The Nokia N97 is the first handset to introduce Nokia's touchscreen-operated S60 5th Edition user interface, providing an easy and intuitive way to navigate and use applications with the swipe of a finger or stroke of a stylus.

As well as controlling the heaps of functionality on the handset, the N97's touchscreen user interface also enables you to use handwriting recognition - writing with your finger or stylus directly on the display. This can be used as an alternative to the standard virtual phone numberpad - which has the usual number and letter set-up as used on a conventional mobile phone - which is set as the default method of inputting text.

The handwriting input method can be used in any of the phone's text inputting options where you would otherwise use the virtual numberpad - the procedure for getting it up as an option is similar.

The phone also allows you to input text by choosing to use a virtual onscreen Qwerty keyboard, which makes it easy to type holding the phone in landscape. You can also use a mini-Qwerty keyboard taking up only part of the screen in either landscape or portrait mode.

However, handwriting recognition allows you to write onscreen in a small panel, with your scrawl being translated by the clever software into text. It's easy to use - and you can 'train' the system to recognise the particular nuances of your writing style, to make input quicker and more reliable.

Here we demonstrate how to use handwriting on a text message, but you can pull up the handwriting option in a similar way on any text input option where the numberpad or Qwerty keyboard option can be used.

Here's how to use it...

Choosing the handwriting option

1. From the home screen (Figure 1), press the central Menu button beneath the display.
2. In the main menu, press Messaging (Figure 2)
3. In the messaging menu, press New message (Figure 3).
4. In the empty text message (Figure 4), press the text box. A phone-style numberpad appears onscreen (Figure 5). You can tap in texts as usual, using the numberpad.
5. If you want to use handwriting recognition, press the button above the 1 key, which has an icon that resembles a keyboard. A menu drops down (Figure 6). Press the Handwriting option.
6. A red coloured panel appears on the screen (Figure 7); this is where you'll write.

Various control buttons surround this panel, enabling you to swap between upper and lower case characters, select symbols, or write numbers. You can also move the box around the screen by pressing and dragging the crossed arrowed buttons by the top right corner of the panel (useful if you want to view more of the text while writing).

Using the handwriting option

• You can write individual letters or whole words in the handwriting panel. Using the stylus will help with accuracy.
• Write clear upright characters the space, and if writing a word, leave small horizontal gaps between characters (Figure 8). They will appear in the text panel above.
• To add a space between words or characters, draw a horizontal line from left to right (Figure 9).
• To delete a character, draw a horizontal line from right to left (Figure 10).
• To delete a word or several characters at once, highlight the characters you want to delete with the stylus on the main text screen above the panel, and draw a horizontal line from right to left on the handwriting panel (Figure 11).
• You can change between upper and lower case by pressing the Ab button next to the handwriting panel, or swap to number input by pressing the 12 button. You can select symbols by pressing the *# box. To get back to the other regular keyboard-based inputting options you can tap the button with the keyboard icon and select one of the options, as before.
• Once you have finished writing your text, press the green tick confirm button towards the left hand corner of the handwriting panel. The handwriting panel will disappear, with the text message filling the screen (Figure 12).

Once you've added a recipient in the usual manner (pressing the central contacts button on the bottom of the screen to browse your contacts), you can send the message by pressing the envelope-labelled Send button on the bottom left of the screen.

The handwriting recognition option can be used in any feature where you need to input text, from memos and calendars to email and browsing. If the numberpad pops up when you want to input text, you can select and use the handwriting option by tapping the keyboard icon button as described above, and choosing the handwriting option.

If you have activated the handwriting option in any application, it will remain the preferred text input option in all applications unless you change it to one of the other keyboard-based options (by pressing the keyboard icon button and choosing another method).