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Originally published on 02/14/2002
The standard QWERTY keyboard was intentionally designed to slow down typists on early, jam-prone typewriters. But it took SMS (short message service) to really define the state of the art in bad text entry. Entering letters on a 12-key telephone keypad is not just slow and awkward, it's costing cellular carriers money in the form of lots of unsent messages.
A few companies make workarounds, like Tegic's T9 "predictive keyboard" software that bridges the gap from numbers to letters (the company was purchased by AOL). At Demo 2002 in Phoenix, I saw a newer company, Digit Wireless, that solves the problem with a hardware solution called Fastap: it simply puts tiny raised letter buttons between the numeric keys (which are recessed). It's faster than any software solution for a 12-key pad, and its user interface is obvious at a glance.
Surprisingly, Fastap works well even if you have fat fingers, as the numbers on the keypad are "pressed" when your fingers mush over the small letter buttons at the four corners of the numbers (the company's site illustrates this).
When I tried Fastap, I found it much better for short messages than a predictive keyboard is. But it's not as fast as using a small QWERTY keyboard, like the one on a Blackberry, Treo, or Danger device.
Still, Fastap can help cell phones become better devices for text input, and it's cheap and easy to use. The company won't divulge which (if any) cell phone manufacturers have licensed Fastap, but considering the competition in cell phones now, I wouldn't be surprised to see several companies experiment with this idea.
- Rafe Needleman
email: rafe-needleman@catchoday.com
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