sspanak
TT9 should resemble Touchpal more
The lack of importan symbols and how to find then is terrible. Backspace button is in the wrong place, should be where (CLR) is. (. And ,) should have a dedicated key. Extremely confusing and zero intuitive layout.. touchpal is the best example to copy!
You mean copy a keyboard that supports T9 only in some languages, that misuses the file permission to write random files in different places in your phone, and that got banned from the Play Store? I don't think so.
If you like Touchpal so much, just use it. I will never turn Traditional T9 into it.
And there is no need of hate posts.
First, it is the best T9 keyboard ever, nothing can't touch him. Second, I was saying copying the layout and how practical he was, and with the best dictionaries I've ever seen..not the spying part.. yours is extremely confusing and pretty much unusable.. not hating just the truth!
First, it is the best T9 keyboard ever, nothing can't touch him. Second, I was saying copying the layout and how practical he was, and with the best dictionaries I've ever seen..not the spying part.. yours is extremely confusing and pretty much unusable.. not hating just the truth!
Well, there is actually no point in continuing this! But Still, for what it's worth, I used Nokia phones for a long time and when I migrated to "smartphones" I only used touchpal before tt9!
My opinion is that touchpal was good, yes! At first tt9 was a bit different (I, myself, even recently suggested some layout changes in order to accomplish another simplification that existed in touchpal)
@sspanak did not agree and honestly I understood his reasons! But even if I didn't, it's his project, it's he's call!!!
But you see, the scope is different! Tt9 has different objectives! And it is indeed very good at them!!! No other project has come even close to this!
We're actually lucky it even has has a virtual keyboard!
More than that: if you asked me if I would go back to touchpal (if it was still maintained) I would give you a SOLID "NO"!!!
After you get used to tt9, it is actually much better than touchpal (there is always room for improvement, sure)
but, all in all it comes down to this: you like it? Fine! You don't? You either help to make it better -under the author's ideas- or you can fork it!
But in either option remember you should always be polite to others! You should not come here to say whatever comes to your mind!!!
Education is the base for everything!
For what it's worth, if I was the author, after the way you exposed your idea - even if it was a good one - I would not do it! I'm not very tolerant to certain types of speeches...
Since I am getting a lot of hate from some former Touchpal users (or employees?), I've decided to keep this open. I have also added a special section in the manual where you can find a comparison between the two apps and why TT9 is not and will not become Touchpal.
Bottom line is, adapt or use some other app.
What's the point of keeping it open, may i ask?
You already made it clear enough... just ignore related comments/issues
I am getting a lot of comments on Google Play, not here. I think it is better to keep it open, both for new users and for search engines to find it easier. I hope this will reduce the spam a bit...
Actually TouchPal is the best example to copy. Look, we have swipe input or gesture input, contextual sentence prediction, auto correction of spelling, auto prediction, quick delete, etc.
One major reason why I use tt9 is because it supports Swahili language, which is not supported in TouchPal t9 layout. Otherwise for English typing, TouchPal t9 layout is easier to type. Could TouchPal support Swahili in t9 layout, then it could have been very far from traditional t9 keyboard. TouchPal is very powerful and has qualities to be copied. Traditional t9 is simpler with some good qualities.
we have swipe input or gesture input,
I, personally, never understood the hype with this!!! Dragging your finger across the screen seems "counter productive"... but that's me!!! I already understood there's a market for this... i just don't like it!
(edit: oh and... btw, I think the correct form is had - in the past - not have! TouchPal is dead afaik... there are a few fake copies but you should get away from those)
contextual sentence prediction, auto prediction
I believe we already have something like this but sspanak can correct me here (I think we currently consider 2 words but may be expand it to 3 at the cost of CPU)
quick delete
What exactly do you mean with this? If you swipe left on the delete key it will erase the last word as Touchpal did! That's quick delete... Do you mean something else? If so, can you elaborate?
auto correction of spelling
Yeah... I wanted that too... we've talked about this a lot before at #525 and it turns out it's quite difficult to accomplish! TouchPal was probably using cloud (as in: sending in what you type to get analysed and used to provide correction predictions) and I believe no one wants to go down that path (I'm sure I don't) so... while "amazing" i don't see how it can be done anytime soon...
Otherwise for English typing, TouchPal t9 layout is easier to type.
Easier how? What are your points of view on this? Where is it better? Any other points than the ones previously mentioned? I used TouchPal for more than 10 years and, aside from auto correction (that had that cloud detail), there is actually nothing else I can think of where touchpal is better! Quite the contrary Iyam... can you elaborate?
Wow, it looks like I missed the party! I remember @mauricewanjala82-pixel. He complained on the Play Store about missing features that are actually there. He's just a hater who has not explored all the possibilities of TT9. Anyway, here are my answers.
Actually TouchPal is the best example to copy.
Really? But how do I use that TouchPal thing? It doesn't type anything, just numbers.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0fbb3114-ba73-4df4-86fa-5ba5cd2c7f8f
One major reason why I use tt9 is because it supports Swahili language
Let's stop at TouchPal does not work. It does not work on newer Android versions, it does not support hardware keyboards or keypads, it does not support TV remote controls, it does not support that many languages. And, in my humble opinion, a keyboard that does not work, is far from being the best. I would say it is the worst.
