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Next Generation T9 Keyboard Technology
Iddo Genuth writes "Cliff Kushler, the inventor of the T9 keyboard technology for numeric keypads, has developed a new alphanumeric entry technology for touch-screen laptops and Smartphone devices. This latest technology, named Swype, works with an on-screen QWERTY keyboard similar to ones found on Windows Mobile and the iPhone. The difference from the usual method of typing in the letters is that a finger or stylus is used to slide in the first letter, then without lifting the finger, the user continues writing the entire word. Only once the word is completed can the finger be lifted off. According to the developers, this leads to a much faster way of 'typing,' or as we might call it soon, 'swiping.'"
"Swyper no swyping"!
Touchscreen keyboards to me have always been hard to use. On both the plasma-screen smartboards at my friend's A/V workplace and the ones I've seen in modern (i.e. well funded) high schools, the windows on screen keyboard and the keyboard prepackaged with the smartboard software is just terrible, partially due to the heat-sensitive surface being activated wherever my finger's heat first hits it, i.e. NOT where I wanted it to be.
This looks much more promising, and will hopefully be preventing the smartboard users from running back to a physical keyboard just to type something after using the mouse in front of the actual screen.
All these virtual keyboards are hard-coded for QWERTY, which makes even less sense for that kind of device than for a modern keyboard!
Dvorak should be an option, along with alphabetical order.
Actually for this thing, there's probably a whole new layout that's optimal. (That's an exercise for the reader to invent.)
I find it works well, unless I want to type a message in a different language. Then it really goes bad. But, I've got a Nokia, and it works great. once you make it learn a few words by spelling them yourself (usually suburb names) its great. If you wanna use slang, hit the hash key a few times, and it takes it off T9, so you can free type.
But when typing a normal SMS, T9 predictive input makes it so much easier for me.
I've had an iPhone application for quite a while that uses this. It's called WritingPad, and the about screen has a link to http://shapewriter.com/.
Google's ad engine selected "WI Portable Restrooms -- We Offer Portable Restrooms in Every Configuration & Price Range" for this page.
OK, back to the drawing board on product name.
Take a look at this demo of ShapeWriter from IBM. It's the same thing as Swype and was invented 5 years ago. Dr Zhai has formed a company around the tech and you can see it here: ShapeWriter.
First, I never use that T9 stuff, because it never chooses the right word. Guessing the word that you want to type isn't convenient, it's annoying. Also, it doesn't allow for purposefully misspelled words and text slang.
At least in good recent implementations it does usually choose the right word, because in addition to having generic word frequency data it learns the most common words you personally use. You can also add your own words to the dictionary, so you can use as many purposefully mispelled words and slang terms as you like. You can always drop out of T9 mode for unusual requirements.
I usually dislike people who don't use T9; they tend to be the idiots who write things like "l8r" (7 key-presses, assuming you can hold the key down to get the 8 and wait between letters) instead of "later" (5 key-presses with T9, entered as fast as you like). A good T9 implementation lets me compose messages with correct spelling and punctuation more rapidly and reliably and with less effort. Messages with correct grammar, spelling and punctuation can be read more reliably and rapidly by the recipients.
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Ugh. I'll never code another stack after reading this :P
i've been using the writingpad iphone app for months that does just this.
http://www.shapewriter.com/iphone.html
Is this anything like Dasher? The demo can be seen here
Holy crap, you are an idiot!
I got to try out Swype last fall at the TC50. It's pretty great technology, as I remember to do a double letter you just needed to loop around the letter.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned SureType- the system the BlackBerry Pearl uses. The keyboard is laid out in QWERTY style, but there are two letters per key. This allows for fewer possible words than a T9 per key-press and also allows for faster typing because of the high likelihood of tapping on the same key consecutively or alternating between the same sets of two or three keys. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blackberrypearl.JPG for a look at the layout.
This looks like the Shark typing method created for IBM a few years back.
I really liked the Shark idea when it first came out, so it's good to see something similar again. (Plus Shark worked on non-QWERTY 'boards as well, you just changed the settings on its initialisation)
I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...
If I understood the idea correctly, tracing paths between letters gives you a curve, or at least a broken line with points where individual letters should stand. That means that, with practice, you simply draw a curve describing the word you want to enter.
Having started learning Chinese a few months ago, I'm beginning to wonder if we're re-inventing the wheel here...
Ignore this signature. By order.
I usually dislike people who don't use T9; they tend to be the idiots who write things like "l8r"
You sir, are certainly a judgmental idiot. I agree with the GP. I have a poor opinion of T9, because it rarely ever gets the right word. I usually write specific messages that don't fit to the canned word guesses it has. Trying to use it often turns out to be more work than it saves, at least for me. And I don't write in leet or in the SMS lingo.
As one of the many poor typists out there, I don't see why we still have to choose between looking at the keyboard and learning to touch type. A touch keyboard, detecting my finger positions, could coordinate with a translucent virtual kbd on screen that also displayed my finger positions. The virtual kbd would be made to appear and disappear with appropriate gestures. Addional feedback would include haptic, sound, & 'hover' keys. And, as the whole thing is virtual, it would reconfigure on the fly to cope with any language, which simplifies life for the PC manufacturer. The touch keyboard would still need some kind of display but it could be pretty basic. Oh dear - I hope I haven't described this in too much detail. I wouldn't want some poor patent troll to starve...
--- Yx3 = Delilah ---