The Hindu : Front Page : Standardising Tamil character keypad on mobile phones

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 22, 2006

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Standardising Tamil character keypad on mobile phones

K. Ramachandran

Mobile services in Tamil can increase the use of several applications. — Photo : N. Sridharan

CHENNAI: Language computing enthusiasts in the State are seeking ways to standardise the Tamil character keypad on mobile phones.

Their efforts come in the background of major mobile firms planning to introduce phones with Tamil character keypads.

Kanithamizh Sangam (KTS), association of Tamil computing professionals, has joined hands with the Tamil Virtual University to hold a conference in Chennai in July to standardise the keypad format.

"Some mobile phones come with 15 keys, while phones with advanced applications have 21 keys. Allotting the same matrix of keys for Tamil characters on all models is the aim of the exercise," says M. Anto Peter, president, KTS. The conference on "Mobile computing localisation and standardisation" will mainly aim at this standardisation.

Researchers in Anna University and Velammal Engineering College have developed Tamil character keypads for mobile phones. But they need to be standardised.

Mr. Anto Peter says a majority of mobile phone users in Tamil Nadu do not know English and use the phone only for receiving/making calls.

"They are unable to use other technologies only because of language barrier.

Details can be had from the website or by calling 044 -23742471

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