Patent ID: 8686955

Claim:
A method, comprising: at a portable electronic device with a touch-sensitive display: displaying on the touch-sensitive display: a character entry area, and a character selection indicia that represents a plurality of characters, wherein: the character selection indicia is displayed at a first predefined location, and the character selection indicia includes locations corresponding to respective characters in the plurality of characters; detecting on the touch-sensitive display a point of contact by a user over the character selection indicia; in response to detecting the point of contact over the character selection indicia, displaying a temporary character on the touch-sensitive display at a second predefined location distinct from the first predefined location and a location of the character entry area; detecting on the touch-sensitive display movement of the point of contact over the character selection indicia; as the point of contact moves over the character selection indicia, updating the temporary character displayed at the second predefined location with a respective temporary character such that the respective temporary character replaces the prior temporary character at the same second predefined location, the respective temporary character corresponding to a character to be selected in response to detecting a character selection gesture; while displaying the respective temporary character, detecting on the touch-sensitive display the character selection gesture, the character selection gesture being a swipe gesture toward the second predefined location; and, in response to detecting the character selection gesture, selecting the character corresponding to the respective temporary character for placement in the character entry area and appending the character corresponding to the respective temporary character to the character entry area.