What is t9?
T9 is a text input method for mobile phones and other small devices. It replaces the “multi-tap” input method by guessing the word that you are trying to enter. T9 may be embedded in a device by the manufacturer. Note that even if the device supports T9, the Java implementation may or may not use it. Check your documentation for details.
T9, which stands for Text on 9 keys, is a patented predictive text technology for mobile phones, developed by Alex Robinson of Tegic Communications, recently acquired by Nuance Communications . It is used on phones from LG, Samsung Electronics, Nokia, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, Sanyo, Sagem and others. Its main competitors are iTap, created by Motorola, and LetterWise, created by Eatoni. Also it was used by Texas Instruments PDA Avigo during the late 90s. T9’s objective is to make it easier to type text messages. It allows words to be entered by a single keypress for each letter, as opposed to the multi-tap approach used in the older generation of mobile phones in which several letters are associated with each key, and selecting one letter often requires multiple keypresses. It combines the groups of letters on each phone key with a fast-access dictionary of words. It looks up in the dictionary all words corresponding to the sequence of keypresses. As it gains familiarity with the words a
Data is entered into Avigo using a stylus pen that is tapped against its screen. If you were entering data such as an address, a keyboard would be available at the bottom of the screen. Characters would appear as you tapped each “key” with the stylus. The T9 technology is a rapid text entry system that recognizes pre-programmed words from the user’s keytaps. When entering data such as an address, the user has the choice of using a QWERTY keyboard or a T9 keyboard. The T9 keyboard is very similar to a telephone keypad. Each of the “keys” has 3 to 4 letters grouped on it. Rather than tapping each individual character, the user can tap the general key that contains the letter. The T9 software will then interpret the keytaps into a word or list of words. The user is capable of adding words that might not already exist in the T9 database.
