CONTEXT LENS | User Interface | 2010
LG ELECTRONICS INC.
Team: Shruti KNR, Pratap R (Developer)

 Indic Language keypad for a low budget phone.

With the penetration of Mobile Phones into the rural segments  of India, there has been a demand for people for local language support.
Mobile Keypads with Indian Languages are currently adapted using the QWERTY keyboards. 

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CONTEXT

 The adaptation has been direct translation from the Inscript keyboard.
and do not suit the requirement for for Mobile Phone users.
Context Lens Keypad is an initiative to design the Indian Language Support Keypad for Smart Phones.

 

USER OBSERVATION                            The Indian Languages are phonetic The Indian Languages are phonetic ,have the same pronunciation regardless of its position. Since the Indian Language keypads are
adapted from the computer keyboards, they are unable to support the needs of the native speaker.

 

CONCEPT

It was essential to address the issue of “phonetic typing“ which lets the user type the way he thinks,  writes and talks.Taking this as the basis, various keypad layouts were explored.
On press of a letter, all the combinations of the letter with vowels and consonants are displayed. 

Using Gestural Interactions to enhance typing and reducing taps.

 

 

 

TESTING

It was necessary to test this keypad amongst users of various languages. The users were given tasks to type a displayed paragraph in their native language, type a SMS to a friend and type it in a counterpart phone
with Language QWERTY. The tasks were timed and the users feedback was taken.

Certain highlights were using the resolution of 3 letter combination characters.