Using the Sony FitalyStamp on the Clie 320

Posted by Jean Ichbiah ^Ž , Sun, Jan 13, 2002, 10:57:29

The Clie 320 is slightly narrower than the Clie 600 and 700 models and people have asked what happens when you use a Clie 600/700 FitalyStamp on a 320. The image below (a simulation, not a photo) illustrates what happens:

As you can see by displaying the 123 panel and the punctuation panel, the stamp is slightly larger and here are the consequences:

Precision for the v c h w columns of letters is excellent.
Precision for the k and z columns, while good, is not perfect. No problem if you tap on the letter itself but a tap on the right border of k may give a hyphen, and a tap towards the left border of z may give a tab.
Precision on punctuations is very good but ONLY if you tap on the upper triangles: See how the centers of the upper triangles are exactly aligned on the centers of the onscreen punctuation columns.
Half-cells are not usable with sufficient reliability. You need to use sliding for digits.

Altogether, I have found it to be very usable as long as taps are centered on the glyphs and avoid the borders. I had been curious to do this experiment because several users mentioned that they were using Palm III stamp - even larger than the 600/700 stamps. And the conclusion is that although there is a difference (as mentioned in prior comments on the subject), it does not appear to matter for the majority of users.

To conclude on the subject, if you have a Clie 320, it is worth trying the demo to find out if this is difference matters for you. Chances are it will not.

Jean Ichbiah
PS. I did my own experimentation on a Clie 300.