MessagEase system is a clever HCI solution to the problem of efficient text entry for applications such as SMS on mobile phones and noding on PDAs. According to MessagEase's designer, Saied Nesbat, just nine letters account for 71% of total letter usage in English. Those nine letters are E, A, T, O, N, I, R, S and H*. Instead of using the standard legacy telephone keyboard layout (see below) with an average of two taps per character, the keyboard has been completely redesigned to display these most commonly used letters first.

                             ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.
                             |  1  | |  2  | |  3  | 
                             |  _  | | abc | | def |
                             `-----' `-----' `-----'
                             ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.
                             |  4  | |  5  | |  6  |
                             | ghi | | jkl | | mno |
                             `-----' `-----' `-----'
                             ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.
                             |  7  | |  8  | |  9  |
                             | pqrs| | tuv | | wxyz| 
                             `-----' `-----' `-----'
                             ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.
                             |  *  | |  0  | |  #  |
                             |     | |     | |     | 
                             `-----' `-----' `-----'

                  Standard letter assignment for telephone keypads

On the proposed new keyboard, each of the most common nine letters is assigned to one of nine keys shown below in diagram (a). To type any of these letters, the key is double-clicked. For example, to type the word 'no', N is double-clicked and then O is double-clicked.

The next eight less frequently used letters are assigned to two-key sequences on the peripheral keys, as in diagram (b). To type these letters, the user presses the central button once and then the key with the letter on that they wish to type. To type the name 'Tom', the key sequence is this: Double-click T 't', double-click O 'o', click R then O 'm'.

The last eight of the nine remaining letters are assigned to the O key, as in diagram (c). To type these letters, the user presses O followed by the key pointed to by the letter they wish to type. To type the letter 'u', the user presses O followed by N. Finally, the letter 'z' is located between E and S, since it is the least used letter in English.


                (a)                       (b)                       (c)
        
      ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.   ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.   ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.
      |  1  | |  2  | |  3  |   |  1  | |  2  | |  3  |   |  1  | |  2  | |  3  |
      |  A  | |  N  | |  I  |   |  A  | |  N  | |  I  |   |  A  | |  N  | |  I  |
      |     | |     | |     |   |    V| |  L  | |X    |   |    V| |  L  | |X    |
      `-----' `-----' `-----'   `-----' `-----' `-----'   `-----' `-----' `-----'
      ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.   ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.   ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.
      |  4  | |  5  | |  6  |   |  4  | |  5  | |  6  |   |  4  | |Q U P| |  6  |
      |  H  | |  O  | |  R  |   |  H K| |  O  | |M R  |   |  H K| |C O B| |M R  |
      |     | |     | |     |   |     | |     | |     |   |     | |G D J| |     |
      `-----' `-----' `-----'   `-----' `-----' `-----'   `-----' `-----' `-----'
      ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.   ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.   ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.
      |     | |     | |     |   |    Y| |  W  | |F    |   |    Y| |  W  | |F    |
      |  T  | |  E  | |  S  |   |  T  | |  E  | |  S  |   |  T  | |  E Z| |  S  |
      |  7  | |  8  | |  9  |   |  7  | |  8  | |  9  |   |  7  | |  8  | |  9  |
      `-----' `-----' `-----'   `-----' `-----' `-----'   `-----' `-----' `-----'
      ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.   ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.   ,-----. ,-----. ,-----.
      |     | |     | |     |   |     | |     | |     |   |alpha| |space| | B/S |
      |     | |     | |     |   |     | |     | |     |   | num | |     | |clear|
      |     | |  0  | |     |   |     | |  0  | |     |   |     | |  0  | |     | 
      `-----' `-----' `-----'   `-----' `-----' `-----'   `-----' `-----' `-----'

       The stages of letter to key assigment for the MessagEase text entry system

MessagEase is currently available for free from Exideas, and can be used on Motorola phones and Palm OS PDAs (guaranteed 2-3 times faster than Graffiti). There are also plans to integrate it into remote controls for interactive TV. The system's main advantage lies in its applicability to other languages without the need for large, expensive dictionaries such as in the widely used T9 predictive text system. Another advantage, arising from not requiring a dictionary, is that users are free to enter whatever slang, abbreviations, nonsense words and filth that they please... hooray for MessagEase.

* Interestingly, the first six of these letters spell Eatoni, the producers of two of MessagEase's major competitors - LetterWise and WordWise.

http://www.exideas.com/

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