I Like T9, How About You?
It’s a confession, and I sure chose the perfect place to make it : I like T9. Now I will be silent for a moment while all of you start throwing tomatoes and eggs at me… Ok, now let me explain to you my reasons. The first time I discovered T9 on my 6610, I felt like I was hit by a genius ball. To me, at that moment, pressing the key once instead of repeatedly hitting it was nothing short of amazing. Ever since that day, I probably sent thousands of sms, most of them using T9. Well, I even used it on my old 3250 to write down a 12-page short story. There are two main reasons why I am satisfied with this solution that everyone else seems to despise.
Reason 1
With T9, I can type seriously fast and I can even do it blindfolded, while driving, in a classroom and looking at the teacher’s eyes, you get the idea. The facility of knowing the buttons is great because no matter what device I pick, I know where each of the 12 buttons are. I don’t need to be a rocket scientist in order to get going.
Problem is that on QWERTY devices, symbols are all over the place and so are the number keys. I’ve used an N810 and a Qtek 9100 before, both had QWERTYs, both I despised. The symbols were all over the keyboard, and number keys were on the top row which made it impossible to add a 3 or a 7 easily. The reason I am mentioning these two numbers is because they are used by us to write arabic words with latin characters, they replace letters that don’t exist in the english language. I realize other qwertys have different layouts, but the majority still keeps that top row pattern.
The second issue I have with qwerty is that there are too many keys to memorize, yes I know it’s the same layout as the computer keyboards, but it’s on a different scale which needs a new learning curve. Talking about scale, qwerty devices are often too large, making it an issue to have to move your thumb around in order to text. I’m not lazy, it’s more about speed and efficiency.
Still, my big issue with QWERTYs on mobiles is that they are too small to be used as a normal keyboard, and too big and complicated to be used one-handed and blindfolded. I am sure many E61 users will comment saying they type without looking, I am also sure that would be my case if I had such a device for a while, but the learning curve remains the problem, as well as the reproducibility of this over any other new qwerty they’d own, because each one seems to sport a newer layout.
Reason 2
What I love about T9 is that it is predictable and I can activate/deactivate it in less than a second. I speak 3 different languages and so do all of my friends, it’s also in our culture to use these 3 languages in the same sentence. It’s not genius, it’s how we’ve grown up. The good thing is that I can teach T9 new words which makes it a snap to later type a quick “hi, kifik, ca va?” in less than 5 seconds.
When QuickWrite was announced, and later Adaptxt which Zach reviewed a while ago, I tried them both thinking they might make texting even easier for me. The only conclusion I got away with was uninstalling the two applications 5 minutes after trying to type my first sms. Both of them seemed to rely on the dpad being pressed to finish words, meaning you would need to look at the screen to be sure you approved the right word. They also both relied on a “teaching” process where the word you use the most would pop up first, making the engine unpredictable (who knows what I use most “on” or “no”?). Another bad thing was that Adaptxt tried to override the * and # functionality. Pressing # for a while toggles Adaptxt on and off (normally it’s a double press with T9), pressing * when a word is still selected doesn’t allow you to cycle through the different possibilities but instead shows the symbol window. I was never a fan of an application that changes the default behavior of my handset that’s why I went back to T9 in no time.
Patrolling the web for the last months, I saw a lot of hype about a new Nseries qwerty handset, which reminded me that I am content with T9. So tell me, are you like me, or would you go qwerty all the way, or do you prefer 12-key handsets with a writing engine like QuickWrite or Adaptxt?
looool
yeah man the 2, 3 and 7 are very important to type Arabic .. althuogh getting the dictionary in T9 to memorize them is a little hard .. but in plain English it is really so fast to type with it!
Totally agree with you,and its perfectly customizable by adding your own words too.But Quick write didn’t work for me as It kept on crashing most of the times.
T9 FTW!
Have you not seen the races we’ve had?
(they’re on youtube somewhere)
For a while, my bi-textual fingers earned me the name James ‘Thumbs’ Whatley!
You know I never tried it but I’ve read on forums that is hell using it, I went to the T9 website and I am currently learning it, seems so easy.
Thanks for the review, you surely helped me on this one.
Sorry, how exactly do you activate/deactivate T9 in less than 5 seconds?
Whatley,
I’ll have to look into these.
Giovanni,
Glad we could be of any help. I am sure you will be texting your heart away in days.