Look, we have swipe input or gesture input, contextual sentence prediction, auto correction of spelling, auto prediction, quick delete, etc.
Swipe and gesture input is useful on QWERTY keyboards, where one key produces only one letter. When typing using 9 keys, very often it is necessary to press the same key multiple times, which is mutually exclusive with swiping. For example, how do you swipe "mono" (6-6-6-6) or "back" (2-2-2-4), or "high" (4-4-4-4), and so on?
Moreover, on touchscreen devices, TT9 is meant to recreate the classic Nokia experience where you press the keys. And on devices with hardware keys, naturally, you can't really swipe.
For these reasons, I will not make any efforts to add swipe typing. Period.
Contextual sentence prediction is supported and it actually works better than TouchPal. Personally, I find it extremely annoying when I attempt to type "I am an...", I get "am" twice in a row, instead of getting "an" when preceded by "am". Another example is "the tie". When I try to type this, all keyboards, TouchPal included, would suggest "the", "the" twice. TT9 does not do this. The only deficiency is, it needs to learn the word combinations from you, which takes some time. But, if you type actively it should be mostly OK in a day. Also, I intend to improve the predictions and even include an option to predict words before you have started typing. See #851 for more info. @maverick74, I think I already have a good idea how to do it at minimal CPU cost.
Auto-correction is a nice thing but, unfortunately, I lack the knowledge to do it. As @maverick74 pointed out, see the discussion #525.
Quick-delete is available but is disabled by default. Read the manual and explore the app before complaining that it is missing.
Kiswahili dictionary should be expanded
How do you think this works? You request stuff and it magically appears in the app? I don't speak the language and I don't have any friends from Tanzania, so I can't do more than what I have already done. I have no idea where to search for more language-related resources.
I you want the app to improve, contribute, don't just come here and give me orders. Provide a richer word list, and I would gladly add it to the current dictionary.
And one last thing...
TouchPal is the best example to copy. Look, we have...
You made me wonder, what do you mean by "we have"? Who are "we"? Are you a former TouchPal employee or you are like those fanatic football fans who think they belong to the team and say "we" when they refer to it? In both cases, why should I care about your "great" keyboard? Just stay with it. I never asked you to use TT9.
Also, I intend to improve the predictions and even include an option to predict words before you have started typing. See #851 for more info. @maverick74, I think I already have a good idea how to do it at minimal CPU cost.
Sweet music to my ears 🎉
OK. TT9 is a good keyboard. That is why I give out suggestions on what could be added on it.
Swipe/gesture input Predict words before you have started typing Auto correction. Swahili dictionary expansion. Wide space bar.
On t9 keyboard layout, when you press a key, a letter is printed. When you swipe on a key downward, a number is printed. This is what I referred to it as gesture or swipe input. Example on a key with abc has a number 2. When you press directly on a key with letters a b c, you type a letter a with suggestion b c.. When you swipe downward on that key, you type a number 2. This was my suggested idea. I think this saves time while typing letters and numbers without switching to numberpad.
If possible space bar could be made wider. This could reduce errors where by instead of pressing space bar, you press another key (! And?)
Swahili words,especially verbs in( present, past, future) tense, In singular and plural. If possible I may provide a list of them.
Predicting words before you have started typing them. Example when you type the letter I then you press space bar, suggested words or predicted words like am, have, etc comes up.
Auto correction. Suppose you did not master the spelling of the word. This is tricky. Correcting word from wrongly pressed keys.
I have been giving reference on TouchPal keyboard especially on features which I was used to.
When you type wrong spelling like "inicially" should auto corrected as "initially"
On t9 keyboard layout, when you press a key, a letter is printed. When you swipe on a key downward, a number is printed. This is what I referred to it as gesture or swipe input. Example on a key with abc has a number 2. When you press directly on a key with letters a b c, you type a letter a with suggestion b c.. When you swipe downward on that key, you type a number 2. This was my suggested idea. I think this saves time while typing letters and numbers without switching to numberpad.
You do know that if you hold down the abc key you get the number 2, don't you??? Because "type and hold" and "swipe down" will take about the same time... it's just a question of getting used to it!!!
If possible space bar could be made wider. This could reduce errors where by instead of pressing space bar, you press another key (! And?)
You do know there is an option to make space bar wider already, don't you??? I mean... you did take a look to the app preferences and you actually want an even wider (like an edge to edge) space bar, right?!?!
Because if not... you're just wasting dev time...
(... ) all the other requests
You did noticed sspanak's (aka tt9's DEV) reply above about all the other issues you mention...???
In short (again!):
Predict words: IS COMING!!!
Auto correction: IS NOT COMING ANYTIME SOON - if ever... (unless you know any magic trick that unlocks the knowledge on how to do that with minimal CPU cost and you share it with the dev)
Swahili dictionary expansion: JUST CONTRIBUTE AND IT WILL GET BETTER
When you type wrong spelling like "inicially" should auto corrected as "initially"
That's a general problem with T9 typing. You must know how to spell, in order to type the words. If you press the wrong key, you don't just get "inicially", you get an entirely different word. And from there, is extremely difficult to deduce what you intended to type. I don't have a solution for this.
I don't have a solution for this.
That's the only thing where touchpal still has an edge.... the detail is "the price" we would have to pay for that edge ...
(I'm not willing to quit my privacy for this feature, nor having tt9 considerably more slow...)