How do you top yourself when you already have a masterpiece that almost rules the market? That’s the question that faced Textware developers as they pondered how to upgrade Fitaly 3.5. They already had the leading alternative input system on both the Windows Mobile and Palm operating systems with a huge and loyal following. Impossible to top? Not so—they managed to once again up the ante in the alternative keyboard world.

Fitaly has been around for a long time. Some people swear by it, some have no idea what it is. Well, it's a keyboard layout designed specifically for efficient one-finger (or stylus) input. Something that's greatly needed on small Pocket PCs and other pen-based computers that lack hardware based input methods such as keyboards or thumboards, which frankly were not designed for efficient small-device text input at all. Can Fitaly speed up your text input? Read on to find out!

The Fitaly software keyboard for the Palm devices is the most efficient one PC Week Labs has seen for a PDA. Anyone who uses the PalmPilot's QWERTY keyboard to input text will find Textware Solutions' keyboard superior.

During my journey with Fitaly, I not only found myself preferring it over QWERTY but I enjoyed using the keyboard. [...] Once I got the hang of the layout, it was easier to write longer notes and e-mail. My stylus and hand stayed put, happily tapping away.

The Fitaly keyboard was awarded the Top Pick in its competition with the T9. Fitaly was shown to be more than twice faster than T9. It was the fastest of all software input methods on the Palm Pilot. It came second only to a hardware keyboard! The table shows the time to enter a sample text, a new contact listing, and an url.

I really like this program. I've had major complaints with the built-in keyboard ever since I started using my PilotIII, and I'm glad to have an alternative. If you're sick of using an on-screen keyboard that's designed for ten fingers instead of one, Fitaly is probably for you.

The most commonly used letters are in the center and the least on the outer edge. Additionally, each letter was placed near the letters that are most commonly typed before and after that particular one. The end result is a highly optimized keyboard that allows for blazingly fast input once you master the layout. [...] If speed is paramount and you have the time to get used to a new, optimized input method, seek out Fitaly.

In this innovative layout, the characters are grouped in a 5 by 12 grid. the letters of the alphabet are centered in a 5 by 6 grid of boxes – a much more compact area than the 12 by 3 of the standard Qwerty keyboard. [...]

While Fitaly must grow on you, a couple of features would cause us to abandon Qwerty forever – at least with a stylus in hand. To make an accent mark in Graffiti, you have to tap the screen to switch to a punctuation mode, make the stroke and then perform the task. With Fitaly, simply tap the accent mark and all the keys that can take that accent appear. Also, when you hit the numbers key, there's instant access to math symbols, pound and yen signs.