AC,
Just double press the # key quickly.
I love T9, but I actually prefer an input method I used when I have a Windows Mobile PDA (the ONLY thing I miss…) - TenGO. It replaced the on screen kb with one that broke the standard QWERTY layout into 6 virtual keys. It used T9-like text prediction, and was configurable in several ways.
With the standard keypad, it would be fairly easy to use something like this on non-qwerty Nokias, but the authors only wrote versions for Palm and Windows PDAs.
Cribbagegeek,
I remember using tenGo myself when I had my old WM5 device. I remember trying it and not finding it a big PIA, but I didn’t invest a lot of time in it to see how efficient it was. I had a Qtek9100 so it had a qwerty which made add-on on-screen keyboards kind of a waste of resources (the device wasn’t great on RAM and speed).
I’m fully satisfied with T9. I compared T9, Bluetooth Keybord and QuickWrite a while ago to see what fits my needs the best:
In 90% T9 is the fastest way to get the job done, the other 10% are handled best by the external QWERTY-keyboard (long emails,…).
The only thing I dislike about T9 is that it isn’t available in every textbox. That’s really annoying sometimes.
I actually hate all keyboard layouts… I’m constantly making mistakes whether it be T9 or Qwerty. Though I completely agree the T9 is best for ‘blind’ texting, my final vote would be for Qwerty. I guess I’m just old school!
I like it, only wish there was some form of autocompleting, e.g. when typing a long world like tomorrow… that’s like, what, at least 7 letters..
I’ve been using T9 ever since my 1st Nokia 3210, people are gobsmacked when they see the speed at which I type up txts, I have and E61 which I used for a week and when I went back to typing on my N95 is was just bliss, with the E61 there are so many keys, with the N95 it’s just the 12 yet the typing speeds are so fast. People have trouble with T9 when it comes to typing in a word it doesn’t recognise, all you need to do is teach it and from then on it’ll always show that word, simple. I love it, and I’m glad there are others too
I was pretty fast at T9 until I purchased a phone with a suretype keyboard, then rally started to fly! I’ve written many a report on my cell phone which saves me hours back at the office.
I love T9 and prefer it, always have. Much easier remembering 12 keys than a whole palatte of them …. QWERTY is a system for the HANDS and not for the THUMBS. I mean, it WORKS, but its not optimal. Qwerty is nice for certain things but T9 is FAR more effective.
I have an iGo Bluetooth keyboard for my N95-3 and just use it when I need to type something really long.
Ricky, you’ve done it again - you put my thoughts into your blog! Yes, I love T9 and I hate QWERTY handsets for all the reasons you presented. Keep up the great work!
I think that T9 is an excellent solution. But I miss the keyboard I had on my 3650, you know the rounded one, that was simple great. I didn’t have to look to type and it was really quick.
WoooooW that makes a lot of T9 lovers! When I first started this post, I was hoping you wouldn’t hire an assassin to come kill me. Well, great to see we (almost) all agree.
alcatraz,
Thank you
For a while I have been debating whether to replace my Trusty old Nokia 6630(Love the keys and T9) to go for a qwerty Nokia E61i or the fashionable Nokia N82(don’t know if the keys will be good enough for loads of typing). I type a lot and was feeling that a qwerty would make life easier, but nice insight Dotsisx.
Now I realize how fast and sometimes without even looking at the screen or the keys, I can manage a quick SMS or note.
If you have a good qwerty on a light smartphone, like the SE P1, there is no contest…Instant Messaging, emails, long sms, office doc editing, posting in forums, there is no contest…qwerty all the way
For one handed and short sms stuff, T9 can be better
I do agree. I am much more comfortable with T9 when it comes to mobile devices. Sure, QWERTY keyboards are fast, but for me they are fast only when the keyboard is resting on a desk and I am using multiple fingers, not when its in my hand and I am using my thumb. For my thumbs, T9 is much faster.
I just have one complain with T9. On my nseries device, over a period of time, it automatically changes the suggested word when I key in a combination of keys, something that I do not want in many cases (e.g. for some reason ‘much’ comes as ‘ouch’ when i type it. I have no idea why). But I guess this is something very small and is part of nothing been perfect.
