[ubizmo]

Since I can't get a Z10 for a month or so, I'm forced to ask others to try things that I'd be doing myself.

Well, of course I'm not forced. I could just sit here and wait. Never mind.

On my previous BBs, and even way back on my SideKicks, I realized that I could use autotext (aka Word Substitution) to make most typing much faster. I did this by gradually creating a library of abbreviations, not for "special" terms etc., but for the most common English words and phrases. Sometimes these abbreviations would only save a single keystroke over the actual word, but if it's a word that is used all the time, those single keystrokes add up.

I had over 500 of these, but for purposes of this thread, I'll just give a few:

sm becomes "some"
smtg becomes "something"
wt becomes "want"
wtt becomes "want to"
cmn becomes "common"
gt becomes "go to"
gng becomes "going"
gngt becomes "going to"

So here's my question. Suppose I get my Z10 and turn on autotext/Word Substitution. And I keep the much-admired predictive text turned on too, which learns new words. What happens as I start to type, say, "smtg"--assuming I've put this entry into the autotext library? Will it offer me "smtg" as a swipe-up predicted word, once I've used it a few times? If so, will it then trigger the autotext substitution? Or will it ignore autotext entries?

I'm really trying to suss out whether, and how, autotext and predictive text could work together, or whether I would have to choose one or the other, for the most part. So if someone with a Z10 has time on their hands and feels like trying this experiment and describing what happens, I'll do a happy dance.

[Snazy]

Well let's see shall well, just added your suggestion to the word substitution list, so without further delay............
something

Et voila.
To answer your question, it immediately appears on the space bar as soon as the g was entered.

Yup the word suggestions will work coming from your custom dictionary.

Hope that answers that for you.

Posted using CrackBerry App on BB10

[Scooter68]

Ok i do them same thing with phrases, some long some short.

What i have found is same as "Snazy". A common one for me is "hig" = "How's it going". I found that as I type the "hi" over the g it does NOT appear for flicking up however it does show above the space bar but only after I type the whole short form, and the whole space bar reads "How's it going" so a simple tap of the space bar gives me my phrase. however I don't believe that you will get it to fill in over the "g" after typing "hi".

The best part for me is just spelling them as you have them and pressing space gives that word or phrase. Very slick... and no flicking needed.


Hope that helps too.

[ubizmo]

Well let's see shall well, just added your suggestion to the word substitution list, so without further delay............
something

Et voila.
To answer your question, it immediately appears on the space bar as soon as the g was entered.

Yup the word suggestions will work coming from your custom dictionary.

Hope that answers that for you.

Posted using CrackBerry App on BB10

Thanks very much for doing the experiment!
So let me see if I understand the result. You added "smtg=something" to your Word Substitution list. After that, when you type "smtg", as soon as you get to the 'g', the "smtg" appears on the space bar, is that right? Or does "something" appear there? Which one appears?

What about the predicted words that appear on the frets as you type? Do these include the Word Sub abbreviations? So, for example, after typing just "sm", would "smtg" appear as a suggested word on the fret?

[ubizmo]

Ok i do them same thing with phrases, some long some short.

What i have found is same as "Snazy". A common one for me is "hig" = "How's it going". I found that as I type the "hi" over the g it does NOT appear for flicking up however it does show above the space bar but only after I type the whole short form, and the whole space bar reads "How's it going" so a simple tap of the space bar gives me my phrase. however I don't believe that you will get it to fill in over the "g" after typing "hi".

The best part for me is just spelling them as you have them and pressing space gives that word or phrase. Very slick... and no flicking needed.


Hope that helps too.

Thanks, it helps a lot! Our posts crossed, and yours answered my last question to Snazy. This is the functionality I hoped for. Abbreviations appear upon completion, but aren't suggested when in progress, which would be confusing. It sounds like Word Sub and predictive text can co-exist pretty well this way.

Another question: Do Word Substitutions follow "Smart Capitalization" rules, as they do on BBOS?

