There are virtual T9 keypads available that show up as a regular phone numberpad with the letters on it to do T9. I've tried at least 3 for my Droid (I remember two of them were Handcent SMS and Better Keyboard), but none of them really emulate T9 mode on a physical keypad. One was actually a paid app, but I returned it because it sucked.
What I'd like to see in a T9 keyboard:
- A logical dictionary. One of the ones I tried (don't remember which one) would pop up a random combination of letters or words that exist but aren't as common as other words with the same key sequence, and you had to select the correct word from a list.
- Instead of having to select the correct word from a list, I'd LOVE a "Next" button (on my old phone, the LG Chocolate 3, this was the 0 key) so that I can just hit that to get to the next word. I text a LOT, and with T9 on my old phone, for most words, I knew how many times I had to click next to get to the word I wanted (for example, type 6-3 would give me "of", whereas 6-3-0 would give me "me".) It was fast fast fast that way. It's frustrating not to have that on a virtual keyboard, especially when it's so easy to accidentally click the wrong word when you're trying to select one from a list.
- Ability to easily switch to ABC or QWERTY mode to enter unfamiliar words and have them added to the dictionary. I think only one (or maybe none) of the keyboards I tried had this. And one was even worse--my workaround for typing an unfamiliar word was to start typing another word with those same letters, hit space after I got the letter I wanted, then delete the characters that weren't part of what I wanted. One keyboard wouldn't even let me do that, so I couldn't type ANY unfamiliar words! Seriously, how do you not think about that?
-Have the 1 key be a rotating list of symbols, based on common use. For example, a period would come first, comma second, !, ?, etc. And if you press 1 multiple times, it'll make different emoticons:
;-) :-/ :-( etc. Also, make it so that a long-press on the #1 key will pop up a screen with more symbols in it.
I'm sure there are probably other things, but these are my main frustrations. I really love my Droid, but it's my first smartphone, and the reason I held out so long to get one was because I hate using qwerty on a phone, and I prefer a tactile keypad. Because I love the Droid I'll use the virtual keypad, but I really miss T9. I use ShapeWriter now, which is better than straight qwerty, but I'd gladly pay that same $10-15 for a truly functional T9 keypad that replicates that of one on a physical phone.
Anyone? Please?
What I'd like to see in a T9 keyboard:
- A logical dictionary. One of the ones I tried (don't remember which one) would pop up a random combination of letters or words that exist but aren't as common as other words with the same key sequence, and you had to select the correct word from a list.
- Instead of having to select the correct word from a list, I'd LOVE a "Next" button (on my old phone, the LG Chocolate 3, this was the 0 key) so that I can just hit that to get to the next word. I text a LOT, and with T9 on my old phone, for most words, I knew how many times I had to click next to get to the word I wanted (for example, type 6-3 would give me "of", whereas 6-3-0 would give me "me".) It was fast fast fast that way. It's frustrating not to have that on a virtual keyboard, especially when it's so easy to accidentally click the wrong word when you're trying to select one from a list.
- Ability to easily switch to ABC or QWERTY mode to enter unfamiliar words and have them added to the dictionary. I think only one (or maybe none) of the keyboards I tried had this. And one was even worse--my workaround for typing an unfamiliar word was to start typing another word with those same letters, hit space after I got the letter I wanted, then delete the characters that weren't part of what I wanted. One keyboard wouldn't even let me do that, so I couldn't type ANY unfamiliar words! Seriously, how do you not think about that?
-Have the 1 key be a rotating list of symbols, based on common use. For example, a period would come first, comma second, !, ?, etc. And if you press 1 multiple times, it'll make different emoticons:
;-) :-/ :-( etc. Also, make it so that a long-press on the #1 key will pop up a screen with more symbols in it.I'm sure there are probably other things, but these are my main frustrations. I really love my Droid, but it's my first smartphone, and the reason I held out so long to get one was because I hate using qwerty on a phone, and I prefer a tactile keypad. Because I love the Droid I'll use the virtual keypad, but I really miss T9. I use ShapeWriter now, which is better than straight qwerty, but I'd gladly pay that same $10-15 for a truly functional T9 keypad that replicates that of one on a physical phone.
Anyone? Please?