Hi, this is Prosenjitz here. For the last couple of years I am an all-round user of T9. As most of time I remain away from my laptop/computers, I use T9 to do all my typing job, including taking long notes, writing long official letters and emails etc, with no problem at all! The addition for qwerty(actually it’s an apology for a keyboard!) makes a cellphone uncomfortable for one-hand use.
Moreover, active T9 indirectly does the spell-checking also. Whenever a word is typed wrongly-spelt, T9 intervens and doesn’t allow such wrong spelling.
But still, this extremely useful software needs upgrading. Spell-check and automatic advance word suggestion should be very welcome features.
I can’t Live without QWERTY!!
I have tried out all the currently available Nseries phones and I CANNOT buy any of them because they don’t have QWERTY.
I am still living with my E61 which I am more than ready to change for something newer buy NOKIA IS NOT RELEASING THE RUMORED E71 nor the Nseries QWERTY!
I understand that for you maybe you’re used to the T9 but as for me and most of us who went for the E61 we feel forgotten by Nokia because they haven’t released a QWERTY model since E61i which itself was a disappointment for people like me who want the latest software. I find the situation a bit ironical: Nokia introduced me to mobile QWERTY with the E61 but now I’m thinking of switching away because Nokia has forgotten that I’ve come to understand that I can’t live with the slow speeds of 12-keys.
I want to tell Nokia: release a QWERTY phone or you might lose a customer pretty soon. You introduced me to mobile QWERTY but then you forgot about me.
-Long time Nokia faithful
I think every new mobile phone has a learning curve… because it is new. I agree with you on the mobility problem; I had a Nokia E90 till a few months ago, but I swapped this for a Nokia E51, because I was tired of the big brick in my pocket. But still T9 is much better than the old typing method, but your “learning curve reason” is quite subjective.
Well, sure T9 is my favourite in any normal keypaded phones, which are the majority. But I prefer QWERTY, it make me more productive, and of course I like E61i form more. In fact I can’t go back to non-QWERTY phones. But, how can you type Arabic words in latin letters using T9, the dictionary will not expect certainly…
True, everybody wants QWERTY nowadays forgetting how good T9 can be, as long as your language is supported.
For this reason I think the best solution is a triple slider phone: normal keypad (with T9), media keys and slide-out QWERTY from the site. I guess a bit for everyone.
Yeah I’m a full time T9 user as well. Heck, I can type faster on my T9 enabled phone than I can on my laptops QWERTY keyboard. Even this reply has being typed from a cell phone running Opera Mini. I’m using T9 for so long I can even type in my sleep now! Plus unlike others who resort to crappy sms language like “hw r u doin?” etc., I insist on using a proper text that won’t give my readers a headache. And the convenience of T9 makes this possible.
I’ve discovered that T9 in Nokia phones and SE phones is very different. In Nokia we can just press * once to move through different matching words or press # twice to activate/deactivate T9. But SE phones insist you to press and hold * to activate/deactivate T9, which is much slower and it displays an on screen list to help scrolling through matching words. This isn’t very nice. However SE does remember your frequently used words (quite unreliable sometimes). You can even save words with numbers in the dictionary memory (like say mp3), unlike Nokia.
Still I’d say Nokia’s system is better. Its much faster and more intuitive. Infact Nokia’s text entry system is the best among all cell phone manufacturers. Period.
Hi ! This is Prosenjitz here. For the part couple of years I use my 12 key cellphone as my true laptop substitute, as far as possible; for drafting long official letters, emailing, taking notes, web browsing, organising my busy and packed schedules and other office related tasks. T9 proved to be quite capable instrument for all these jobs. Even this post is also typed with T9 of my mobile.
T9 helps to check spelling also in an indirect way. If wrong spelling is typed it refuses to provide word, thus makes aware of the mistake. And when there is confusion with the the right spelling, by typing alternatives right spelling can be checked.
But this useful software needs upgrading now. Spell-check and auto-suggestion of words will be very welcome feature.
Deffinatly qwerty.
The funny part is i would use my girlfriend blackjack and would type slower than using my n93-3 T9 am i the only one lol
That is simply silly reasoning. By the time you’ve taught your T9 phone a new word, I’ve sent the whole message with qwerty and moved on to kissing with my girl.
In order to fully express yourself verbally, using wordplay and so on, you really have to use qwerty. T9 limits the personal touch of your output. Period.
