Death of the Cell Phone Keypad As We Know It?

An anonymous reader writes, "According to a CNet article, two companies called Mobience and Nuance have created viable and possibly better alternatives to the standard cell phone keypad. 'Mobience, which is based in South Korea, has redesigned the ABC and Qwerty key layout, and come up with MobileQwerty. It's essentially the same three-letters-per-key system as the standard mobile keypad layout, but the letters have been rearranged in a Qwertyesque way to increase efficiency.' The other system developed by Nuance is a mobile speech platform that turns speech into text and replaces the keypad altogether. I was skeptical at first but the video of Nuance's software vs. Ben Cook, the ex world texting champion, is undeniably impressive."

Re:Umm....QUERTY isn't for efficiency

[wiz31337]

Umm... Its QWERTY, not QUERTY. Didn't typing the U slow you down?

Re:Umm....QUERTY isn't for efficiency

[Gospodin]

Actually, he tried typing QWERTY, but it caused the keys to jam, so that internet didn't make it through the tubes.

Oblig.

[Rob T Firefly]

The other system developed by Nuance is a mobile speech platform that turns speech into text and replaces the keypad altogether.

Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all.

Re:Qwertyesque way?

[JabberWokky]

It's true! The QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow down typing... it was because when fleeing from the killer with a hook, and you were hiding in the sewers you'd not want the giant alligators to hear you typing. While nowadays you have to text your babysitter to make sure she didn't microwave the baby.

...and other urban legends...

--
Evan

Use your imagination!

[Equis]

It's not much of a stretch to see that it'd be handy for standard email messaging, instant messaging, note taking, and sending SMSs to multiple recipients. All of these are possible on today's phones.

There are obviously more applications for this than cheating on tests and discreetly texting your girlfri... cheating on tests.

Re:Qwertyesque way?

[russellh]

Obviously, everyone knows their QWERTY a lot better than they know their ABCs.

Re:Qwertyesque way?

[teslar]

On slashdot? Obviously. We see Qwerty or local equivalents every day. When was the last time you needed your ABC? Lists don't count, your computer will sort them for you.

They might as well start teaching QWERTY instead of ABC in school and then do a study on how that affected average nationwide typing speeds :)

Re:Qwertyesque way?

[HTH NE1]

Damn, forgot to double my u. That is the worst typo I've ever made; to spell it right I should only have to drag my finger across the first alphabetic row of keys!

Re:Qwertyesque way?

[The Great Pretender]

Who the hell said that A should come before B anyway? and why should Z be at the end? I say give Z some love, put it before J, which is a stupid letter anyway.

Re:Qwertyesque way?

[Tim Browse]

Who the hell said that A should come before B anyway? and why should Z be at the end?

I think it's because of that song.