Pre-release version of iPhone firmware 2.0 reveals Chinese Handwriting Recognition Feature
The pre-release version of iPhone firmware 2.0 has revealed another gem of a feature.
Wretch.cc is reporting that Apple has included handwriting recognition for Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) in the pre-release version of Apple's iPhone firmware 2.0 included in the latest Apple iPhone SDK Beta 4 (Build 5A258F) which is currently available only to members of the iPhone developer program.
The handwriting recognition feature seems to currently only available for Chinese (Traditional and Simplified). In the latest iPhone firmware when you select Chinese input, you get an option to use handwriting recognition thus allowing you to draw characters on the screen. As you draw the character, four possibilities appear on the right side of the screen as can be seen in the screenshots below.
You have got the choice of either using Handwriting or Pinyin (which is basically spelling out the word and choosing the correct character)
MacRumors has also been able to confirm that this feature does exist in the latest iPhone firmware beta available to registered iPhone developer program.
You can also checkout the screenshots of the handwriting recognition feature in action below:
We had heard rumors that Apple was looking to put handwriting recognition into the iPhone based on a Handwriting Recognition Engineer job listing on Apple's site but today's news confirms that Apple is reinvesting in handwriting recognition technology something they have been pioneer's of with their Newton Personal Digital Assistant.
If you can't wait for the release of iPhone firmware 2.0 which is expected sometime in June, then you can checkout HWPen a popular native iPhone application that was the first to bring handwriting recognition to the iPhone which works for English input as well.
The pre-release version of iPhone firmware 2.0 has already revealed quite a few hidden features:
- Ability to Save Images from Email Attachments
- Save Images straight from iPhone's Safari browser
- Contact Search and Embedded YouTube Support coming to the iPhone
- Live Location Tracking feature & Improves Javascript Performance
- Import SIM Contacts feature
Lets hope Apple introduces this great feature for all the languages and does not limit it to Chinese. But the fact that Apple has included Chinese handwriting recognition does indicate that iPhone will be launched in China fairly soon.
Let me know your thoughts on this latest iPhone news.
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