Maybe you don’t even know that your phone is probably capable of T9, or predictive text. T9 actually stands for Text on 9 Keys, which is the format of the normal cellphone keypad. If you set your phone to use T9 (check your user manual or google your specific phone for that), you can greatly increase your texting speed but it helps to know some basics first.
T9 allows you to type on your cellphone’s keypad using only one tap per key. Normally, to type the word “bet” you need to tap the 2 (abc) twice to get the letter “b”, then the 3 (def) twice to get the letter “e” then the 8 (tuv) once to type the letter “t”. With T9, you would just hit the 2 then the 3 then the 8. Predictive text will give you the most likely word you are trying to type and if it’s not the one you want, just hit the Next key (cellphone dependent but most likely down arrow, #, *, 0, or +key) to go to the next possible word, based on the numbers you’ve pressed.
Newer cellphones usually have T9 that will adapt to your texting and start to predict words based on the ones you most use. They have thousands of words but sometimes it won’t know the word. In such cases you’ll have to type in the word yourself. Usually you will be asked if you want to add a word. T9 even understands emoticons and chat phrases like LOL. If you want to type numbers, just hold down on the number key you want.
It’s one thing to tell you about T9 but if you want to know more and maybe practice a bit with an interactive web page, check out T9’s Learn Page. Happy texting (or 42779 8398464)!
