets but if user are on the desktop, user may change the user agent of userr browser to iPad (or Android) and Google will then offer the Handwriting option on userr desktop as well.
How Google Handwriting works?
When user draw a shape on the Google page, the path is captured in an array of X, Y points which is then sent to Google’s IME (Input Method Editor) API as a POST Request. It returns a list of possible suggestions (for instance, if user draw a round shape, IME may interpret that as “o, 0, O” while a straight line can be interpreted as “l, I, i, 1″) and one of them is added to the Google search box.
The Undocumented Feature
The JavaScript file associated with Google’s Handwriting feature reveal a hidden feature – other than letters and digits, user can also draw shapes and Google can convert some of them into words. For instance, if user draw a “heart” shape on the search page, Google will render that as the word “heart.”
Watch this YouTube video for a quick demo.
When user draw a heart shape, Google’s IME returns the Unicode equivalent of the heart character and Google, at the client side, converts that symbol into a word.
Google Handwriting Recognition includes similar logic for emoticons, check marks, copyright and trademark symbols but they aren’t working at this time. It does however offer a strong hint that Google Handwriting could be coming to other Google products – like Gmail and chat – because one rarely write smileys and frowning faces in the search box.
Also see: An Undocumented Google Search Operator
0 comments:
Post a Comment