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MessagEase, yet another alternative keyboard for Android smartphones, is announcing that their application now supports text entry in eight additional languages. Now English speakers as well as those who call Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Hebrew, Persian, or Arabic their native language can utilize MessageEase’s take on typing. The tactic is use less keys to speed up typing, parsing the whole job down to just nine buttons. Anyone use it?
[via AndroudGuys]
First I ever heard of it. What’s the premise?
arabie!
The premise of MessagEase: given that QWERTY keys are too small to be efficient and accurate (Fitts’ Law!), the keys are fewer and larger. Also, the letter arrangements are made NOT to untangle the hammers (QWERTY!) but to minimize the movement of a finger. There are only nine keys. Two or more letters are assigned to each key. Nine most frequent letters are assigned to the center of each key. You enter each of these with a single tap on a larger key. 71% of the times you only do that. For the rest, you start with the key where they are located and drag in the direction indicated by there position. If that letter is placed on the top edge, you drag up; bottom-right edge, you drag down-right, etc. You get what you type in. No reinterpretation of your squiggles! No surprises!
no chinese????
By the way, the stats published here for MessagEase is a few minutes old! Downloads have exceeded 10k for a few weeks and the rating average is 3.7+
Man can someone get me an uncensored t9 predictive text keyboard I mean I understand why they don’t initially come uncensored but come on I am tired or entering a whole library of words over and over again.
@2FR35H Stop switching keyboards and you wont have that problem. If you like one enough to enter a whole library of words, you should stick with it.
On that same note, I agree that this would be annoying. It doesn’t really apply to me but I can understand. There should be a device dictionary that all keyboards pull from. I doubt this will ever happen or is even possible given how different keyboards, especially those like Swype and BlindType are developed the way they are but it would be nice.
yay persian
I use it and love it. i am actually interested in a phone with out a physical keyboard. takes some time to learn, which people bitch about, but it is worth it.
Tried the keyboard, it is pretty nice and quick.
Swype is still much faster, and since I still have to look at the keyboard to type there is no advantage in switching. At least 8pen, thow slower than skype one can blind type with that keyboard.
i’ve been using the messagEase keyboard for a while.. it’s interesting, but i still find the T9 easier because i’m so used to it. Basically it’s a great idea, but i think it could be better designed. Why isn’t E the central letter, for example? But they’ve had it out since 2002 so i guess they’ve tried a few different things.
i agree with @AGx it would be so much better if it would use predictive text, and also could draw on a single user dictionary for all keyboards.
michael