T9 (predictive text)

Uncommon card · No. 173232

T9, which stands for Text on 9 keys, is a predictive text software technology for mobile phones, specifically those that contain a 3×4 numeric keypad (which may be physical or virtual). It was originally developed by Tegic Communications with the goal to make typing on telephone keypads faster by eliminating manual multi-taps text input. The T9 allows words to be guessed by a single button press per letter, using its internal dictionary database for the input language. When an ambiguous entry is inputted, the T9 displays possible outputs in a list for the user to pick the desired word. Custom words may also be added to the dictionary. T9's main competing technologies have been eZiText by Zi Corporation (with which Tegic fought a decade long patent war against), iTap by Motorola, Eatoni's LetterWise and WordWise, and SureType by RIM. The first mobile phones with T9 integrated into their software came out in the late 1990s. It became very widely adopted across the industry during the boom...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Tegic Communications, Inc., Public domain