Yeah yeah, you can always teach the T9, but that’s a huge waste of time which you will face time and time again. Subconsciously you will limit your output to fit with the shortcomings of T9.
Qwerty - even when using just two thumbs - will always win T9 in speed.
You say it’s a bliss to have only 12 buttons and therefore it being easier to memorize many symbol character. Well how about when you switch from one phone brand to another? Symbols wont reside where they used to. On qwerty the most common symbols will in most cases reside in the same location (alternate characters in the number keys).
T9 FTW
Anyone wanna race?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2339/2087298948_88fb2f8e0b_o.jpg
Sorry to say but I managed to reach reason 1 and then disagreed and came down here to reply.
You cannot absolutely cannot use T9 blindfolded. T9 has this weird tendency to have words come up in a different order when you type them depending on usage frequency. It has led to many a typo and I would just lke it if the words always remained in the same place. I mean I can press * thrice no problem but a different number every time?! @&#^@*@#^ !! Better yet let me define the order in which the words appear leading to a complete win.
Thanks for reading.
What’s that application running on your device, Jonny?
Hi, Hi, Hi,
you need to teach your phone words ha ha ha, talking about the learning curve. I own a treo and I’ll bet you with everything I have me and the entire city I’ll beat you hands on on any application blindfolded or not.
That’s a good one for owners of htc touch dual where you cannot disable the bloody T9.
Godspeed
My comment about the 20 key sure-type keyboard didn’t come through, huh?
T9 is okay for one handed typing. Qwerty is great for 2 thumbed typing. But the 20 key sure-type hybrid keyboard is like the best of both worlds. You’ll see that on the T-Mobile Shadow, HTC Touch Dual, and Blackberry Pearl devices. It’s like T9 except with 2 letters per button instead of 3 and the letters are in a more familiar Qwerty layout as opposed to alphabetical. It makes one-handed typing easier to learn with only 8 more buttons to memorize than T9… it increases predictive accuracy since there are less letter/word combination possibilities… and you can also use two thumbs for much faster input. Do any Symbian phones use this type of keyboard yet?
No Adam, sure-type still isn’t used on Symbian phones, though I am thinking now that it should be very similar to the P1i and the M600 UIQ keyboard layout, but those use two directions of the same key, whereas sure-type uses more of a t9 like predictive input and letter cycling.
Personally, I think neither is ideal. You’re right about the limits of existing Qwerty phone/MID keyboards. The main problem with my N810, though, is that the keys are too stiff, and not enough tacticle feedback when you hit a key. In general, there’s just not enough standardization of symbolic layout.
But T9 isn’t perfect. On my Samsung SCH-R410, there are some symbols that aren’t available _AT_ALL_ via T9. I have to open up the keyboard in order to type them. And, you only have one key (#1) for symbols, making it annoying to try to type some less frequent symbols.
Overall, though, I think the best choice is what Samsung did with the R410 — both a qwerty and a T9 keypad. There are some things I’d improve about that phone, but the keyboard/keypad layout isn’t one of them.
I think the onlyu way to learn T9 is to be a SMS addict. Kinda leaves me out then
One doesn’t have to be a SMS addict to lean T9. It’s probably enough to make several calendar entries a day with it on the phone for a longer period of time. That’s how I will get used to it with my new phone as a phone call is easier and often cheaper than sending a SMS for me.
If one feels comfortable with typing lots of text on a phone is surely also heavily depending on the feeling of the keyboard hardware. I wouldn’t want to type longer texts on the K700i’s keyboard (feels far too hard to me and key spacing is not big enough), while with the N82 the feeling is far better. That’s why I intend to mostly replace my PDA with the N82 now and also learn T9.
One thing I miss on S60 3rd FP1 is being able to edit the list of words I added to T9 in order to correct it or remove now unused words. That’s the thing that was IMHO better in the T9 implementation on my previous phone (the K700i).
I think I’ve grown content with the T9, I too use it in class, while driving, and while walking… it’s easy, one handed, and I know where I am in the 12 key setup… I think it’s easier for people on the go…
If I were stuck in a cubicle, or took public transportation I think I would be able to get more done with qwerty, but… if I tried to do the driving and walking and typing, i wouldn’t be alive right now
But, I’ve never really tried… maybe i can get used to it…
totally agree and this is a good review of T9 dictionary,
but to my concern is that what does T9 actually means? anyone?
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