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I'm 35... and I always hated T9. I hated texting when I had a dumb phone... and I would yell at my younger friends/siblings when they would text instead of call. I compared it to the telegraph, technology in reverse. Just call me.

lol I was not expecting to spend this morning defending the virtues of T9, but here I am. I actually used to hate it too, because I thought you had to press a number several times to select a letter. So to type "Apple" you would have to type: 2 7 ... 7 555 ... 555 33 (A P ... P L ... L E).

But T9 eventually got predictive text. So if you just type 27753 (APPLE), it spells Apple. This is why T9 is so popular with Chinese users, and that's why Apple caters to them with a T9 keyboard.

Anyway I have to give it up for now. But know this. I cannot be the only T9 fan out there. We are your co-workers. Your friends. Your neighbors. We will not be silent.
 
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Anyway I have to give it up for now. But know this. I cannot be the only T9 fan out there. We are your co-workers. Your friends. Your neighbors. We will not be silent.
Haha.

To your original point... I would like an additional input option... but mostly just for correcting mistakes that Siri makes. I'm just not sure a keyboard of any kind is the answer.

Perhaps Siri will improve to the point that even when a mistake is made, you'll be able to tap a word and get a list of suggestions of other words you might have said.

I'm sure I'll continue using my phone for any texting that requires more than a quick canned response though.
 
Siri is so not in beta anymore. I use it constantly and unless you're a mush-mouth, it should work for you too.

My favorite reason to use Siri: movie times. Just ask, "movie times in (insert city)". Or, just say "movie times" and it brings up the theaters in the city you're closest to.
 
Anyway I have to give it up for now. But know this. I cannot be the only T9 fan out there. We are your co-workers. Your friends. Your neighbors. We will not be silent.

I want a predictive T9 on my apple watch for replying to messages.
That's why I'm here, was googling for one.

Anyone know, is T9 owned by somebody? Is the concept something that anyone can use, or is it something that requires a license fee to use?
 
I'm all for options, but who really wants to type a message on such a small screen? At that point it's time to pull out your iPhone. I doubt that Apple will ever add this feature.
 
Wow, really? That is so awkward & rude. I've never seen that, but I don't deny it could happen. Only time I've seen people use Siri are in the car. I live in New York, but maybe I go to the luddite coffee shops.

never heard anyone speak a message to their phone / wrist either and i am only 26. then again i havent seen anyone openly use siri either ^^
 
I want a predictive T9 on my apple watch for replying to messages.
That's why I'm here, was googling for one.

Anyone know, is T9 owned by somebody? Is the concept something that anyone can use, or is it something that requires a license fee to use?

Not happening... You cant even see your message while you type since the keypad would require the whole screen. It would be a terrible experience.

As was said earlier in this thread, iphone was the decisive death of T9, it would be odd for apple to go backwards on this.
 
The Apple Watch in it's current incarnation isn't here to replace the iPhone, it's here to work along side it.

Quick replies when it's convenient are great, but any other time it's better to use your iPhone.

How we interact with computers is always changing.

For example, you wouldn't have dreamed of of editing photos on a phone 10 years ago, but now i'm more efficient at editing photos on my phone than I am on my Mac!

We've only scratched the surface of what the Apple Watch can do, and if it's successful, it will be doing things in 10 years time we could ever dream of today. But typing on a T9 keyboard won't be one of them.

There has to be a better way.

Much like when people predicted the iPad would fail because it lacked a File Manager, but in reality, it succeeded BECAUSE it doesn't have one. I still feel like Apple will have failed if they introduce a file manager into iOS.

Touch Input for text is a casualty on the Apple Watch, and the current implementation of Siri isn't perfect, but I truely believe that Apple will have failed if they introduce a T9 keyboard. We just have to move forward to better solutions.
 
If you are texting friends, do you really think it would be less socially awkward to be staring at your watching tapping away at the 1" display? The Apple Watch isn't a phone replacement, think of it as a secondary screen that can show you information so you can decide if you need to pull out your phone to address that now, or if it can wait.

It may not be any less socially awkward, but it's less conspicuous than speaking in a loud clear voice in a crowded space so that Siri understands you. I agree that at a certain point it makes sense to pull out your phone, and those addicted to texting (especially for private conversations which most are) aren't going to be interested in the watch at all, because their phone never leaves their hands. That said, the watch is intended to be a more convenient alternative than using your phone. So, you're standing on the crowded subway, and you get a text you need to respond to. Your iPhone is buried in your backpack, where you put it because you now rely on your watch. So now you have three choices, 1) take off your back pack, and awkwardly dig around for your phone, in the crowded car 2) shout out a message to Siri, which may be of a personal nature, into the ears of those standing around you, or 3) quietly enter the message using T9 on your wrist. In that fairly common scenario, I'd take 3 everytime.
 
