Ethiopian academics are trying to convince mobile phone manufacturers there is a demand for SMSing in the ancient script “Ethiopic”, and have even released a paper (Ethiopic Keyboard Mapping and Predictive Text Inputting Algorithm in a Wireless Environment). There are a few obstacles to overcome based on the script have 345 letters and letter variations. In addition to working out how to express these on a 9-key pad, the technical limitations of the phone create a problem. “Most cell-phone manufacturers have a 64-KB memory limit (in some cases less) on the size of the wireless application file,” states the report. “But most Ethiopic font files commonly used in desktop applications alone have sizes in the ranges of 175-250 KB.”
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