Canadian operator TELUS and handset maker ZTE have announced the availability in Canada of the ZTE D90, featuring the Digit Wireless Fastap keypad. TELUS says that consumers with a Fastap-equipped phone typically send between two and four times as many text messages as users of other handsets.
Developed by Digit Wireless, the Fastap keypad integrates letter and punctuation keys around the standard numeric keypad on a mobile phone, enabling users to compose messages significantly faster than with a standard keypad.
The ZTE D90 is the first mobile handset in the world to feature both the the Fastap keyboard, and Zi Corporations eZiType software, which offers word completion, next word and phrase prediction, and auto-correction of common misspellings and keyboard errors, in English and French, for increased data input speed and accuracy.
Canadians are now sending more than 21 million person-to-person text messages each day says Stephen Ospalak, TELUS vice-president of Subscriber Devices. The ZTE D90 from TELUS merges the hottest mobile messaging and entertainment services with the award-winning design of the Fastap keypad, and Zi Corporations eZiType engine, to deliver a highly functional and stylish device that is easy to use and helps our clients save time,
The ZTE D90 incorporates a Fastap keypad that combines innovative use of backlighting with semi-transparent key graphics. At first glance, the Fastap keypad looks like a standard 12 button phone, but lights up when in use, simplifying the use of messaging and TELUS SPARK services.
Additionally, the ZTE D90 features hot keys, enabling one-click access to services, applications or contacts from the idle screen, with the ability for users to personalise hot keys to their favourite applications and contacts.
The ZTE D90 also gives users easy access to TELUS SPARK services, including the TELUS Mobile Music full track download service, TELUS Mobile Radio, Windows Live Messenger, TELUS My Email for accessing select POP3 e-mail solutions including Hotmail and Yahoo, and location-based services such as TELUS Navigator and TELUS Kid Find to help users find destinations and family.
The ZTE D90 operates on TELUSs wireless high speed network and features a built-in 1.3 megapixel digital camera, as well as Bluetooth support for compatible accessories such as a stereo headset and expandable MicroSD port. 
