any t9 like applications? paid or freeware?

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my pda/smartphone (samsung sch-i760) has a (horrible) slide out keyboard plus an exteriOR regular phone dialpad... that only works the traditional way for text entry (tap 2 three times to get the letter C) which is horrible.

is there any third party software that can help me use my exterior keypad (not an onscreen keypad) in order to input text like a regular t9 input device?

much appreciated in advance