We can't say we didn't see it coming, considering we saw this preview of the tablet-optimized SwiftKey keyboard during CES, but what SwiftKey is announcing today looks quite a bit different, to say the least.

Allow me to introduce Swiftkey Tablet - a tablet-only Honeycomb keyboard set to launch around the same time as the Motorola XOOM tablet. Sticking with the 3-way-split design, the new holographic look reminds me quite a bit of Tron. If you watch the video below, you'll see that the UI is quite... magical, with suggestions floating up when clicked. The dual space bar design and the presence of arrow keys are very welcomed as well.

left: previous version from CES; right: the new SwiftKey Tablet

[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byH4ZS9WOyk

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I think my new tablet is going to like this quite a bit. What about yours?

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — A new app designed to offer a major productivity boost to typing on tablet devices, SwiftKey Tablet™, was unveiled Wednesday at Google's global headquarters in California.

The app, created by developers TouchType, has been designed in partnership with Google and Motorola to coincide with the launch of the world's first Android™ Honeycomb tablet, the Motorola Xoom™. It makes typing on tablet devices easier and faster by offering intelligent next-word prediction that is personalized to your writing style.

The app, powered by TouchType's patent-pending Fluency Prediction Engine, employs a holographic thumb-optimized keyboard skin, designed specifically for Android Honeycomb. This marriage of elegant design with incredible back-end power gives users a novel, exciting and fast way to type on a Honeycomb tablet.

TouchType co-founder and CTO, Dr Ben Medlock, said: "SwiftKey Tablet™ has all the power of our next generation Fluency™ prediction engine, integrated with a completely redesigned interface, optimized for Honeycomb."

"To look at, this is a really exciting product - and once you try it, you’ll be blown away. We've worked closely with Google to make sure SwiftKey Tablet™ utilizes the power and flexibility of the new Honeycomb OS, and we believe that it really enhances the experience."

Fluency™ applies patent-pending AI technology to predict around a third of words before a single character is entered. This is boosted by learning algorithms that observe how you write your email, blog, Facebook and Twitter updates, and these continually adjust as you type to become more accurate.

The new Honeycomb app builds on a very successful launch of SwiftKey™, originally designed for smartphones. SwiftKey™ quickly became the top keyboard on the Android™ Market after launch in summer 2010, with over 700,000 downloads in its first six months, and a very positive reaction from both users and the technology press. The app is currently available for a limited sale price of $1.99 on the Android Market.

SwiftKey Tablet™ will be on show at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 14-18.

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General SwiftKey features:
- Unique next-word prediction engine based on word context
- Rapid and comprehensive learning of individual writing style
- Up to 50% greater text entry efficiency than oth market solutions
- A third of next words predicted without any character input
- Relevant, personalized predictions
- 14 languages supported, with ability to predict in two languages simultaneously: English (US), English (UK), Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (PT), Portuguese (BR), Spanish, Swedish
- Multiple keyboard layouts supported: QWERTY English, QWERTY International, QWERTY Danish, QWERTY Norwegian, QWERTY Swedish, AZERTY, QZERTY and QWERTZ
- HD skin with sharp graphics and font on all screen sizes
- Advanced error correction designed for small mobile keyboards
- Inline spelling and grammar correction
- Automatic accent insertion (for non-English character entry)
- Voice dictation support for English, Spanish, French, German and Italian
- Multi-touch support