this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2026
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Nah Jeff was right touch screens were a terrible idea, bring back physical buttons.
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Can somebody please decode this?
Missing the pauses needed to start the next letter sure stumped my translation progress.
I stuck it into chad:
Looks like classic phone keypad (T9-style) text 😊
Decoded message:
“yeah i really miss spelling things of like this. those were the days.”
(There are a couple small typos in the sequence—“ov lile” → “of like”)
Chad did a bad job. Fuck AI.
I loved this because I was able to text without looking. When T9 was an option I would always turn off. Those indeed were the days
I typed with T9 without looking. Learned what order the "common button combination" words would be suggested. Still haven't recovered my WPM from that era.
My phone had a keyboard because I was just so darn cool.
Why tf you link to something that automatically tries to download?
It doesn't wtf you have a browser that downloads pdfs instead of opening them?
Mobile browser, yeah. I have to approve it, but still.
Well if you are on android waterfox will solve that problem.
Released two years later, expensive as hell, still had a touchscreen. The blackberry was always an option.
Touch screen were a terrible idea as a keyboard replacement.
My Treo had a touch screen and a killer keyboard. Stylus was only required for certain things - I'd do a grocery list in the store without the stylus because you just needed to hit one button on the screen.
Best laptop I ever had was an HP with touch screen and Ubuntu. Anything I couldn't easily do with basic keyboard controls I'd just tap the screen. Had my start bar up the right side so I could poke with my dominant hand to me very between progams. It was accurate enough I could tap to set my typing course when I was editing documents and rarely have to arrow key around.
I didn't realize how much I'd miss it until I built my current desktop. If I knew how to DIY the two 32in TVs I use for monitors into touch I would in a heartbeat.
I had an envy touch, I never used the touch screen for anything more than answering the phone other wise I'd flip it open and use the keyboard for most everything else.
Jeff was right and instead of the problem getting fixed, they set a release cycle of one year to distract us from it.