11. A text input method using a directional input device, wherein each direction entered corresponds, directly or indirectly, to one or more linguistic object subcomponents according to a current mapping, said method comprising the steps of: for each user act of pointing the directional input device, preparing an output of candidate linguistic object subcomponents based upon factors including at least the difference between directions indicated by the directional input device and pre-assigned directions of said linguistic object subcomponents according to the current mapping; using the output to predict at least one linguistic object; facilitating user selection of a desired one of said predicted linguistic objects.
11. A text input method using a directional input device, wherein each direction entered corresponds, directly or indirectly, to one or more linguistic object subcomponents according to a current mapping, said method comprising the steps of: for each user act of pointing the directional input device, preparing an output of candidate linguistic object subcomponents based upon factors including at least the difference between directions indicated by the directional input device and pre-assigned directions of said linguistic object subcomponents according to the current mapping; using the output to predict at least one linguistic object; facilitating user selection of a desired one of said predicted linguistic objects. 12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the candidate linguistic object subcomponents comprise one of any number of letters or symbols near the direction entered.