[ANNOUNCE] FastSMS: portrait T9 SMS writer
 

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Hi everybody,

I'm really proud to announce FastSMS. This app allows writing SMS using an input style like T9 or by a Qwerty

FEATURES:

*Languages supported: italian, english, spanish, french, german ,portuguese, finnish, swedish, croatian, serbian, slovenian
*It is possible choose between portait, landscape or autorotate
*Sended SMS are displayed in standard conversation window
*New words can be inserted and saved
*Fast recipient search typing name, lastname or phone number in recipient field
*Full PhoneBook integration with MyContacts or Horizontal-Call
*Standard input method (without FastWrite) is available
*Auto-capitalization and different input-style.

TODO AND REQUESTS FROM USER:
* SMS notification as option
* Multiple recipient
* Symbol/smile layout for Alphanumeric keyboard
* Add an option for use as default input method
* Long-pressed button insert numbers
* Button for newline in Alphanumeric keyboard
* Easy way for change words sort

CHANGELOG 0.4:
*Added finnish, swedish, croatian, serbian, slovenian and croatian+serbian dictionaries
* Fast contact search
* Qwerty keyboard
* New words can be inserted by virtual keyboard
* UI fix
* Minor Bug-Fix

KNOWED BUG:
* Sequence "hello.......hello" "<-" "C" doesn't works as expected
* "hello?" "<-" "->"
* standard input doesn't defocus selected char properly
* Can't use HW keyboard while alphanumeric layout is displayed and char counter doesn't work
* Some problem with Autocapitalization
* If leaved open while a data-connection is active, application crash: this is a QtMobility bug: http://bugreports.qt.nokia.com/browse/QTMOBILITY-771

FAQ:
* How contacts search works?
When you use alphanumeric keyboard entering a number in recipient field will search also for characters. For example, if you are looking for "Ale" you can type 253. Search is performed in first name, last name and phone number. When you find what you want, simply double-tap on it.

* How can I add new language?
Send at fastsms@hotmail.it some e-books (pdf or, best, txt UTF-8) in your language and I will (try) build the dictionary asap. Word lists are not good, I need e-books to take words occurrences. Topic of pdf is not important. Considers that If you send me only file about '800 history, some words could be missing!
If your language is not based on latin alphabet it could be not so easy. Write to me for additional information

* When I try to open phonebook with "people" button I get an error. Why?
FastSMS is unable to use standard phonebook. So, in addition to "fast search", you can install MyContacts or Horizontal-call. I don't plain to add native phonebook support soon, because I think that "fast search" is enough and I prefer spend my time in other implementation. If you think I'm wrong tell my why and I can reconsider my choice.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] FastSMS: portrait T9 SMS writer
 

can you post some images??

Re: [ANNOUNCE] FastSMS: portrait T9 SMS writer
 

very cool. good work mate. thank you very much!

Re: [ANNOUNCE] FastSMS: portrait T9 SMS writer
 

I have to say, I love the look of it, and it works well for inputting information in a T9-like way. There are a few major issues though:

1> It takes forever to "digest" the dictionary on the first run. Maybe you want to pre-digest the given dictionaries shipped?

2> It takes a long time to start up (>50 seconds) and even longer to shut down (over 3 minutes).

3> It takes 100% CPU (and this is on an overclocked system at 1Ghz) for that startup/shutdown time, and eats between 35% to 40% of usable memory just for loading the app. Something has to change there...

4> It guesses words alphabetically from what I can see, and doesn't remember or weight the word usage in any way. If I type in a longer word it usually gets it right after 4 or 5 letters, but smaller words that start with the 3rd or 4th letter on a key are never the default word, despite their more prevalent usage.

Overall I think this is a good first try at it though! Really, great work on this, and look forward to seeing the next version! :) The UI is clean, the T9-like functionality works pretty well (minus the weighting issue). It's poised to be a great addition to the device!

I think the real need here is to improve the way the dictionary is handled, especially when it comes to memory usage and the speed of the app. Maybe pre-compiling the dictionary into some static database format and block allocating it would work better.

If this functionality could be integrated into the existing portrait keyboard project it would really be all the more awesome.

After playing with it a bit more:

It looks like it does remember some word weighting, but doesn't do it until you've closed the app and re-opened it? (Which takes a while.)

Sometimes I hit a number key (usually 7/8/9) and it lights up, but doesn't add the letter. I have to hit it 3 or 4 times sometimes to get it to add the proper letter.

The auto-rotate doesn't seem to work at all for me. :( I had to set it to portrait to get it into that mode, though that's find for me, since if I were using it landscape, I'd just use the normal keyboard.

One small suggestion: On my N6230 I was used to hitting # to get the next possible T9 suggestion (so that was intuitive for me), but I was also used to hitting * to back up one if I over-shot by one. I really miss that. :rolleyes: Could you add a "backup one suggestion" button (or map that to *? )

Re: [ANNOUNCE] FastSMS: portrait T9 SMS writer
 

Hello!

Good work man!

Bugs :
1. Everything is a bit slow (1 GHz OC...)
2. Switching to portrait mode doesn't always work (with auto-rotation)
3. I press the letters, and nothing happen, They don't fill the textbox (entry)

Other then those problems, it looks awesome.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] FastSMS: portrait T9 SMS writer
 

Could you make the button metalic?

Re: [ANNOUNCE] FastSMS: portrait T9 SMS writer
 

good work man!!!!

Re: [ANNOUNCE] FastSMS: portrait T9 SMS writer
 

You could merge the T9 with this instead.
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=55371&page=9

Vkeyboard + V-T9 switchable.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] FastSMS: portrait T9 SMS writer
 

@maxximuscool: buttons takes colour from selected N900 theme.

@woody14619 and eitama: Did you use english-full dictionary? If yes try to switch to english normal and let me know. english-full is very big and not really good for use atm.

@woody14619
1> It takes forever to "digest" the dictionary on the first run. Maybe you want to pre-digest the given dictionaries shipped?

Maybe Yes: the reason for leave this works on first start is because other users can easily add their language. In a second moment, when i can include more commons languages i will give pre-compiled dictionaries

4> It guesses words alphabetically from what I can see, and doesn't remember or weight the word usage in any way. If I type in a longer word it usually gets it right after 4 or 5 letters, but smaller words that start with the 3rd or 4th letter on a key are never the default word, despite their more prevalent usage.

I'm not sure to understand what you mean but i will try to answer: at the start words are proposed in alphabetical order, but if you try to write "How are you" the next time you will have "how" "are" "you" as first choice.

@eitama
2. Switching to portrait mode doesn't always work (with auto-rotation)
Yes, i know. but unfortunately i cant find a solution and i did some tries :(
3. I press the letters, and nothing happen, They don't fill the textbox (entry)
Do you mean that the main function doesn't works? If yes try to open the option,switch to another language and then reselect yours

Re: [ANNOUNCE] FastSMS: portrait T9 SMS writer
 

crashes the moment i touch the screen on my device im afraid, is there a way if getting a log i could send you or something