Smarter T9

[maverick74]

OK, sooo i got my wife into using TT9...

So far so good... she only complains about one thing (... no! Not generally speaking! Related to TT9, naturally XD ):

When she taps the wrong key - when typing a word - it does not suggest the right word (yeah, i can imagine what you're thinking...)

An example:

when typing the word "Hello" if, at the end, instead of pressing the 6-key - for "O" - one, by mistake, presses the 3-key it does not show "Hello" as a suggestion (naturally it - correctly - shows Helle, geller, Gelled, etc).

now my question is: can it be improved on this?

Users have a "limited" number of known words and even a more limited one that is used. Based on that knowledge associated to the frequency we use each word (plus the dictionary), can't TT9 deduce that there was a missed key and that what was actually meant was not "Helle", but "Hello" and suggest it?

(yeah, surely this will make the algorithm a lot more confuse!)

[sspanak]

I've read that there are predictive text engines which are able to offer spelling correction, but I have no idea how can this be achieved. But even if I knew, I am certain that additional processing will result in typing lag, which will be extremely annoying to everyone. And given that it took months to figure out how to make TT9 as fast as it is now, I don't feel like making significant changes to the typing algorithm.

It is very unlikely to fulfill this request, sorry!

Typing this way requires some exercise, but in the end it is actually more unlikely to accidentally hit the wrong key, in comparison to using QWERTY. So, keep practicing and it will get better. And if your wife makes too many mistakes all the time, maybe she shouldn't force herself into using TT9. Some people are just not able to learn, because it is not their thing.

[maverick74]

will result in typing lag, which will be extremely annoying to everyone.

Yeah! Nobody wants that!!!

Typing this way requires some exercise

Meh... not that much!!!! I was able to keep using T9 since the Nokia days (I actually never used any other kind of keyboard). After Nokia I used touchpal and was able to stretch it's life until being able to jump to tt9!

So, for me it's kind of a "natural thing" (what's unnatural is using a QWERTY keyboard with small keys on a touch phone!!!)

Same for my wife except that touchpal stopped working when she bought a new phone and tt9 didn't have pt-pt yet...

so she used gboard for a few months... and just recently made the jump to tt9!

However, both touchpal and gboard did have this prediction... hence my request...

all in all, she just have to pay more attention when typing to avoid orthographic errors!

Thank you

[sspanak]

I've seen that some of the Gboard dictionaries indeed contain spelling mistake links, for example, "gello" is linked to "hello". But these do not make sense in the context of a T9 keyboard due to the very different key layout, so I can't reuse them. I suppose, if I search hard enough, I could probably find a list of common mistakes for English, but I can't offer this kind of support for all 28 languages. A single person can't compete with a huge company like Google, or even a smaller one for that matter.

Now, there is an alternative way of doing it. I could start collecting information about what users type and how they correct their mistakes, but I don't want do it for two reasons: a) I don't want to track people; b) I am worried that the extra processing will cause lag when typing;

[maverick74]

Yeah, data collection was probably the way the touchpal guys did it ( and I suspect they were also a team instead of a single dev)!

All in all, neither data collection neither typing lag are good solutions! If those are indeed the only solutions it's preferable to do nothing!

I thought the approach would be to seek the dictionary for the nearby keys for each tap, cross it with the most used words and present the possible matches!

It would require more processing for sure - probably a lot more - but my knowledge don't allow me to quantify how much, neither "how much is too much"... specially when you also target low-end phones (and thanks for targeting them because mine is a bit old ahah!)...

so, I submitted it and see what you had to say! This does not affect me much (occasionally, yes but not much), but it surelly affects my wife ahah!

Let's see if she sticks to it or not! Time will tell!

Thanks once again!

[sspanak]

I would like to propose an alternative solution now that version 35.0 is out.

After updating, please go to Settings -> Appearance and increase the key height to 110%. Surprisingly, this helped me reduce the typing mistakes, especially when I am holding the phone at an angle or when trying to do something else with my other hand. It may be just what your wife needed too.

I may also add a 105% option. After trying out different heights for a while, it feels the jump from 100% to 110% is too big.

[maverick74]

Well, I've got nothing to loose! It worth's a shoot! I'll try it and let you know about it in some time🙂