Tom Hanks’ Typewriter App Shoots To The Top Of The App Store

When I was in junior high school in the early-1970's (yes, I'm not a "Spring chicken" anymore), I learned to type in a summer school class, on a manual typewriter. At about that same time, my Mom bought an electric typewriter, and for the next 15 years or so, I used that machine to type out everything from homework reports in high school to song lyrics for bands I played in over the years. Sometime in the early-90's, it finally died, and I moved on to computers with word processors. I'm sure there are many people reading this who have never experienced the feeling of pushing down on a character key and hearing the "clack" as the letter hammer snapped into contact with the paper, transferring--character by character--your thoughts to a blank sheet of paper.

Well, apparently actor/director Tom Hanks missed that sound and feeling, too; so he came up with an app for the iPad that simulates the sound and rhythm of the classic typewriter, and it has shot to the top of the App Store downloads charts (with a little help from me, as I downloaded the app over the weekend. Here's what the tech blog Techcrunch.com had to say about the "HanxWriter" app:

Tom Hanks’ name can do more than sell a movie, it seems. His recently launched, hipster-ish typewriter app for iPad, Hanx Writer, has now shot to the top of the iTunes App Store, ranking No. 1 in both the Productivity section, as well as Overall.

Launched last week, Hanx Writer turns your iPad into an old-fashioned typewriter, offering a pseudo-analog typing experience. The bangs of key presses, hard returns and the chimes that sound when you reach the end of a new line now sit alongside modern conveniences like the ability to correct without white tape or whiteout, and options to print, email or share your documents when complete.

Is it necessary? No, not really. Is it enjoyable to use and well-made? Well, yes.

 

You can read the entire article by clicking the link below. Couldn't do that with an old-fashioned typewriter!

(via Tom Hanks’ Typewriter App Shoots To The Top Of The App Store | TechCrunch.)