Anysoftkeyboard: [Feature Request] Implement T9

[maverick74]

T9 patented technology ( https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=US&NR=5818437&KC=&FT=E&locale=en_EP# ) is set to expire in next October 6th.

I'm not sure if one can work on the technology before the patent expires and release the implementation on the day the patent expires, or if one can only work on the technology after the patent expiration, but it would be great to have this ASAP

[TimMagee]

T9? As in the old system used on feature phones without QWERTY keyboards to speed up text entry from a numeric keypad? How exactly does that benefit ASK?

[maverick74]

It does not benefit ASK in anything!

But it does benefit users that, like me, have big fingers, hate to have to write on the cell phone with two hands and that hates to have to use keyboards like TouchPal just because of this single feature.

About the amount of users that does use this, I'm actually not the guy that can provide you with statistics but i can tell you that a lot of people around me uses this...

But maybe it's a "_local thing_".

(you managed to make me feel an old guy, however. From your talk i guess you never lived the good old Atari and ZX Spectrum days ahahaha... actually... i guess you never lived without a cellphone, have you? ahahah just messing with you :p)

[TimMagee]

It does not benefit ASK in anything!

I have to disagree. Or maybe my previous question was the wrong one. I meant, "How does it benefit ASK _users_?"
If this benefits the users, it "benefits ASK" as the goal of ASK is to help the users input on their phones.

[maverick74]

Well, anyway you got your answer. :) At least from my POV...

(also, i believe that the hard part of the code is already done, just not configured to work like T9 because of it being patented. But this is a "personal" belief. Only Menny can tell for sure - unless your coding skills are better than mine ahaha )

[maverick74]

let me add that:

The compact keyboard layout is also great for me (it has big keys as well), but it also suffers from the same problem that, according to menny, is a consequence of T9 being patented ( see bug #834 ).

Still, let me clarify my suspect: @menny how difficult would you consider the implementation of T9 on ASK as it is right now? Would it be easy, hard, etc?

[maverick74]

Hurray!!!

T9 not patented anymore :D

(sorry for the comment, but i believe it's good news. I've been waiting for this patent to expire for a long time)

[swedneck]

T9 is something many old people would appreciate too

[maverick74]

Yes, many old people knows how to use T9 and prefer it to qwerty.

But I wasn't even talking about them above but in people in their 30's.

I really believe it would be a great addition to ASK. Personally it would allow me to get rid of TouchPal and their "telemetry" of everything I type...

It's not that I'm against Telemetry! I personally enable all telemetry on Firefox, for example. I just don't like that all my telemetry gets behind closed doors in a way that I have no clue what they do with it (or even what info exactly they collect - something I know in Firefox).

Privacy is, actually, one of my main reasons to change to ASK. (not to mention liteness, customization and the absence of those annoying Ads...).

I've tried to make the jump many times before (and convert friends to it as well), but I came to notice that T9 always stood in the way...

That's why I believe it's needed

[maverick74]

@menny please, could you consider include it in 1.9-r6 ?

[maverick74]

Any plans for this feature?

[llight3]

I would also love to see this happen, it's especially useful on smartphones with small screens or for searching contacts. Seems easy enough to implement since you already have a decent pradictive text feature you would only need to add the public algorithm for ambiguous input.

[maverick74]

@llight3 i also get the same feeling!
I believe this would be just a mere adjustment.
I think that recognizing that two keystrokes on the same key means two letters (and not one) would do the trick ( like mentioned in #834 )

[pawlosck]

Any progress? Any code added? I am waiting for this feature too.

[maverick74]

I've been waiting for this for years now (mentioned it many times in other bugs)...

I'm starting to feel this will not get implemented ever... :(

(very very disappointed about it...)

[pawlosck]

Probably, we have to wait for older developer (someone, who remember how to use phone without touch screeen) who implement this feature ;-).

[maverick74]

Damn!!! I'm not old!!! I'm not even in my 40s!!!
LOLOL

Now, jokes aside. I use T9 all the time! For example, I'm typing in T9 right now using TouchPal.

My reason to do so is because I have big fingers which don't do so well with a qwerty keyboard and because I also don't need to "travel so much space" to write a word (which might be ergonomically good).

It does work really well, if ask me. My problem with TouchPal is that it's not open-source and so I don't know what data they collect (beside getting all those boring ads)

[maverick74]

@menny Well...

