Product Review: Phraze-It Keyboard 2.0

Manufacturer: Prevalent Devices

Price: $18; free 10-day trial

Pros: Integrates with all Windows Mobile applications that require text input; makes on-screen typing easier by increasing the size of the buttons; simplifies finger or thumb typing due to the larger keys.

Cons: Requires multiple key clicks to type the majority of letters; keys on far edges of screen and scroll bars hard to click; works only with Windows Mobile 5 and 2003, not with older versions or the newest version, Windows Mobile 6.

CIO fear factor: None. No security or management issues here.

Bottom line: Not for people who value typing speed. Phraze-It improves finger or thumb typing but increases the time it takes to type words and phrases because its non-qwerty keyboard layout is somewhat awkward.

In concept, the Phraze-It Keyboard 2.0 software from Prevalent Devices makes perfect sense: Enhance the touch screen typing experience on Windows Mobile-based PDAs and Pocket PCs by increasing the size of the often tiny on-screen keys. In reality, the application works less than perfectly. Still, priced at just $18 with a 10-day free trial, you can try this tool out without much worry to see if it improves your PDA experience.

Phraze-It 2.0

What's funky about the larger keyboard layout? The larger keys take up more screen space, so Prevalent Devices came up with a system that hides consonants, punctuation and symbols until you key specific vowels or menu buttons. The enlarged buttons do indeed make typing with a finger or a thumb much easier. They also cut down on finger or thumb strain, so you can comfortably type for longer periods of time. But because all the letters of the alphabet aren't displayed on the keyboard's home screen, it takes longer to type words and sentences.

Enterprise users with touch screen, Windows Mobile 5 or 2003-based devices who value functionality for long documents over speed could see productivity gains using the Phraze-It Keyboard. However, I was disappointed overall with the results, since it takes valuable time to get used to the keyboard layout and the fact that multiple clicks are required to type nearly every letter.

Standard Windows Mobile On-Screen Keyboard

To be fair, Jeremy Goren, Prevalent Devices' VP, told me that the Phraze-It Keyboard is not really meant for speed typing but for convenience -- for typing long documents or full e-mails without the usual text abbreviations that BlackBerry fans favor. Yet it seems to me that typing speed is one of the leading factors when it comes to productivity. So I was less than pleased to find that though Phraze-It's on-screen keys were large enough for even my long, wide fingers, I couldn't type a message in the same time that I could on a BlackBerry with a full qwerty keyboard.