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Texting Mannerisms

To prevent the reprogramming of new phones
  (+11)(+11)
(+11)
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against]

I prefer to use predictive text on my phone, I find it quicker and easier than the repeated tapping of buttons to "scroll" through the various letters that the keys represent.

However, whenever my current phone eventually gives in to the torrent of usage that living with me exposes it to, it requires replacing.
This means that all of the new and interesting words that I have taught it are lost, trapped within the dead shell of my old phone. Time must then be spent helping my new phone relearn all of the words that I have made up/it doesn't know from scratch.

Given that all the phones that I use have always used the T9 predictive text system, I would like to propose that T9 preferences save themselves to either your phone's external memory card ( be that MicroSD, M2, or some other type ), or your phones SIM card. When the card is inserted in to your new phone, it will compare the new T9 database with your saved set, and upload any missing words, and save the new set, meaning you will always take your most up to date set of words to your new phone.
kaz, Dec 10 2009

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       I'm more than aware that T9 isn't the only predictive text system out there, it is just the most predominant that I am aware of. There would be nothing to prevent other predictive text formats adopting a similar system.
kaz, Dec 10 2009
  

       Good idea. I can't believe they don't already do that!
jutta, Dec 10 2009
  

       Yes, this should appeal to manufacturers. By defining proprietary file formats, they can make it more convenient, when replacing your cellphone, to get another of the same brand, than to switch brands. Attractive to the consumer *and* vendor. [+]
mouseposture, Dec 11 2009
  

       Unfortunately it's what the customers want (bear in mind though that the customers for mobile phones aren't you or me, they're the network operators, and know nothing about usability or design).
hippo, Dec 11 2009
  

       I focused on T9 [bigsleep], because it is what I know. The main idea being that I want it to be MY list of words.
[21 Quest] Your point about formatting cards is very true. Given that I spend a lot of my time explaining to people why formatting between devices is a very good idea, I can't believe I didn't think of that. Computer back up and transfer, or some sort of Cloud based storage would make much more sense.

Cheers for the croissants though guys. Nom.
kaz, Dec 11 2009
  

       Is T9 really just a list of words? I thought there was frequency information in there as well, with some kind of Viterbi algorithm being used to translate keypresses into words.   

       [+] for an excellent user interface improvement.
Wrongfellow, Dec 12 2009
  

       [21 Quest], what is the make and model of your phone? I would bet that there is some way of backing up the data onto an external device of some sort. I have been backing up my vintage Nokia 6210 onto CF card via my equally vintage Psion 5mx for years now.
pocmloc, Dec 12 2009
  

       I keep reading this as Texting Manikins. It's a good idea, which presents me with the usual dilemma as to its half-baked credentials.
xenzag, Dec 12 2009
  

       Yeah, but different manufacturers handle T9 differently. I got used to it one one phone, and it was great (would predict entire words of any length, not just words of the length of letters so far entered). Now my current POS won't predict out beyond the length, making it almost entirely useless, so I haven't bothered to set it up at all.   

       Then the other day (about a year ago) I was complaining to my brother about this (via a protracted, wholly spelled-out text-ing conversation, like the dinosaurs we are), and he checked out the T9 settings on his iPhone, and he called me up and just started laughing, saying man, you need one of these, there's a whole bunch of predictive languages, and they work great.
oxen crossing, Dec 13 2009
  

       Hello [21Q], it looks like a flaw in the phone's OS. It should be a simple task to 'clone' the entire phone onto an external storage device. Them if your phone gets run over by a bus, you can buy a replacement, connect it to the backup storage device, dump the data clone en masse, onto the phone, and then you shouldn't have to do anything more, but your phone will be back into the exact same state as before the bus incident.   

       It looks to me that they have deliberately omitted or blocked this ability either through incompetence, or I.P. controlfreakery, or both.
pocmloc, Dec 13 2009
  
      
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