Hello,

I just bought a new phone (Nokia 1616, cheapest model available) and I'm having trouble figuring out how to write an SMS in Thai, so I'm hoping maybe someone who has a similar model phone might be able to help me.

As far as I can tell, when using the auto-text option, I press the * key for tone marks and vowels that appear above or below the consonant, and I press the 0 key for vowels that appear before or after the consonant (า ำ เ แ ะ ไ ใ โ)

The problem is that I can't seem to enter (เ แ ไ ใ โ) at the beginning of a sentence. I press the 0 key, and nothing happens. The only ways I have found to be able to work around this are to temporarily switch off the auto-text option, insert the vowel I want, then switch auto-text back on to finish typing the word. Or, I type a random consonant, then type the word, and have to go back and delete the random consonant at the beginning (eg, พไม่เป็นไร). Or, I have to use the "add new word to dictionary" feature every time I want to begin a sentence with a (เ แ ไ ใ โ)

Any suggestions? I was never brave enough to attempt texting on my old phone, but I am finally confident enough in my Thai language that I want to start putting my skills to work. But there must be an easier way to do this!

When on auto-text, pressing 0 should bring you เ. Try pressing 0-6 and see if it brings you ใน. If not I think there is some fault there.

Honestly dude the easiest thing you can do is get a phone with a QWERTY keyboard. theres more than twice as many letters in the Thai alphabet so using 9 keys to punch them in is just a plain old hassle. Wish I could be more help but I had the same experience and in the end I gave up and upgraded my phone to a samsung touchscreen with a querty keyboard only cost 4000. baht. in the end you'll save your time and your mind.

Dude,

If someone asked how to get more speed off his Toyota, bet you would ask him to get a Ferrari instead.

Anyway, to use 4x3 keys to type Thai is not that difficult, especially with auto-text. The only basic requirement is knowing the Thai alphabetical order. To use QWERTY to type Thai requires you to know where the placement of characters are, otherwise it's hunt-and-peck. This issue is exactly the same with English. You say it's easier to type English using QWERTY but there are loads of people who swore by the 4x3, even without the auto-text.