I've read in other threads that they don't (yet) support carriage returns or other line formatting. This isn't a problem for me, but I know it is for many others.

[Scooter68]

Well, short answer is yes. Below the full word in the setup it says "Always use this capitalization" with a check box. i just tried with bb changing to BlackBerrY and it did keep it that way. i did this with one letter for my kids names and when i tried it it gave me all CAPS for the full name so i turned this off for those.

Hope that helps.

[ubizmo]

Well, short answer is yes. Below the full word in the setup it says "Always use this capitalization" with a check box. i just tried with bb changing to BlackBerrY and it did keep it that way. i did this with one letter for my kids names and when i tried it it gave me all CAPS for the full name so i turned this off for those.

Hope that helps.

So, with this turned off it only capitalizes if it's the first word of a sentence, right?

[Playbookjoe]

Here's what it looks like:

[Scooter68]

Sorry i wasn't thorough enough, Just tested that after posting. Yes cmd = "Command" at beginning of sentence and "command" after that. others seem to follow suite except for proper names which keeps their Cap all the time.

Also no Carriage returns but you can put long phrases in and works just fine.

Cheers

[ubizmo]

Here's what it looks like:

Ah, so it shows the substituted text on the space bar, how cool!

I think I'll be using Word Sub differently from how I used it in BBOS, but based on what I see I'll be using it just as extensively. This is really good stuff. Thanks to all for contributing to this thread.

[Snazy]

here you go, that's how it appears

Thanks very much for doing the experiment!
So let me see if I understand the result. You added "smtg=something" to your Word Substitution list. After that, when you type "smtg", as soon as you get to the 'g', the "smtg" appears on the space bar, is that right? Or does "something" appear there? Which one appears?

What about the predicted words that appear on the frets as you type? Do these include the Word Sub abbreviations? So, for example, after typing just "sm", would "smtg" appear as a suggested word on the fret?

[Snazy]

So in short, you will be fine

[FSeverino]

Ok i do them same thing with phrases, some long some short.

What i have found is same as "Snazy". A common one for me is "hig" = "How's it going". I found that as I type the "hi" over the g it does NOT appear for flicking up however it does show above the space bar but only after I type the whole short form, and the whole space bar reads "How's it going" so a simple tap of the space bar gives me my phrase. however I don't believe that you will get it to fill in over the "g" after typing "hi".

The best part for me is just spelling them as you have them and pressing space gives that word or phrase. Very slick... and no flicking needed.


Hope that helps too.

The reason it doesnt appear above the letters is because it is not a WORD, it appears above the spacebar because it is A CORRECTION. that is the way it works in BB10.

[mischievousbimbo]

So glad you posted this. I'm new to everything Blackberry but now I'm off to have a try at using this shortcut stuff, I'm so slow at texting and this would help me out greatly. Thanks

[Playbookjoe]

So glad you posted this. I'm new to everything Blackberry but now I'm off to have a try at using this shortcut stuff, I'm so slow at texting and this would help me out greatly. Thanks

really good ones to add:
padd - (personal address) - 123 whatever st, city, prov/st, etc
wadd - (work address) - same
pemail - [email protected]
wemail - [email protected]
omwh - on my way home. do you need me to pick anything up?

basically, difficult ones and long messages that are commonly used (haven't figured out max length) are great.

[ubizmo]

The reason it doesnt appear above the letters is because it is not a WORD, it appears above the spacebar because it is A CORRECTION. that is the way it works in BB10.

This depends on how you use it. On my BBOS phones, I deleted all the "correction" entries from the autotext library and replaced with my own shorthand abbreviations. But that's a semantic point, and what you're saying makes perfect sense.