Don't think T9 would work well enough. But maybe handwriting recognition would do the job. I have a system in my car (BMW) that lets me ask/respond by using my finger to draw one letter at a time. It works pretty well. Drawing one letter at a time on the watch just may work. :cool:
 
I don't think we'll ever see it. In most situations where this would be useful, you probably can just pull out your phone just as easily.

In the car you would be the worst driver in the world trying to use t9 on AW - occupying both hands and your eyes simultaneously. In a coffee shop - just pull out your phone. Walking down the street? Just use voice. Or pull out your phone. The biggest issue with adding something like this is that Apple would rather you just use your iPhone if you can't use the mic or quick replies.

I guess it might be useful sitting in a class or a meeting, but it is such a limited use case that I doubt it will ever be implemented.
 
rather swype

I'd rather a swype like keyboard with some predictive text embedded, but I think that would still require the phone to work and could be laggy.

Maybe just a draw the letter like on the audi navigation, lexus and now daimler in car entertainment/nav systems where you just draw each letter.

It's VERY accurate since the library is discreet.
 
The Watch is for quick interactions. The phone is for long-winded texting. With a T9 keyboard the thing won't have any room for the actual message writing area.

Say you're in the grocery store trying to navigate through busy aisles or have your hands full you can raise your wrist and say "Hey Siri" and have it send a message to your wife asking about something on the shopping list or whatever. Or to simply respond to her message with a simple response using a tap. That's what it's for. It's not to sext back and forth or talk about financial planning. Get out the phone you already need to have on you for that stuff. If you're running without your phone then you probably aren't going to be texting very well nor in a quiet place where people can easily hear you unless you're at the gym in which case you can just put your phone on the treadmill.
 
I thought it would be nice to have a typing option for some minor things but it isn't a big deal. I have a Vietnamese friend and I absolutely cannot use speech to text to send her a message quickly. I guess as far as I am concerned as long as I can spell stuff out to Siri, I am ok with it. For the most part Speech to text works fine and if I am in a loud place I can typically get close to the mic and speak low enough that nobody hears. Still if I am trying to be private about a text I am not actually using my watch to do it. I just use the phone and type it out fast.
 
If neither the contextual responses, which work fairly well for me, nor the default replies that you can set are appropriate to use, I'm willing to bet pulling out your phone will be more efficient than trying to tap out a T9 response in most cases. If the response is so short then just use dictation to say "You can decide where we go for dinner."

I don't know if those that like the idea of T9 on the watch are using the passcode on the watch right now but I find I need to slow down and take my time to correctly hit 4 small buttons. T9 was effective because we could hold the phone in our hands and type with our thumbs on physical keys. It wouldn't be the same on the watch.
 
Yesterday I tried an experiment: Only take out my phone when it was absolutely necessary. And every time it was to text with friends. I was in a coffee shop, got some texts. I'm not going to raise my wrist up to my face and start talking out loud. It feels crass to do that. So I took my phone out.

Being able to tap out a quick reply would have been so useful. T9 actually is the preferred input for Chinese. Apple offers a T9 keyboard for Chinese iOS versions in HK and the Mainland, and while there are full keyboard options, everyone I see uses the T9.
I created a bunch of different custom responses that help with this. It gives a few more options, especially when you're sending multiple sequential texts.

But I have no trouble using Siri for about 99% of my texts.
 
But the point of the watch is that you AREN'T supposed to have your nose stuffed into it and pecking for minutes at a time. This is supposed to cut down from screen time when you're out in the world, not just a different screen to stare off into.

There are times I find myself wanting to just type a quick short reply but it's not one of the preset options available. Not saying that I want to text an essay on my watch but if Apple can figure out a way to allow input of text so brief messages can be entered, I think that'd be great.
 
i would love a keyboard on here. the new LG smartwatch has a keyboard. It would be perfect for meetings for short responses, without having to talk. They can develope something that only shows letters that can be inputted next. Like if i type "P" then it wont show an "M" or "B". that would create more space. If you need it those letters next to each other, just it hit space
 
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Anything more than a yes, no, ok type answer has me reaching for the phone. That wouldn't change with T9. It would still be really awkward. You just aren't meant to write a novel on the watch.
 
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There are times I find myself wanting to just type a quick short reply but it's not one of the preset options available. Not saying that I want to text an essay on my watch but if Apple can figure out a way to allow input of text so brief messages can be entered, I think that'd be great.

This is exactly how I feel about it.
 
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