Google Handwrite update brings improved recognition and support

Google Handwrite was launched in 2012, allowing users to write out search terms using longhand on their touchscreens. While quite handy in certain situations, it lacked recognition quality for languages with intricately-wri

tten symbols, resulting in issues for those in Japan and China, as well as a handful of other niggling issues. Earlier today, the search engine giant rolled out an update that fixes a lot of these issues. In addition to the issue with recognition, smartphone users were also plagued with screen real estate issues. Unlike a tablet, smartphone screens have a very limited space for writing, making it difficult to squeeze in an entire search phrase. Google has sought to correct this issue with the latest update, which allows Handwrite to recognize letters that overlap. With this, users can write on top of previous letters without issue.

As far as recognition goes, Google has added a manual correction box that allows users to select the correct letter or number when the handwritten version is mistaken as something else. For example, if a user writes a “z” and it is mistaken as a “2,” the user can select the correct item from a drop-down menu.

Finally, to help solve the issues experienced by those using the service with Chinese characters, Google has added multi-character support to Handwrite. Whereas previously users had to write only one Chinese character at a time, users can now write multiple characters at once, reducing the amount of time it takes to pull up a search.