Momopi, why would anyone use T9 input mode on a cell phone?

[Winston]

Momopi,
Another thing I don't get.

Why would anyone want to use the T9 input mode on a cell phone? Sometimes you accidentally activate it while texting and then it's a pain to try to turn it off.

The thing is, on T9 input, every letter you type brings up common words for you to select from. But the thing is, 99 percent of the time those words are not the ones I want and I can't get rid of the words it selects, so I can't even type out the word I want!

So I see no way I can possibly use the T9 input mode to text or write any SMS at all. It's completely unusable.

So why is it there and who uses it and how?

[momopi]

I had an ex-GF from Malaysia who used predictive text mode on her cel phone to text. This was back in the days when everyone used numeric keypads for texting. It helped her spam international text msgs to me at an incredible rate. And before I can input a response, she already sent 2 complaining that 1) I'm slow, and 2) how come I never text her back.

Now that we have blackberries, iphones, etc. with keypads, I can actually text...

[Winston]

I had an ex-GF from Malaysia who used predictive text mode on her cel phone to text. This was back in the days when everyone used numeric keypads for texting. It helped her spam international text msgs to me at an incredible rate. And before I can input a response, she already sent 2 complaining that 1) I'm slow, and 2) how come I never text her back.

Now that we have blackberries, iphones, etc. with keypads, I can actually text...

That doesn't answer my question. How can she text at all on T9 input? It brings up words that you don't want and doesn't allow you to not select them. So you are forced to select one of the wrong words, and you can't continue typing in the letters. How can anyone possibly type under such an input system?

How?

[momopi]

I had an ex-GF from Malaysia who used predictive text mode on her cel phone to text. This was back in the days when everyone used numeric keypads for texting. It helped her spam international text msgs to me at an incredible rate. And before I can input a response, she already sent 2 complaining that 1) I'm slow, and 2) how come I never text her back.

Now that we have blackberries, iphones, etc. with keypads, I can actually text...

That doesn't answer my question. How can she text at all on T9 input? It brings up words that you don't want and doesn't allow you to not select them. So you are forced to select one of the wrong words, and you can't continue typing in the letters. How can anyone possibly type under such an input system?

How?

Predictive text is a very primitive AI that learns from your habitual use. Some Asian-language input systems work the same way. It's a two way street where the primitive AI tries to adopt to your word usage, and you (the user) try to work within its limitations.

People who can type really fast on T9 systems probably learned new word-patterns that would work best with the system.