T9 beats qwerty...

I disagree very strongly with the notion of T9 being superior to QWERTY.

One of my favorite received SMSs was 'foot forget to give of a shout', sent by a T9 fan who didn't bother to proofread his messages. 😉

By far the most effective handheld device I have ever found for text entry (particularly anything beyond a few words) was the Psion Series 3c. The second best device? The E61. None of the many 10-key devices (either with or without T9), nor the many other QWERTY devices (Zaurus 5500, Psion 5mx, Mako (Revo), 6800, 9300, Treo 650, etc.), nor any of the touchscreen devices (same Zaurus, same Treo, various CE/PocketPC devices, various Palm devices, etc.) which I have can touch it, simple as that.

I became quite proficient at text entry with a 10-key phone keypad on the 6190, before T9 was an option. When I got T9-capable devices, I tried it, but it just never cut it for me. One of the first things I do when getting a T9-capable device is to turn it off. One of its greatest problems lies in its unpredictable nature, which is quite ironic considering that it is a predictive input scheme. 😉 T9 requires extensive proofreading, which contradicts any notion of increased speed, and/or makes it unusable (or at least highly inaccurate) without considerable visual attention. I have vastly more confidence in the accuracy of text typed on a 10-key keypad without T9. For speed and accuracy, a good QWERTY keyboard is the only way to fly.

Also, I tire of the complaints about QWERTY devices being so 'large'. The E61 is smaller than just the battery pack of a handheld cell phone of not too many years ago! It is also much smaller than many PDAs of even more recent vintages. Additionally, the E61 form factor is the closest to perfection which I have found yet, having no mechanical compromises in the form of flips, hinges, or slides, and also having an absolutely gorgeous display in the proper landscape orientation. Combined with a Krusell Classic case (a work of art in its own right), it is pretty much the ultimate device. Considering that it is smaller than a PDA, and replaces a PDA, a phone, and a variety of other devices, it is simply absurd to say that it is too large.

It's not just over a week since I saw this post and I'll admit to being converted.

I'm using it in pretty much the way I assume it was intended - in other words, when sending e-mails I open up my E90 and use the QWERTY, when sending SMS I'm using T9.

There's no doubt that there is a short but sharp learning curve - and I guess it will get easier once my user dictionary expands - but for now I'm happy (and quite impressed).

One caveat. T9 is now quicker for me sending SMS messages with the E90 closed compared with using multitap - however, I am probably the slowest multitapper in the world so any improvement is relative !

It's not superior to QWERTY - it's just an option that provides a better alternative in some messaging situations. I wouldn't want to give up my QWERTY but it's nice to have the choice.

n0k1a wrote:I disagree very strongly with the notion of T9 being superior to QWERTY.

One of my favorite received SMSs was 'foot forget to give of a shout', sent by a T9 fan who didn't bother to proofread his messages. 😉

That's his fault, not T9's. Had he typed the appropriate punctuation (36618 instead of 3668), he would have written "don't" instead of "foot". And since the next alternative word for "of" is "me", it's also his fault for not knowing that. Once you learn those, there isn't any room for error.

I have heard of some Tap enthusiasts who can type the most complex messages the fastest, but particularly in your example, "don't" (36618) is much easier to type than "don't" (3666, pause, 6611111118) or "dont" (3666, pause, 668).

I still have yet to see anyone post a better speed and I still have yet to receive a message spelled correctly on my phone sent from a QWERTY user.

does T9 exist for nokia N95 8gb??

i used T9 in my sony eric k800i

its not in my nokia................but i have found app callled quickwrite for symbian.........pretty similar...........

Does anybody wanna race?

Typing Is Not Car Racing!
Human beings are not designed to concentrate on typing but THINKING!!!

This was done with brain, mind you.
(just an irony 😊)

If you go to http://www.t9.com/us/learn/ and take a few minutes to pick up some tips, you'll be pretty impressed with T9. Learning that the "1" key gives me predictive punctuation was wonderful. And for non "txt spk" people, T9 works great, 'cause what you're typing will actually be in its dictionary...

ONE thing we might agree on.... is that texting and driving might be much less of a problem if people didn't use full keyboards. With a regular phone pad ppl can text using one hand and one thumb WITHOUT even looking at the phone. Yes, you might have to glance to make sure you typed the right words, but you certainly don't have to take both hands off the steering wheel, use both thumbs, and put most of your attention on the phone.

Plus, most ppl who text and drive are not business ppl replying to business e-mails and messages and need to be grammatically correct (I understand this is where full keyboard is most useful). Most ppl involved in texting while driving accidents are dumb ppl, talking to other dumb ppl, about dumb ppl sh*t. [Boondocks reference] So T9 offers the opportunity to be able to text with one thumb without staring at your phone (predictive texting makes it faster of course but can still be done without it). This all is assuming accidents mostly happen because of full keyboard texting. I didn't think up this theory until I started considering upgrading my 5 yr old phone haha!