A closeup picture of a phone keyboard. The acronym T9 stands for Text on 9 keys. T9 "predictive texting" is a tool used primarily on non-smartphones (those with just a nine-key keyboard similar to a ...

Before T9, texting on mobile phones was a tedious affair, requiring multiple presses per letter. In 1991, Bellcore engineer ...

The writer John Kelly recently tweeted: For those not familiar with the term, here’s a definition of predictive text courtesy of whatis.com: “an input technology that facilitates typing on a mobile ...