Get Swype while you can!

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bagpussnz

35 posts

Geek

#343108 18-Jun-2010 19:34

Running it on my nexus with froyo - works a lot better than the last version (on android 2.1).
Love it.

Linuxluver

5828 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#343517 20-Jun-2010 19:56

I've now been using Swype for 3 days.

It takes a little getting used to, but once you've your head around it, it IS faster than the default Android keyboard. You can usually just whip along from one word to another as the list of options it pops up will have the default work highlighted and 7 times out of 8 it is the correct word.

Smaller words can be entered with a single 'swype' from the first character to the second.....and are correct pretty much every time. Longer words can also be 100% accurate as they are more specific and less prone to any letter confusion, though getting your finger to cross all / most of the required letters is a challenge for the human end of the equation. :-)

I really like it. If / when they ask for money, I'll pay for it.

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

Brendan

716 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#343557 20-Jun-2010 22:12

Thought I'd offer a few words on virtual keyboards for Android (2.0) as well...

HTC keyboard:
Free. It is very good in qwerty mode. VERY. (with the auto correction enabled). With a little practice, you can type pretty damn quick with little or no errors. It learns words, it's simple, it's free. The compact qwerty mode is buggy though (on the android 2.0 Desire at least) - try to type " I'm " in that mode, and it goes away to never-never land. It works fine in plain qwerty though. Just have to be a little more accurate. The dictionary in this is almost as good as touchpal's though. Yes, i have tried the XDA modded version. 7/10.

Swype:
Free beta. I like it. A lot. I've used several versions including the newest beta as at the beginning of this thread. But, much as I like the idea it DOES have it's own funny problems: try swyping " want ". It'll give you " wasn't ". Every time. You have to dodge the s, THEN it will work. There are a few other things like this. It can be a real pain. Also annoying is the way it wants to add normal numbers to the dictionary - 10 is added and comes up in the suggestion box. Unnecessary and sometimes annoying. It also likes to add typos to the dictionary (but you can delete them). 7.5/10

Better Keyboard:
Paid. I wanted to like it, truly did. I even PAID for it. It's good, don't get me wrong. But one glaring fault: the dictionary in it sucks. It doesn't seem to learn your priorities, and will give you the same wrong word every time. At least for me. Pity really, it's fast (no lag), shiny, sexy-ish. 6/10.

TouchPal:
Free. I had this one when I was using windows mobile 6.5. I even paid for it there. For a long time you could not get it for android because they withdrew it for some mysterious reason. But i have found that it's back - for chinese - but you can just set it to english and all is good. The interesting thing about touchpal is that it has a pretty good dictionary in it - something I've learnt to appreciate. You can manually prioritise words, so words you use a lot are default. Also, you can swipe left, right, up, down on a key to get the other functions - a little practice makes it second nature. I can type faster with this than any other keyboard (often i do not even have to finish the word), and when it's set to 'compact qwerty' I can type easier. It has 3 modes: qwerty, compact qwerty, and phonepad. I use compact because the keys are larger. Maybe it's my history with the windows version, but i'm giving it a 8/10. I suggest you all try it.

I've tried all the freeware keyboards on the android market, and the quality ranges from poor to good to weird. One or two are quite good, but I forget the names off hand. I liked the IDEA of the big-keys keyboard, but the size changing of the keys visually put me off each time - i had to 'hunt' for the key for a split second.
I was using swype ever since the new beta came out. It's good and despite some 'interesting' word choices it made that got sent, I was getting quite good with it. But I keep going back to touchpal. Despite that it's UI is large.

What do you think? I'm always keen to hear about some great keyboard lol.

ChillingSilence

301 posts

Ultimate Geek

#343675 21-Jun-2010 10:19

Very cool. It's great stuff, works well. Definitely takes a little getting used to.

I find my finger sticks a little more on the Nexus One screen compared with the iPhone screen.

Still loving the voice input though, that's my favorite :D

bendigo

92 posts

Master Geek

#343696 21-Jun-2010 11:02

Brendan:
Thought I'd offer a few words on virtual keyboards for Android (2.0) as well...

What do you think? I'm always keen to hear about some great keyboard lol.

thanks for your insight Brendan. I'm also in the alpha test group for swiftkey but haven't bothered trialing as I'm very happy with swype...
thought I'd add that in for you for you to tinker with as well....
www.swiftkey.net
www.touchtype-online.com

~regards

peejayw

1841 posts

Uber Geek

#343715 21-Jun-2010 11:49

ChillingSilence: Very cool. It's great stuff, works well. Definitely takes a little getting used to.

I find my finger sticks a little more on the Nexus One screen compared with the iPhone screen.

Still loving the voice input though, that's my favorite :D

Are you really having a good experience with voice input? I have tried it and it is hopelessly innacurate for me.
Any tips?

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

bendigo

92 posts

Master Geek

#343722 21-Jun-2010 12:03

Here's another keyboard for those that want to try.... Shapewriter

http://www.androidcentral.com/shapewriter-being-pulled-market-get-it-while-you-still-can

We're a tad behind on this, but better late than never: If you're a fan of the Shapewriter keyboard, it's being pulled from the Android Market on June 20 -- that's tomorrow. Here's the notice from Shapewwriter:

Please note: We plan to take ShapeWriter off the Android Market on
June 20, 2010 for an indefinite period of time, If you have purchased
or downloaded ShapeWriter Keyboard on your Android device, please
update it to the latest Version 3.0.9 which will not expire as the
previous versions do. We thank you for your interest and support.

Looks like this is all part of Shapewriter being acquired by Nuance, which should be another name you know, namely for its Dragon line of software. We've reached out for more information and will update if and when we know more. [Shapewriter via Android Central Forums]

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