I've been reading everything in preparation for the US Launch, trying to decide whether or not to spring for the Z10 or just get a better Android phone. I do like Android Swype, but for 9 years before that I was very happy with, and a power user of, autotext. If I can't have Swype, I definitely want autotext (aka Word Sub). But the swipe-up predictive text looks very good too, so I just wanted to see how they might work together. At the moment, it looks like a winning combination. What remains to be seen is whether it's more efficient to use my autotext system for common words, or to up-swipe them when they're predicted. That'll just take some experimentation to find what works best for me.

On the subject of predictive text, can the user remove entries from the predictive text (not the autotext library) database?

@mischievousbimbo -- Autotext / Word Substitution is very powerful, if you're willing to take the time to set it up the way you want it.

And, on the general subject of keyboards, I've read a lot of comments from people about how great the Z10 keyboard is, but I still don't have any very clear idea how well it works for thumb typing in portrait. Do most of you find it too cramped for that?

[mischievousbimbo]

just found out it's not working on my z10 as it needs a newer update.....My software release is 10.0.9.348 and heard it needs a later update but when I try to update it says I have the latest.

[tbkfan]

I think you may find that your plan is somewhat frustrated by the fact that you will be using a touch screen keyboard and not a physical one. What happens when you want to use "smtg" shortcut but you miss-type the "m" and put "sntg". You will probably be better off just relying on the auto-correct and predictive text built-in and find that it will be faster once you get used to it and allow time for it to learn and adapt to you. That is what I have found. It has been 1 full week now and it is getting better each day. There is a learning curve in many respects, going to BB10. Even, and perhaps especially, for us seasoned CrackBerry addicts. Going into it with the approach that you will be able to take all of your old BB tips and tricks with you may not work out so well. At least that is what I have found. For the first few days I found myself asking "Why is that not there anymore??", or "why have they changed how this is done??" After a few more days though I started to realize that this is a completely re-thunk OS and most, if not all of those questions are answered with "Just try it this way for a while and see how you like it." So far it turns out that I really do (like it, that is...)

[ubizmo]

I think you may find that your plan is somewhat frustrated by the fact that you will be using a touch screen keyboard and not a physical one. What happens when you want to use "smtg" shortcut but you miss-type the "m" and put "sntg". You will probably be better off just relying on the auto-correct and predictive text built-in and find that it will be faster once you get used to it and allow time for it to learn and adapt to you.

That's a good point, and if that's the way it turns out, I have no quarrel. For the record, are you able to thumb type in portrait?

[tbkfan]

I type in portrait with 2 thumbs 99% of the time.


Posted using CrackBerry App on BB10

[battery]

Something to note about word substitutions: they don't have a carriage return anymore. So you can insert lines. This has removed my ability for quickly using various canned responses I have on email. Also I have several signatures that I can't use now at all.

I will say that I can type very fast on this keyboard even without flipping suggestions up. It's pretty freaking amazing at its auto correct.

Scary how accurate it is. As an example I typed this whole post going as fast as I can with out looking at what I am actually typing.



Posted using CrackBerry App on BB10

[battery]

Something to note about word substitutions: they don't have a carriage return anymore. So you can insert lines. This has removed my ability for quickly using various canned responses I have on email. Also I have several signatures that I can't use now at all.

I will say that I can type very fast on this keyboard even without flipping suggestions up. It's pretty freaking amazing at its auto correct.

Scary how accurate it is. As an example I typed this whole post going as fast as I can with out looking at what I am actually typing.


*** can't insert lines. Lol.


Posted using CrackBerry App on BB10

Posted using CrackBerry App on BB10

[moegrand]

When I got my z 10 I put some of this in myself but actually found the keyboard learns this stuff automatically. My keyboard converts wel to we'll and its not in the defined shortcuts.

Posted using CrackBerry App on BB10

[PatrickMJS]

I used to use word substitution a lot with my old blackberries. But now with the Z10, I find I really love using the voice dictation. This entire post was entered using voice dictation.

Posted using CrackBerry App on BB10

[battery]

How did you a make it do periods?

Posted using CrackBerry App on BB10