Spelling made easy on phones

SEATTLE

BACK in the 1990s, typing out “hello” on most mobile phones required an exhausting 13 taps on the
number keys: 44-33-555- 555-666.

That was before inventor Cliff Kushler and a partner created a software called T9, which brought that number down to three by guessing the word being typed.

Now, there is a new challenge to typing on phones. More phones are using virtual keyboards on a touchscreen, replacing physical buttons.

But pecking out a message on a small piece of glass is not so easy, and typos are common. Mr Kushler thinks he has a solution once again. His new technology, which he developed with fellow research scientist Randy
Marsden, is called Swype.

It allows users to glide a finger across the virtual keyboard to spell words, rather than tapping out each letter.

While many smartphones have features that auto-complete words, correct typos on the fly and add punctuation, Mr Kushler is aiming for more.

“We’ve squeezed the desktop computer, complete with keyboard and mouse, into something that fits in a pocket. The information bandwidth has become very constricted,” he said.

“If we can find a better way to input that information, it could be something that would really take off.”

Mr Kushler says Swype is a big breakthrough that could reach billions of people.

To date, the T9 technology has been built into more than four billion devices worldwide. In 1999, its creators sold it to AOL for a reported US$350 million (S$485 million). It is now owned by speech-recognition
company Nuance.

Swype’s software detects where a finger pauses and changes direction as it traces out the pattern of a word. The movements do not have to be precise because the software calculates which words a user is most likely trying to spell.

Capitalisation and double letters can be indicated with a  pause or squiggle, while spacing and punctuation are automatic.

Mr Kushler, who is chief technology officer of Swype, estimated that the software can improve even the nimblest textmessager’s pace by 20 to 30 per cent.

Swype is now being used on seven smartphones in the United States, across all major wireless carriers, including the HTC HD2 and the Samsung Omnia II. By the end of the year, the firm said, its software will be on more than 50 models worldwide.

It does not have a deal with Apple, the king of touchscreen phones, but it is tinkering with software for the iPhone and the iPad and hopes to show it to Apple soon.

To make money, Swype charges phone-makers a licensing fee for each device sold. It also sees opportunity in add-ons. “We could have custom dictionaries for doctors or lawyers,” said Mr Mike McSherry, chief
executive of the company.

But Swype’s appeal goes beyond mobile phones, said Mr Won Park, director of US technology sourcing at Samsung.

“It could become the de facto standard for tablets, next-generation TV sets or next-generation remote controls,” Mr Park said.

Mr Gavin Lew, co-founder of  User Centric, a consulting firm that studies user experiences with mobile devices, said that as cellphones take on the functions of personal computers, the need increases to quickly enter and search for information on them.
NYT

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