HTC welcomes carpal tunnel with a new and innovative patent that may or may not make it to the next HTC-made Android or Windows Mobile handset. On a standard keypad, the user can press a key and tilt the device in the direction of the letter that they want to use according to WMPowerUser.

Here’s the whole abstract for the HTC “innovation”:

A method for inputting a character adapted for a handheld electronic device is provided. In the present method, a reference plane is determined first. Then, a tilting angle and a tilting direction of the handheld electronic device deviating from the reference plane are detected. Then, the tilting direction is indicated, and an input of a key of the keypad is received. Finally, a character corresponding to the key at the tilting direction is displayed on the handheld electronic device. Therefore, only two actions including tilting the handheld electronic device and pressing the key are required for the users to complete the input of a character. As such, the method is intuitive, convenient, and fast for inputting the character.