What kinds of input methods are there for mobile phones? Which works best?

T9 input method solves the text input problem of small handheld devices and becomes one of the global standards for mobile phone text input. At present, Nokia, Siemens, Panasonic, Philips and other companies support this input method. When T9 inputs Chinese Pinyin, you only need to press the key of each letter once, and T9' s internal program will automatically form legal Pinyin according to the algorithm. In addition, after inputting a word, some common words that can form phrases with the word will appear on the screen, and users can directly select them without inputting pinyin.

T9 Chinese input method includes strokes, pinyin and phonetic notation. Besides pinyin, stroke input is the most commonly used. Users only need to input strokes in turn as usual, and T9 will select matching Chinese characters from the built-in language database.

Second, the word energy input method

Users who have used early Ericsson mobile phones are very familiar with this input method. At present, this input method is mainly adopted by early Ericsson models, Alcatel and some domestic mobile phones. In pinyin input, the word energy is similar to T9. In stroke input, the ability of Chinese characters is better. For users who are not familiar with strokes, the word energy input method can use the stroke query key for fuzzy input. It seems that in terms of humanization, Chinese characters are better than T9 input method.

Three. ITAP input method

This input method is a unique skill of Motorola. ITAP is developed on the basis of T9, and its input algorithm is basically similar to T9. However, iTAP also has its own characteristics in stroke input-supporting reverse strokes. ITAP can still search for the Chinese characters that users need from the fonts when users reverse strokes during the input process.

Let's get into today's topic. The ease of use of the input method depends on several conditions:

1, rationality of strokes;

2. Number of duplicate codes;

3. The strength of association function;

4. Is it easy to choose words?

5. Is it convenient to input punctuation marks (punctuation marks are part of the input method and can also reflect the humanization of mobile phone soft keys).

The evaluation of an input method should be judged from the highest level that this input method can achieve, otherwise, due to the differences of the same input method on different mobile phone platforms (such as T9), there will be no comparability among various input methods.

(a) stroke analysis

T9 has five strokes, and all the folds belong to the same key, so users can learn quickly without considering the classification of folds. T9 is undoubtedly the fastest in key speed, and because its keys can be concentrated in the upper part of the keyboard, users can hold the mobile phone better.

In the Chinese character input method, folding is divided into four strokes: the last horizontal bend (hook), the last vertical bend (hook), the last bend (hook), and a hook (hook). Chinese characters can be considered that all strokes without big bends can be classified into one category; For example, vertical lifting is classified as vertical, and points and points are classified as the same, which is consistent with T9. It can be seen that the idea of character function is that strokes are divided into the same kind of strokes in the same direction.

There are nine strokes in iTap: horizontal, vertical, left-handed, press, point, vertical folding, horizontal folding, horizontal folding hook and vertical bending hook. Among them, si is separated from the point, and the vertical hook is separated from the vertical, which belongs to the cross-folding hook; Separate the vertical fold from the vertical hook. It can be seen that the idea of iTAP is that the last pen with hook should always be separated from the last pen.

The above are the characteristics of stroke separation, but we are not experts, so it is difficult to judge which input method is more reasonable from the strokes, so let's discuss it comprehensively from other aspects:

(2) Input method

Here, Chinese characters can reduce the steps of inputting Chinese characters and duplicate codes by radical input. For example, the rain prefix, T9 input is a? Three throw throw throw throw throw, * * 8.ITAP is the same as T9, with 8 tricks. The radical of the rain prefix will appear as long as you enter a word, and then you only need to select the radical; Counting the times of pressing the direction key and the confirmation key, only four strokes are needed. Similar-"Wei" kind? What's the fate? Geisha tip mixed 9 or iTAP keystroke input, reducing duplicate codes.

(3) Word association

Let's not talk about the association of input methods. It seems that some models can give priority to common words recently. The situation of iTAP is not very clear, but it is reported that some commonly used phrases are not ..... It is impossible to make a detailed assessment in this respect. However, the associative function of the word energy is quite powerful. An extreme example is "Far water can't put out a near fire". Enter "water" and keep pressing OK. For example, some commonly used phrases, such as "this morning (noon and evening)", "today is free" and "after dinner", as well as common place names (even Haidian District, Chaoyang District, Nanjing Road and Nanjing University), all have built-in phrases. If you use other input methods, it will undoubtedly be more troublesome.

(4) Choose words

Mobile phones from different manufacturers are similar. Ericsson puts the default cursor position in the middle of the candidate line, which seems to reduce the number of times to move the cursor (but sometimes it is troublesome to come back in the wrong direction). Siemens' practice is to press and hold the number key where the candidate word is located (another way is to press the left soft key to display the cursor first, then move the cursor to select the word, and then press the left soft key to confirm), but this may be slower. Philips presses the 0 key (→) to move the prompt line and then presses 1(√) to select words. If there are too many, people sometimes feel annoyed.

ITAP is similar to Nokia in that it moves the cursor by pressing the arrow keys and then presses OK to select words. Motorola looks slow because of its design, but if it can make the reaction time the same as Nokia, it will be quite fast.

