There are many different methods of input being bandied around at the moment. I have experienced many different types T9, triple tap, handwriting recognition, graffiti and the humble keyboard.
Sometimes a quick message can be best served by t9 on a phone keypad. The formatting rules that the Nokia implementation of this uses makes writing a well formed text a breeze. If I were to try and write this on my p800 then it would take me twice as long even with the handwriting recognition. Maybe it’s just my writing but the speed at which it can recognise text is slow in comparison. If you are in a situation where you are only able to use one hand then writing a message on the P800 is nigh on impossible. I’m not having a dig at the P800 but there are many other devices that could benefit from a text entry solution that is similar to that of the T9.
Your article says this in a much more articulate way but I think that it is the devices that are going to be the innovators. The screen and the keyboard will need to be redesigned. I think that we will need to advance in speech recognition but this brings the problem of everyone talking at the same time to try and send an SMS or write an email, let alone a voice conversation.
The new Nokia 6800
http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,5184,4502,00.html looks as if it has taken a step backwards. What is the point of this? Surely people who are text mad will have learnt how to T9 already. The qwerty keyboard on this looks horrible to use. I think we still have a long way to go before input nirvana is achieved.
Alex.
