[abruzzo]

Texting is not so important now. Some are content to make calls on WhatsAp instead. But feature phones have a texting capability which some people use very well and expect it to work. I conducted a simple test to compare Punkt MP02A to Nokia 2780 4G Flip. Fox example, "faded." can be typed with the 123 keys as 323331. The measure is to type that sequence continuously for 1 minute. Not a real-world test but good for comparing phones. I typed 17wpm on the 2780 and 37wpm on the MP02A. Note that MP02 does word completion and you only need to type "fa." to get "faded." This is a big advantage.

The MP02A agrees with the T9 description here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_(predictive_text)

Some key points:-
* T9 software is enormous improvement over the multi-tap
* orders user words by frequency of use
* offers the most frequently used words first
* Android version predicts the rest of the word user is typing

This is performed by the InputMethods package of GrapheneOS. The same methods are used by the Pixel 4 virtual keyboard.

The 2780 has KaiOS 3.1 and I am not sure if it supports the minimal texting or if Nokia has added something. It is not T9 software.

The 2780 manual instructs "write a message" but does not say how to do that. Predictive testing is not intuitive but is easy to understand once demonstrated.
But the Internet offers little instruction to prevent user frustration. Wake up Nokia!

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Texting is not so important now.

Wake up Nokia!

In the end Nokia has to balance cost and features in these sub $100 dumbphones.... I suspect they know best how to do that. And what buyers of dumbphones are looking for in a device...