I consider myself a collector of keyboard apps. It wasn’t intentional, I just found myself trying to find a sutible alternative to the native Android keyboard. Despite great improvements with the stock keyboard in Gingerbread, I still craved something innovative and different.
Swype came along and with it a lot of hype. Swype was started by Cliff Kushler and is designed at this point for OEM partners. Their goal from what I’ve gathered is to have their keyboard pre loaded on a variety of devices on different platforms. With great demand, there was a period of time where invites were given to end users like us. I was lucky enough to get an invite last year. I’ve been using Swype religiously since. I’m not sure how fast one can get invited now, but with a visit to their website, anyone can sign up. Once invited, you download from them directly.
I consider my experiences with Swype to be similar to a dramatic on again/off again relationship. When things are good, there’s love and joy, but when it fails there’s great anger and anguish. I have often entertained Better Keyboard and Swiftkey in my anger. Both work great in their own space, but I keep going back to my crazy dysfunctional relationship with Swype. So what’s new with version 3.0?
The biggest change with the latest update is their expansion into the tablet space. Big thanks to staff writer Derek De La Cruz for the video demonstration on his Xoom. I also have it working on my Nook Color and while the Nook does not have the best capacitive screen, it has worked much better than expected. The layout is even different than on my phone as you can see in the demo and I have been hooked since the install. With the device capability list expanding, Swype is poised to become a standard in the Android market. That is if it ever officially joins the Android market.
Oh, iPhone...
As I stated, it’s not all ice cream sandwiches and puppies. I have had several annoyances over the past couple years with Swype. I’ve come to dislike Swype on many of the same levels that I love it. Some of the biggest issues I’ve had in the past has been addressed in this latest update. As a CyanogenROM user on my Nexus One, I found myself having to license, unlicense, relicense, unlicense, and re-relicense Swype to get it to work on my phone. The installer method is also painful. While part of me understands Swype staying away from the Android Market, I wish there were simpler ways to install this application.
I was then introduced with a new feature which is part over due and part aggravation. Swype now has a horizontal word choice interface which replaced their terrible pop up interface. Anytime it could not figure a word I was typing it used to display this terrible square list of words it thought I meant to type. Now, it’s a horizontal bar similar to other keyboards. I welcome that change. What came along with that change though was tap correction. I liken this to the iPhone keyboard’s auto correct feature. We all have seen with great hilarity the epic fails that comes from the iOS stock keyboard. I was having similar auto correct failures with the new Swype. I did have to quickly disable that feature, but I am still getting some annoying auto corrections.
There are other great keyboards out there. I mentioned a couple alternates above and Justin Marden reviewed Perfect Keyboard last week. Android is better for having these options… Let us know what you’re using in the comments below!
2 Responses
Swype 3.0 (Beta) Thoughts | AndroidActivist http://bit.ly/lcvdfz @mlewis106
I precisely had to thank you so much once again. I’m not certain the things that I would’ve done without the actual tips and hints shown by you regarding this topic. It was a horrifying problem in my position, nevertheless finding out your professional tactic you handled that took me to cry for contentment. I’m happier for the support and even sincerely hope you know what a great job you are always providing teaching many people through your blog post. I’m certain you haven’t come across all of us.