Is there a way to call a contact by typing the letters of their name?

I just re-posted this question to start a new dialogue about this issue. I just got an iphone after using an Android platform for many years and the one feature that's missing from the iphone is the ability to find a contact from the phone key pad. Many iphone users have replied to say "just start in the contacts field", which works, but the buttons are very small, so it trickier to type quickly and accurately. Being able to dial a contact straight from the phone key pad seems like a very easy solution that could be added to the iphone to increase the functionality. My two cents worth.