Handheld electronic device and associated method employing a multiple-axis input device and using non-edited characters as context in text disambiguation

A handheld electronic device comprising:

• a processor apparatus comprising a processor and a memory having stored therein a plurality of language objects;
• an input apparatus being structured to provide input to the processor apparatus and comprising at least one input key, the at least one input key having a plurality of characters assigned thereto;
• an output apparatus structured to receive output signals from the processor apparatus;
• the memory further having stored therein a number of routines including a disambiguation routine that is structured to disambiguate ambiguous text input, the routines, when executed on the processor, causing the handheld electronic device to perform operations comprising:
• outputting a number of language objects on a display, the number of language objects including a default portion and a number of variant portions, and each language object comprising a number of characters;
• detecting an input from the input apparatus for selecting one of the language objects on the display;
• detecting a selection of the at least one input key as an editing input for editing the selected language object;
• disambiguating a combination of the selected language object and the editing input;
• and
• outputting on the display a number of new language objects, the new language objects including a new default portion and a number of new variant portions, the new variant portions including at least a combination of an unselected language object prior to the editing input and a character corresponding to the editing input.