LONDON, England – What’s the best way to type text-messages or emails on your mobile phone? For me, T9 is still the king of the keypads. Ever since I’ve owned a mobile phone, T9 has been the main and only way of interacting with my phone. So why would I change? This week, Jason, James and I are having a little debate. Which is the best way of typing? Let’s get this started, with my opinion.
As I stated in my intro, I am in no doubt that the T9 is the best way of entering the words that leave my brain into my phone. It just works. And it always has done. Those 9 little keys with the alphabet printed on them is perfect.
I normally embrace change and always give new things a try. I’ve tried Swype and the QWERTY keyboard that’s available on my Nokia N8. I think they’re good, just not better than the T9 input method.
Look at the image on the right. How could this not be the best way of typing in a message. As I hold my phone in my right hand, my thumb is perfectly poised and in position to press down on any one of the keys that lay beneath. If I want to type an A, B or C I just press number 2. And for the rest of the word I just continue to press each key a single time and the predictive-text works out what I want to type and just types it for me. For example, if I want to type “Nokia Conversations” I simply press: 6; 6; 5; 4; 2; 0; 2; 6; 6; 8; 3; 7; 7; 2; 8; 4; 6; 6; and 7. Simple right? OK, so that might just look like a series of random numbers, but it spelled out the right word, with one hand, automatically. Just perfect.
Texting, for me, needs to be an easy task and not feel like a chore. I need to be able to text on-the-go and even when I’m walking about, while still being able to keep an eye on what’s ahead. Otherwise, I’ll be one of those annoying people who bump into other people.
I can see why people might like Swype, but it requires too much thumb action. With T9, I can be fairly inaccurate and non-precise when it comes to landing my thumb-thuds and I can be guaranteed to still have all my words spelled correctly. With Swype I have to be quite precise. The same can be said about the QWERTY on screen keyboard, too. The keys are smaller and therefore I must be extra careful when typing. It’s more difficult to type on those keys when I’m on the move.
T9 is definitely the king of keypads, for me.
Tomorrow, we’ll be hearing from James, who’ll be giving us his reasons for sticking with a solid QWERTY keyboard before Jason offers his opinion on why Swype and QWERTY on his Nokia N8 is unbeatable.
No need to wait, though, share your thoughts on your favourite method of inputting text. Let us know in the comments below.