(5) Punctuation

The fastest should be Nokia and Ericsson (Sony Ericsson). Press * directly to display punctuation. Followed by Siemens, short press * (or #, I forgot) will display a punctuation prompt line, and then press that key continuously to select punctuation. Thirdly, Motorola needs to cancel the prompt line and then press the corresponding key to punctuate (stroke 0, pinyin1); But what is hateful is that the most commonly used commas and periods are not at the top. The slowest should be Samsung and Philips, both of which need to switch to punctuation to input.

From the above analysis, we can see that Motorola's input is not convenient. Because iTAP is unique to Motorola, it can also be said that iTAP is not as good as T9 and Word Energy. T9 and Chinese characters can be almost identical in pinyin input, but Chinese characters can be better in stroke input, so the result of the competition came out-the most efficient and fast mainstream mobile phone input method recognized by users. introduce

The usability of stroke input method depends on several conditions: 1, the rationality of strokes; 2. Number of duplicate codes; 3. The strength of association function; 4. Is it easy to choose words? 5. Punctuation input (Punctuation is a part of input method, which can also reflect the humanization of mobile phone soft keys).

The evaluation of an input method should be judged from the highest level that this input method can achieve, otherwise, due to the differences of the same input method on different mobile phone platforms (such as T9), there will be no comparability among various input methods.

2. Stroke analysis

T9 has five strokes, and all the folds belong to the same key, so users can learn quickly without considering the classification of folds. Judging from the key speed, T9 is undoubtedly the fastest. And because its keys can be concentrated in the upper part of the keyboard, users can hold the mobile phone better.

The purpose of stroke separation is to reduce the duplication of the same word in T9. This shows that more than five input methods must be able to use each key reasonably.

In the Chinese character input method, the folding is divided into four strokes: the last horizontal bend (hook), the last vertical bend (hook), the last bend (hook), and a hook (hook). Chinese characters can be considered that all strokes without big bends can be classified into one category; For example, vertical ups and downs are classified as vertical, points and si are classified as the same, and so on. This is consistent with T9. It can be seen that the idea of character function is that strokes are divided into the same kind of strokes in the same direction.

There are nine strokes in iTap: horizontal, vertical, left-handed, press, point, vertical folding, horizontal folding, horizontal folding hook and vertical bending hook. Among them, si is separated from the point, and the vertical hook is separated from the vertical, which belongs to the cross-folding hook; Separate the vertical fold from the vertical hook. It can be seen that the idea of iTAP is that the last pen with hook should always be separated from the last pen.

The above are the characteristics of stroke separation. But we are not experts, so it is difficult to judge which input method is more reasonable from the strokes. Let's discuss it from several other aspects.

3. Input method

This part is actually hard to name. What I want to say is that Chinese characters can reduce the steps of inputting Chinese characters and reduce the duplication of codes through radical input.

For example, the rain prefix, T9 input is a? Three throw throw throw throw throw, * * 8.ITAP is the same as T9, with 8 tricks. The radical of the rain prefix will appear as long as you enter a word, and then you only need to select the radical; Counting the times of pressing the direction key and the confirmation key, only four strokes are needed. Similarly, Yi Yi contains radicals such as Yi, Tu and Shi in T9, and the radicals can be selected first, and then the subsequent strokes can be input. Similarly, radical inputs such as "for" can be input with fewer keystrokes than T9 or iTAP, and duplicate codes are reduced.

The above is from the analysis of reducing duplicate codes.

4. Lenovo T9

Let's not talk about the association of input methods. It seems that some models can give priority to common words recently. The situation of iTAP is not clear, but some people report that some commonly used phrases are not clear ... it is impossible to make a detailed evaluation in this respect.

But the associative function of word energy is quite powerful. An extreme example is "Far water can't put out a near fire". Just enter "water" and keep pressing OK. For example, some commonly used phrases, such as "this morning (noon and evening)", "today is free" and "after dinner", as well as common place names (even Haidian District, Chaoyang District, Nanjing Road and Nanjing University), all have built-in phrases. If you use other input methods, it will undoubtedly be more troublesome.

Choose words

All manufacturers have similar mobile phones. It is worth mentioning that Samsung sets the word selection key under the keyboard and presses it directly, which is the fastest way to select words. Ericsson puts the default position of the cursor in the middle of the candidate line, which seems to reduce the number of times to move the cursor (but sometimes it will be troublesome if the direction is wrong); Siemens' practice is to press and hold the number key where the candidate word is located (another way is to press the left soft key to display the cursor first, then move the cursor to select the word, and then press the left soft key to confirm), which is relatively slow. Philips press the 0 key (→) to move the prompt line and then press 1(√) to select the word. If it is too much, it will make people very angry.

ITAP is similar to Nokia in that it moves the cursor by pressing the arrow keys and then presses OK to select words. Moto looks slow for design reasons, but if the reaction time can be the same as Samsung or Nokia, the speed is still quite fast.

punctuation

The fastest one should be Nokia or Ericsson. Punctuate directly by *. Followed by Siemens, short press * (or #, I forgot) to display the punctuation prompt line, and then press that key continuously to select punctuation. Moto again, you need to cancel the prompt line and press the corresponding key punctuation (0 for strokes and1for pinyin); What is hateful is that the most commonly used comma and period are not in front. The slowest should be Samsung and Philips, both of which need to switch to punctuation to input.