Is there a smart dialer or T9 dialer for iPhone?

Thank you MLadd.

This just brings it to the point.

But you know if millions of idiots use it it must be good :-) (like Android or Windows Explorer).

Millions?? I haven't seen anyone use T9 for anything besides typing on old flip phones. Hardly advanced just because it's on Android. It was a work around used for limited keyboards.

Why don't you just dial by the contact name using the standard keyboard instead making it even more difficult?

LaserJet5LApple wrote:

Thank you MLadd.

This just brings it to the point.

But you know if millions of idiots use it it must be good :-) (like Android or Windows Explorer).

Maybe you should sell your iphone and buy an android, you'd probably be much happier.

The last sentence has been just a statement that a huge amount of people think, something is good if only a lot of people use it.

I use T9 on a 5$ Samsung phone and use my iPhone as Apple has designed it. That is why I have an iPhone. It is easier to write anything with the iPhone, than writing anything with T9.

But what I wanted to do is just to thank you that you made the point to use the iPhone correctly and not to ask for features nobody needs.

No I am not. I did just the other way around and I am much happier now.

But what we should do is to use an Android phone the way it is designed and use an iPhone the way it is designed for. And if someone is happy with Android that's fine and if somenone is happy with an iPhone it's fine.

People - you critisize something you've no idea about! Smart dialing (also called T9) is NOT about text input for God's sake...it's about dialing a contact in a really quick and simple way just by clicking on one of 10 dial buttons and the phone matches.

For example I want to dial contact MLADD - I then tap on 6,5,2,3,3 and the phone searches for contacts matching all the combinations hidden on these numbers.

Another example: see Apple's website containing contact line number specified in 2 ways: (800) MY-IPHONE (800-694-7466)

Do you get my point now?

I've used at least 6 different phones in my life so far and went through most of well known platforms including Symbian, Blackberry, Android, Windows Phone and now iOS. I'm very sure there is no better and faster way to quickly and easily dial somebody but by using a smart dial. Dialing somebody this way takes 2 seconds while dialing using tapping on contacts field, then typing a word using keyboard (assuming you click on a right button when on the move) takes a while longer and is frustrating.

It's just a matter of a wider perspective when looking at this problem. If you would use it at least once - you would demand it as well.

For people liking tapping everywhere to perform basic actions - let it be as it is, but why not to improve something by adding an additional option in setting and enable SmartDial?

You assume a lot.

I've been using cell phones since before the handheld bricks were available and cell service was a 30 mile radius in South Florida.

T9 is a product which was developed specifically FOR predictive text entry.

RiM does not use T9

"Smart dialing" is a generic name

I have used T9 and smart dialing on plenty of older phones.

It seems you always put your phone app back to keypad every time you use it. Personally, I keep mine in Contacts. So I don't have to "tap on contacts" every time I want to call someone. It's already there.

I would just type ML to find my contact?

And I don't understand your point about the phone number in 2 ways. Just dial the number.

It seems your searching for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist for most iPhone users. Your purpose here is to get everyone to think the same way you do. Good luck with that.

If you want smart dialing, please search the App Store, or find a phone that suites your needs. Please do some research ahead of time to make sure your next phone has all of your required and technologically advanced features that you can't live without.

Finally this is a serious discussion, some thoughts exchange instead of short, picky comments.

Yes, I did assume a lot, but without you going into a material discussion I couldn't do anything else.

Anyway...maybe I'm demanding something that few iPhone users want, but I may again assume something - people got used to their iPhones (well done Apple marketing people) without exploring different phones, different options and solutions. Apple's addictive and everybody knows about this. Just a matter of a well designed ecosystem and business concept.

There is no phone that would fulfill everybody's needs. There no perfect phone for everybody. Every one of them has some limitations and disadvantages with some reasons behind. Also the iPhone. A choice for a new phone (in my case at least) is about: what do I need or expect from a device. iPhone has most of what I need, but things like this missing smart dialing (which is not "technologically advanced feature" at all - any newbie programmer would do that quickly) just annoys me. There are other basic features missing as well without even imaging what the reason could be for each of them, but that's not a thread to discuss about this.

Summarizing: this "problem" is like somebody drives a mid-range car but with a nice, strong turbocharged engine and then buys an expensive car with superb interior and a lots of other things, but a normal engine - nevertheless strong as well. Generally he likes it, but missing that nice flexibility & torque given by a turbocharger in the previous car. Of course he could have similar results by putting the new car's engine on high rpm...but that's not the same 🙂

In my opinion, the lack of a smart dial function is like buying a luxury car and then complaining about the lack of a handle to roll the windows down. But to each their own. You find it a requirement in a "modern" phone, and I think it's useless. Contacts and favorites are available, and allow me to dial numbers faster than what it would take using Text via a keypad.

But, again, there are plenty of 3rd party apps that do exactly what you are looking for. Please feel free to search the App store for "smart dial" or "T9".

If you are still unable to learn how do use a modern phone, or are unable to make a choice from the dozens of 3rd party apps and still feel Apple should incorporate a 20 year old tool for typing text on a 9 key pad in the next iOS release, please let them know at http://www.apple.com/feedback.

MLadd wrote:

But, again, there are plenty of 3rd party apps that do exactly what you are looking for. Please feel free to search the App store for "smart dial" or "T9".

Already did that on the 1st day I got "my precious"

If you are still unable to learn how do use a modern phone, or are unable to make a choice from the dozens of 3rd party apps and still feel Apple should incorporate a 20 year old tool for typing text on a 9 key pad in the next iOS release, please let them know at http://www.apple.com/feedback.

Come one - don't use such big words as "learn" in relation to the iPhone. There's nothing to learn here. Just switch on and use.

And btw - also did that few hours ago 😝.

Let's see. Maybe they'll introduce it in iOS 10 or so... Apple is good in (re)inventing things and new things are more and more needed in iPhone as the competition does not sleep and a wind of fresh air would do some good here. Notification Center introduced in iOS 5 is a small step in a right direction.

This whole discussion mirrors the discussion many years ago when Apple started shipping computers without a floppy disk drive.

And if you go back far enough (1984) how Apple was ridiculed for shipping computers with this odd device called a "mouse", which focus groups had universally panned and industry gurus said would never catch on.

Use Smart Dial Application. It is free in App store... I belive, it will satisfy you

You could try out Contaction. It's inspired by the stock Android dialer 🙂

https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/contaction/id916762518?mt=8

The useless iphone that I am using and neither user friendly , no call connect vibration too

iamsujoy wrote:

The useless iphone that I am using and neither user friendly , no call connect vibration too

Call connect vibration? I've owned phones (basic and smartphones) by Nokia, LG, HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Palm, Kyocera, and possibly one or two others I've forgotten. None of them have ever had such a feature.

If the iPhone doesn't meet your needs, you should sell it and buy something that does. iPhones hold their resale value quite well.