What is texting

A.� Short Message Service (SMS), more popularly known as text messaging, or texting, allows mobile phone users to send and receive text messages via their digital mobile phones.

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Q.� How do you type in a text message using a phone, which only has a number pad
A.� Each number key also represents a set of letters from the alphabet. The grouping can differ from phone to phone, but usually a number key has three letters assigned to it. You then type in words by pressing the number key according to which letter in the group you want: press once for the first letter the key represents, twice for the second, three for the third.

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Q.� Why is texting so popular
A.� Texting is so popular, especially amongst younger mobile phone users, because, as well as being novel, it's much cheaper than making a voice call. You just type in your message, dial the intended recipient and send them the message, so you're only connected to the network for a fraction of the time it would take you to say the message, making your phone bill cheaper.

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Q.� What are the drawbacks of texting
A.� When you have to press a key up to three times to type just one letter, texting can be very time consuming. Also, given the trend for increasingly small phones, and a correspondingly smaller number pad, typing a relatively basic message, while cheap on network time, can be very fiddly and takes its toll on the thumbs.

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Q.� What is one touch texting
A.� A welcome respite for texting addicts comes from a new British company called Co-operwrite. Co-operwrite claims�its new system, which allows one key press per letter, is quick and easy to use.

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Q.� What is the system called
A.� nScribe.

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Q.� How does nScribe work
A.� By using a 'rocker switch' to 'draw' the letter. Say you want to type the letter 'c': just rock the switch left, down and right, bingo! Or how about the letter 'v': just rock the switch down to the right and back up to the right. The screen displays vertical and horizontal strokes in step with finger movements.

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Q.� Are the claims that nScribe is quick and easy proven
A.� Apparently yes. nScribes inventor Geoff Gay admits that when describing how it works some people think it sounds as complicated as normal texting, but after actually using it for a few seconds most people get it. Co-operwrite tested the system on students and found many could enter letters correctly first time, and far more quickly than they could using ordinary multiple-keypress systems.

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By Lisa Cardy