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» Hello snopes.com » SLC Central » Rantidote » &($#ing IM! Just Shut Up and Let Me Do the Typing!

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Author Topic: &($#ing IM! Just Shut Up and Let Me Do the Typing!
Amigone201
Happy Holly Days


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I hate trying to IM on phones!!

I couldn't get through to my brother today from the mall to discuss Christmas gifts, but he didn't answer. I tried calling a couple of times, but for whatever reason, his phone doesn't work where he lives.

So I tried to IM him. I fired up AIM no my cell phone and went through the obnoxiously arduous process of setting it up. My brother wasn't on the list of, oh, 20 or so names they let me have (I have in reality about 150 names on my buddy list). So I deleted one outdated name and put my brother's in. This process, so far, has gobbled up about ten minutes of my time so far, and my girlfriend has been waiting patiently.

So then I started trying to type a very simple message: "Call me." I put in a C, and the display now reads:

cc.

No, not "cc." So I hit the backspace, which deletes both C's. I tried hitting the "c" again, and I got "cc" again.

So this time, I just type an "a" to see what happens. It now says "cab."

CAB?? Why are you trying to guess what word I want in there? Just shut up and let me friggin' type! I can't even tell the stupid machine it's wrong, because when I backspace, it gets all huffy and sends me back to whatever word it thought I wanted one letter ago.

So now I'm still staring at "cab." I try an "L" just to see if maybe it'll listen to me. Now the display says "back". Back??? I delete once, and now I'm staring at "cab" again.

Sigh. Okay, maybe I'll try adding an L so that it sees how stupid it's being trying to tell me what I should be typing. I try another L and of course I'm back at "back." I add another L and it gives me "Backl." WTF? Backl?

At that point I stopped trying to AIM and closed my phone up (although, of course, AIM continued to run, and I didn't find that out until later when I opened the thing up to try again.)

Yes, I tried it again. I think I managed to somehow turn off the word fill-in, but then it didn't let me use capital letters. I guess I can live with that, although I'm soured on ever trying to use it again, so don't do me any favors, AOL.

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Posts: 1527 | From: Buffalo, NY | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a moderator
Doug4.7
Angels Wii Have Heard on High


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Dude, I'd just leave a voicemail on his phone and leave it at that.... [Wink]

I think that is called "intelityping" (or something like that) and you can turn it off.

Or leave him a voicemail...

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Purple Iguana
Markdown, the Herald Angels Sing


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The text message feature on my phone does predictive spelling, in that it "guesses" the word you are trying to spell... but it doesn't ADD letters on me. That's just annoying. Is there a way you can change that setting? I would get really irritated REALLY fast with that.

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Amigone201
Happy Holly Days


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quote:
Originally posted by Purple Iguana:
The text message feature on my phone does predictive spelling, in that it "guesses" the word you are trying to spell... but it doesn't ADD letters on me. That's just annoying. Is there a way you can change that setting? I would get really irritated REALLY fast with that.

Yeah, it was really irritating. I tried to turn it off several ways, and I think I may have succeeded. I hope. Not that I'm all too keen on diving in there again though.

And Doug, yes, I left a few voice mails.

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Posts: 1527 | From: Buffalo, NY | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a moderator
Not_Done_Living
I'm Dreaming of a White Sale


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is it the app, or the phone.. i can change that feature on my phoen and it fixes ituniversally on all the apps.
Posts: 62 | From: Markham, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Sep 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a moderator
Rob D / Blackwolf, the yule dodo
Deck the Malls


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Also, usually there should be an extra button that allows you to toggle through the available words. Once you get used to it, it is actually a help. Though I havent used text messaging for several years, while I did it, it really helped.
But yeah, for words that are not in the list there should be a quick toggle to turn it off.
On my phones it was the same toggle where you toggle Capitals.
On my old Samsung its *, which toggles from Prediction (with first letter capitalised) to normal prediction, to normal imput, to normal CAPS input and number input. 0, i think, gave me the next word predicted, etc.
But more should be in the manual of your phone.

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Amigone201
Happy Holly Days


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Well, it's the AIM app. Not the text messaging.

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Kiddo
I'm Dreaming of a White Sale


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I used to find that feature so annoying, but it's easier if you just ignore what's on the screen and just hit the keys for the letter you want. Like, normally if you wanted the C, you would hit "2" three times, which of course makes cab. But if you want to say "call" type "2255" and it should come up. For "backl" it would seem you typed "22255".. 2225 made "back" and then when the feature can't figure out a different word when you add another letter, it just adds it on the end.

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Amigone201
Happy Holly Days


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quote:
Originally posted by Kiddo:
I used to find that feature so annoying, but it's easier if you just ignore what's on the screen and just hit the keys for the letter you want. Like, normally if you wanted the C, you would hit "2" three times, which of course makes cab. But if you want to say "call" type "2255" and it should come up. For "backl" it would seem you typed "22255".. 2225 made "back" and then when the feature can't figure out a different word when you add another letter, it just adds it on the end.

I could do that, except it's not offering the extra letter, it's telling me what letter is going to go there. So once the app decided what I was going to type, there's no changing its mind.

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lyriccoloratura
I'm Dreaming of a White Sale


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I tried to send the message that it was snowing (we had been talking about going skiing), and it came out "its ponying." It has become a code between us:).
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tagurit
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV


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I've never used the text feature on my phone. I haven't a clue what any of you are talking about. It's as if I just walked through a time warp or landed on a strange planet. Oddly enough, it's not troublesome to me.

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Kev
We Three Blings


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quote:
Originally posted by Amigone201:
quote:
Originally posted by Kiddo:
I used to find that feature so annoying, but it's easier if you just ignore what's on the screen and just hit the keys for the letter you want. Like, normally if you wanted the C, you would hit "2" three times, which of course makes cab. But if you want to say "call" type "2255" and it should come up. For "backl" it would seem you typed "22255".. 2225 made "back" and then when the feature can't figure out a different word when you add another letter, it just adds it on the end.

I could do that, except it's not offering the extra letter, it's telling me what letter is going to go there. So once the app decided what I was going to type, there's no changing its mind.
But its guess is based on what you've already typed, it's not putting those letters there and making you keep them, as you continue to type the letters for whatever word you want it adjusts its guesses. When you hit 2 the first time it guessed "cc" then when you hit 2 again it guessed "cab," if you had gone ahead and hit the 5 it probably would have guessed "call" at that point. You just have to keep typing and ignore what it says until you've typed in enough letters for it to guess the right word, or if you've typed all the letters and it's the wrong word toggle through other matching words.

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FuzzDuckie
Happy Holly Days


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Gotta love my SideKick! it doesn't do ANY of that! [Smile] I have email, texting, AIM, MSN and Yahoo. None have the predictive or "stuffing in what it thinks should go there rather than what you WANT to go there"

Only thing I hate is I can't have group conversations on MSN [Frown] Oh and the tiny stinkin' font leaves a lot to be desired (I prefer BIG font...)

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