Text Message Using T9Word
If you owned a cellphone before the smart phone era, you’re probably familiar with the art of text messaging using T9 word. T9 stands for “text on 9 keys,” and it was all the rage from the early 1990’s and into the 2000’s. T9 allowed users to type letters with a single keystroke, and it would predict the word the user was writing. Though it became less common as full keyboards were introduced, it can still be a useful skill– especially if you’re into using “antique” cell phones!
Contents
Steps
Practicing On The Keyboard
- Make sure your phone is set to T9 mode. You can open a blank message to test this. If your phone starts predicting the word you’re typing as you hit buttons, T9 is already on and you’re all set! If not, your phone is set to the multi-tap method, and you’ll need to turn on T9. Check your “Settings” or “Options”– you may have to explore your phone a bit to figure out how to do this.
- Examine your keyboard. As you can see, each number on the keypad has three or four letters on it. For example, the number 2 has “ABC,” the number 3 has “DEF,” and so on. Familiarize yourself with the keyboard, especially if you’ve never used it before or you’re used to typing with a full keyboard.
- At first, you’ll probably do the “hunt and peck” method to find the letters you need, but it will become second nature once you use T9 enough!
- Open a blank text message or note. It’s time to practice! Use the word “HELLO” to practice. In multi-tap texting, you would need to press the 4 button twice to get to the “H,” then the 3 button twice to get to the “E,” and so on. With T9, you only have to press the number that the letter is on, and you do not need to double or triple press it to get to the letter you want.
- For “HELLO,” you would only need to press 4-3-5-5-6. These are the numbers containing the letters that spell “HELLO.”
Changing A Word
- Check to see if the word is entered correctly. If the word you wanted is not showing up, make sure you’re spelling it correctly. T9 can only predict words found in the dictionary. However, most phones allow you to save or “remember” words you use often, such as names or places not found in the dictionary. Try entering your word again, remembering to only press the number for the letter you need once.
- Take the time to store words that you want your phone to remember. Different phones have different ways to do this, but play around with your phone to figure out how to create your own personal dictionary. Add anything you know you’ll be typing often, like your best friend’s name, the town you live in, and so on. If you can't figure out how your specific phone stores words, google "Storing words in T9" along with the model of phone you're using.
- Determine if the number combination creates multiple words. In other words, the letter combination 2-2-5-5 can create the words “call,” “ball,” and “balk.” Your phone doesn’t know which one you need, so this might be your issue. There are a couple ways to fix this, depending on the type of phone you’re using.
- On some phones, you can press the 0 key to shuffle between words with the same number combinations.
- Some phones use the up and down arrow buttons to shuffle through the words.
- Send your first text message using T9 word. Make sure you read over your text before you press send. It’s not uncommon for T9 mishaps to create awkward or confusing moments, so proofread always. I’m sure you’d rather text your opponent that you can’t wait to “kick their butt” rather than “lick their butt”!
- It may be a slow process at first, but you’ll get the hang of it. Soon, you’ll be able to type out a T9 message faster than someone with a full keyboard.
Using T9 Word for Special Cases
- Download the Type Nine app if you want to use T9 on an iPhone. Because iPhones have full keyboards, you can’t simply turn on T9 messaging. You can find the Type Nine app in the iPhone app store, and it will give you a traditional, old school keyboard for $1.99.
- The Type Nine app has larger keys than the full iPhone keyboard, so it can be good for someone who struggles to hit the correct keys.
- Additionally, T9 word can be much easier to do one-handed, where full iPhone keyboards work best with two hands. People who prefer one-handed texting will love the Type Nine app.
- Press 1 to enter commonly-used punctuation. If you need something like a period, a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation mark, you can repeatedly press 1 to cycle through these symbols and find the one you need. If you need a punctuation mark that is less common, you may need to press and hold the pound symbol (#) to get a full list to choose from.
- Hold down a key to enter a number. If you want to enter the number 5, you would have to press the 5 key four times to get there, cycling through J, K, and L first. Instead, you can simply hold down the 5 key, which is the quickest way to get the number you need.
