[Apodida]

My N8 User Guide (PDF) seems silent on how to use predictive text. Is it supposed to be so obvious that anyone can use it, and I'm an imbecile?

My biggest gripe is that once predictive text finds what it thinks is a better word than the one I was spelling, I cannot find a way to convince it that I'm right. 

In the interim, I've turned predictive text off, but it would be hugely beneficial to me. I teach English, so my spelling is above average, but my typing is carp.

[Apodida]

Oh, I'm still on Anna if it makes any difference

[Dan555]

You can edit the T9 dictionary with Custom Dictionary on Beta Labs or you can delete the file in C:\Predic and start again from scratch (alternative file browser like X-Plore needed to do this).

Predictive text on Symbian 3 is pretty difficult to use compared to Symbian 1, it doesn't seem to be able to do partial words.

[Apodida]

Having thought about this, I have one specific question. My documentation tells me to press the "*" key to cycle around predictive text word choices, when the T8 is in numeric keypad mode. However, there is no "*" in the default Alphabetical keyboard layout, so:

Can you cycle around the word choices in Alphabetical Keyboard mode when there is no "*" in the current layout?

[farby]

Refer 3 under 'Switch predictive text on in the on-screen keyboard' on Pg. 24 of the User Guide ..

Think, you need to select (highlight) the word and go on tapping on it till you see the word you want .....

[Apodida]

I'm still on Anna (the Belle upgrade failed, and now causes a "System Error" popup at every power on) but I'm sure much of the Bella manual will also apply to the parts that are not fully documented in my older guide. Thanks.

It's amazing how difficult it is to get myself into spelling difficulties when I'm trying suggestions, as opposed to the ease with which it happens when I'm actually trying to use the phone!

[farby]

Pl. post the final result..

[Apodida]

It may be some time before I reach a conclusion. I'm recently retired (11 weeks) and enjoying the luxury of taking things slowly. I'm also a very light user of my phone; certainly less than one SMS per day (this is when I run into problems with predictive text).

My impression at the moment is that I need more practice to get used to the predictive text, but that I'll probbaly get to like it in the end.

But events may overtake me... the constant "System Error" every time I turn the phone on is pushing me past my "irritation threshold" so I'm casting around for a replacement phone.  And I seem to have acquired a "fairy godmother" who passes on interesting bits of kit, and he's been offering me a new phone...

[Apodida]

I'm still making no progress on this. I have the Belle documentation, which has a section "Switch predictive text on..." and it contains the sentence:

"To see suggestions for possible words, select the word you're writing. When the correct word is shown, select the word."

Can somone translate that ino the actual sequence of presses that I'd have to do? My problem is that the term "Select" is not documented anywhere; they just assume that I know how to select. Well, I don't, and it is very frustrating!

[adrianhughes]

hi mate,

I have been following this post, and I don't mean to offend or sound rude or anything, but do you have anyone there at home with you that is able to show you how a mobile phone and the SMS composition works? That would be far more beneficial than us trying to post what "select" means and why it isn't appearing on the screen of the handset

[tiny_chef]

I have attached screenshots on how to deactivate predictive text. This taken using N8 running on Symbian Anna. Hope this helps

[Apodida]

I'm not trying to turn off predictive text; I'm sure I'd like it if I could work out how to use it. For example, I needed to add the word "Jaguar" to my diary, but predictive text always substituted something else. In this case, I managed to add the word "Jaguar", so that was OK. 

Where I'm still struggling is when, for example, I type "poser", in the alphanumeric keyboard mode. Predictive text knows that I typed "poser" but it insists on entering "power". The word "poser" appears in a little box, but so far I've failed to find any way of selecting that word. 

If I fiddle about, it eventually accepts "poser", but by the time this happens, I've lost all the speed advantages conferred by predictive text. I've also not managed to add "poser" to my dictionary, so I have to jump through this same hoop time and time again.

[farby]

Did you try 'tapping' on the small box that shows the word 'poser' ?

[Apodida]

---

farby wrote:

Did you try 'tapping' on the small box that shows the word 'poser' ?

---

Yes, and I suspect that is the mechanism I'm supposed to use, but despite my best efforts, I've never found that tapping the boxed word has any effect. 

I don't know what mechanism is involved in touch-display phones, but I've always found them difficult to use. I suspect it may be because of the skin condition I have, which leaves my skin very dry, most of the time. 

Aha! I just tried it  again, and the problem all along has been my aim. With any target area on touch screens, I find that I have to aim for the north-west corner to get a reasonable hit rate. I've been missing the small box all along. 

Now, I'm going to have to find a new pair of words for my experiments, as I just managed to add "Poser" to my dictionary whilst testing poser/power

Thank you for not giving up on me.