Nokia Custom Dictionary takes predictive text to the obvious next level

Nokia's just posted its literally-named Custom Dictionary utility to Beta Labs' hallowed halls of experimental wares, finally bringing what appears to be a thorough, editable predictive text solution to S60 devices so that you can use (in Nokia's own words) friends' names and nicknames, places, and "slang" (read: every four-letter word you know) with aplomb in the course of normal textual conversation. What makes Custom Dictionary cooler than the average predictive text system, though, is the fact that you can load, unload, and transfer custom word lists to and from your PC and between devices, making it easy to back up your nonsensical gibberish in the event you lose or change phones. As with anything in Beta Labs, you've got to proceed at your own risk -- but the stuff's available to download now. Follow the break for a video demo.

[sockatume Posted Feb 1st 2010 11:49AM]

All Nokia's phones already had predictive text with custom dictionaries. Probably they were most people's first exposure to the concept a decade ago. This is actually dictionary editing app, something that Nokias have previously and quite conspicuously lacked. Learning was semi-automatic based on switching between T9 and predictive usage, and of course there was the omnipresent "SPELL" button. However there was no way to edit, or more worryingly, delete words that you had added, meaning if you screwed up, you needed to wait for the offending item to fall off the bottom of the list, or do a hard reset of the phone's OS.

I don't mean to be snarky, but would it kill you to actually read the app's web page before writing about it?

[Chris Ziegler Posted Feb 1st 2010 12:00PM]

@sockatume To be honest, I'm not sure how our post runs counter to what you're saying.

[sockatume Posted Feb 1st 2010 12:13PM]

@sockatume : I may have been quite uncharitable here, for which I really must apologise. However the article does read as though we've never been able to use custom words on a Nokia before.

[sockatume Posted Feb 1st 2010 12:15PM]

@Chris Ziegler: Yeah, I should've given you the benefit of the doubt here. In my defence I just found out that the last UK network to let your tether your own handset has nixed the option. From here on out it's only available to iPhone users. And I'm coming down off a Mike & Ike high.

[nefnet13 Posted Feb 1st 2010 6:25PM]

@sockatume Actually I took away from this post just what you tried to clarify: that S60 devices didn't have a way to use custom predictive text dictionaries before this program.

I read Chris' reply and re-read the article to find that really it doesn't imply that at all and I'm not sure why I took the incorrect notion from the post... We both get a reading comprehension fail today, it seems.

My personal experience with predictive text is limited as I turn it off first thing on any device I use because all the slang and industry jargon/acronyms in my correspondence made it a chore. I decided that rather than investigate solutions I'd rather just use a full-qwerty device and scrap the predictive. But this might make using a numpad phone bearable, like my wife's 6650...

[e1212 Posted Feb 1st 2010 4:05PM]

@sockatume
What's this about them removing tethering? I use joikuspot to make a wi-fi hotspot of my nokia 5800. On Orange UK, the evenings&weekends internet add-on allows 1Gb of data per month, costs £5. Supposedly they don't allow tethering but worst they can do (says the terms and conditions) is warn you with a letter. Never been a problem. There's no fine or charge to be triggered.
The £7.50 anytime data add-on only allows 500mb for some reason so I stick with after-7pm.

[christexaport Posted Feb 1st 2010 6:36PM]

Good post, Chris. I'm a T9 lover, and the proliferation of QWERTY devices is killing the fastest mobile input method ever made. If Nokia's T9 devices had no dictionary limitation and custom word import and editing, T9 would probably still be favored. But the lack of multilanguage support and losing words as the list became full bothered me, too, though I remain much faster with T9's 1:12 finger to key ratio than QWERTY's 1:20+.

Here's what most will wonder: Is the dictionary size without limit? And are there alternative language word packs available to import for multilingual text entry?

Keep us posted on the progress of this application, quite possibly a part of future device firmware. Now to get this app along with a T9 keypad, both on screen and hardware, in a future 5" screened Maemo device...

[AndrewGlen Posted Feb 2nd 2010 6:12AM]

Chris
Learning from the user is central and neither T9 or this Nokia Beta labs app does it that well. The entire process of learning should be invisible to the user. I've been using Adaptxt soffware on my N95 8gb which learns words from my sms and email inbox, Facebook account and generally from what I write. I can learn from files too but that requires my time. Constant learning from the user should just happen.

@christexaport
T9 ain't that fast and as an input usability guy, its not that efficient. Adaptxt genuinely predicts words in advance. And the true prediction actually changes and learns what I write. Believe me, its faster than T9.