Alltel and LG: A New Way to Tap out Your Messages

Friends and colleagues always know when I'm sending an email from my phone. The telltale giveaway? The message is filled with misspellings and composed in the shortest sentences (and words) I can think of. Text entry on a phone is a skill, and while you can get better at it, you're not going to write the Great American novel with Multitap text entry.

So, I was intrigued to get a message from Alltel detailing its new FasTap system, the first attempt at improving the current multi-tapping methods that I've seen in awhile. FasTap's typing entry system is debuting on LG's AX-490 phone. The clamshell CDMA phone gives you a full keyboard by sandwiching individual letter keys in-between the number keys of a standard phone keypad. It looks intriguingly different. The alphabet keys are raised and the number keys are lowered so that you have some good tactile feedback.

The technology comes from Digit Wireless, Inc., and it's been available in Canada and overseas for awhile. Along with the keypad layout, the FasTap system includes error prevention algorithms that essentially "know" when you're typing a number (and may accidentally press a letter) that can help minimize errors from accidental taps.

While FasTap intrigues me, the LG AX-490 phone is a bit of a bizarre novelty item. Designed for the car racing enthusiast, it comes with special ringtones, games and graphics of Ryan Newman, driver of the Alltel No. 12 Dodge. The phone has its fair share of conventional features too, with Bluetooth, a VGA camera, a color OLED outer display and speaker-independent voice control. The AX490 is available from Alltel for $59.99 after a $40 mail-in rebate. While the racing theme doesn't do much for me, it's great to see some folks offering alternatives to multitap. I'm hoping to get my fingers on a FasTap phone soon.