Not that it is of any importance, but maybe it counts for something: I'll let "you" know that I've decided to remove ASK (and content myself with TouchPal) as it's been a fairly frustrating wait for the only feature that really matters to me ATM.

I wish all the best for the project.

(Feel free to close this issue)

[Merlignux]

Would also vote on this!

[harmtemolder]

I actually like TouchPal's approach, "T+". Kind of like T9, but based on QWERTY and two letters per key instead of three. I don't like the emoji circus that is TouchPal, though, so I'd rather see something like this in AnySoftKeyboard. I'm not an app developer, but as soon as someone starts working on this, I'd be happy to help think the implementation through

[maverick74]

@harmtemolder ASK also has that layout.
Problem is that since the "T9 predictability" / "Way of function" is not implemented it does not work like in TouchPal.

E.g.: You can't press 2x the same key for having two different letters. It always thinks your inserting the first letter from that key.

It's a real PITA!

[llight3]

This could be done if ASK implemented multitap gesture support (like how the shift button works) so it might be worth opening another feature request for that as that is something that would help users even outside of T9 for instance a multi tap could cycle through specific layers of a keyboard (EG English to numbers to Cyrillic ) or to show permantly the modifyers that you would normally get by holding said key. To my understanding this would also be better implemented at a lower level than T9. T9 could be a simple keyboard and would work like any other language however multi tap jestures for all keys would be a lower level feature that would then need to be exposed to the language keyboard devs.

[maverick74]

@llight3 yes, you're probably right...
I only opened this one because when i mentioned i could not type "Hi" from the T9 keyboard layout the reason given to me was that T9 was patented (at the time) and that for that reason it could not be implemented!

Maybe what you suggest would solve the issue completely... i don't know...

[pawlosck]

I hope that someone will finally implement it.

[maverick74]

@pawlosck ... It's better that you find yourself a bed if you plan on waiting for it.

i like ASK a lot, but I ended up giving up on this... It's been a very frustrating wait... I would really like to replace TouchPal, but the fact is that I need a keyboard that works, and ASK ain't doing the thing - for me.

[pawlosck]

I am using original Samsung keyboard. Generally is ok, but privacy policy isn't ok for me. Some things are broken or I can't change it. Sometimes T9 is ON and sometimes is OFF and I don't know how to on permamently or On when is needed.

[zaskokus]

I'd like to vote for this feature as well. I'm stuck with TouchPal as other users, for same reasons. Implementation of T9 in there would be a spectacular improvement in usability.

[whoizit]

I use Smart Keyboard Trial for T9. I've long since quit the paid version of TouchPal cause agressive advertising and cpu load.

[zaskokus]

I use Smart Keyboard Trial for T9. I've long since quit the paid version of TouchPal cause agressive advertising and cpu load.

I know we went off-topic right now, but blocking internet traffic for TP keyboard app made it butter smooth and ads free.

[maverick74]

@zaskokus I've also done the same thing with the same results. But I still don't trust it. And I would like very much to switch over to ASK. Even if I had to let go of some features.

Unfortunately, first T9 was under a patent, now it's no more. It became free in 2018. But still no one seems to care about this...

Even Emoji is more important than this... (I personally don't see anyone caring about emoji. But there you have it! You get emoji updates and nothing new T9. But maybe it's a "me and my friends thing" that don't use this emoji tendency)

Anyway, I still think it wouldn't be "a lot of work" to implement it... But then again, I might be wrong about it.

The only way out seems to be a do-it-yourself feature. Unfortunately, I'm not up to the task and I don't see anyone interested in it that can code...

So, TouchPal it is....... :(

[maverick74]

By the way, do anyone knows about any other FOSS keyboard that has T9?

I've searched for it A LOT with on luck. F-droid, at least, has no alternative...

[zaskokus]

I remember I used to use another proper T9 keyboard like 2-3 years ago and I've a hard time finding it again.
But regradless of the outcome - I wish ASK has this implemented. The TP implementation + layout + feel + options is one of the best-ever attempts to create a fat-finger-proof super useful keyboard in the android world ever. I'd pay for a proper app if that ever existed.

[itzikiap]

I've found a keyboard layout for ask, with similar layout to T9. It's very buggy when you type individual keys , but it works surprisingly well when gesture typing.
It's called "AnySoftKeyboard - Alternative Keyboards Pack".
But yeah , it's a bit frustrating to use…

[maverick74]

I think something really reliable would be needed.

For frustration there are a lot of other unavoidable things choose from