Swype - 3/3 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jun

[Updated] EVO Shift 4G Gingerbread OTA Update Dropping June 17th

Posted by David Ruddock in EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, News, Sprint, Tips & Tutorials

Update: The EVO Shift 4G will be getting this OTA on the 17th if you initiate the update check manually, and by June 20th, it should start rolling out to all devices automatically! So be on the lookout for it on Friday.

You thought we couldn't pack any more EVO exclusives in today? Well, you thought wrong! We've learned from our intrepid tipster, Captain Anonymous, another interesting tidbit this afternoon: EVO Shift 4G Gingerbread update (version 2.76.651.4) - June 20th. The EVO's younger sibling won't have any reason for version envy come Monday. Oh, Shift users will also be getting Swype as their new stock software keyboard option - so that's a plus, if you like Swype.

Jun

Swype 3.0 Beta Released, Includes Improvements To Prediction And Touch Typing

Posted by Matt Demers in Applications, News

The Swype team released a new round of improvements to their keyboard replacement software this evening. With this update, users can expect improvements to the "traditional" way of typing, as the correction engine that is used in the Swype method has been applied there as well.

Other improvements include better support for Android tablets, a simplified registration process, a new method of choosing words (in a horizontal menu, as opposed to a popup) and other improvements. You can find a complete list of their changes below:

Swype v3 introduces two major new features: Tap Correction and Horizontal Word Choice List
Our Tap Correction engine utilizes many of the concepts that make swyping so accurate.

May

[Updated Again With Swype's Statement] Swype: Permission Spoofing Would Mean The End Of Swype Beta On Android

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Apps/Games, Development, Editorials, News

Update 3: Swype has contacted us to clarify the following:

Swype does not, and will not ever make money off of the data it collects from you. They do not sell ads. They do not sell information. The comment made on the CM review forum was a generalization about the larger Android app developer community, and in no way was intended to imply that Swype uses your data for ad revenue.

Update 2: Here's what Swype Community Representative Brian Resnik has to say about all this:

Swype Community Rep here (the guy who made the comments on Google Code).

Honestly, piracy is not our concern.

Apr

HTC Sensation To Ship With 'HTC Trace' - A Swype Style Keyboard

Posted by Zak Stinson in EVO 3D (Shooter), HTC, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid)

We Android fans love our input methods. Luckily there is no shortage of options, with keyboards ranging from the standard Gingerbread keyboard all the way to wacky ones such as 8Pen. Despite all the competition, and the fact that it isn't even available on the Android Market, Swype is one of the most popular custom keyboards around. It makes the tedious act of touchscreen typing that much smoother by letting users glide their thumb from letter to letter rather than tapping.

There are a number of imitators on the market today that try to implement this swiping method of text input, and HTC Sense 3.0 is said to be bringing another into the mix.

Mar

New Swype Beta Update Drops - Adds Atrix Support, Fixes Annoyances

Posted by Will Shanklin in Applications, News

Last Updated: March 14th, 2011

The Swype Beta for Android received an update (to version 2.29.71.20084) today and, in addition to tweaking some of the features that users found to be the most annoying, it brings support to some popular Android devices that previously had no official way of getting the popular trace keyboard.

Perhaps the biggest news from this new version is that the following display resolutions are now supported: QVGA, WQVGA, WSVGA, and qHD. Of course the Atrix has a qHD display so it should now be Swype-ready. The addition of WSVGA resolution is a little confusing, as the primary devices in this category are the Galaxy Tab and the Nook Color.

Nov

Hands-On: 8pen Alternative Input Method Released To Market, Promises To Bemuse, Frustrate And ... Reward? [Video]

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Applications, News

A couple of days ago, French company 3qubits unveiled their unique take on what they imagined touchscreen keyboards of the future would look like. Starting with the notion that a full QWERTY layout could never fit properly on a handheld touchscreen device, they set about creating something entirely different. What they came up with is 8pen, which was released to the Android Market moments ago.

It's pretty crazy. Not quite as crazy as Dasher (free on Android), but indisputably one of the more radical input methods we've seen on Android so far. Will it oust Swype as the go-to slide-type keyboard?

Jul

Swiftkey Keyboard For Android Now Available In The Market As A Public Beta. Swype Begone - It's That Good!

Posted by Ron Hamelin in Applications, Apps/Games, News

For those of you who don’t like your stock or alternative add-on keyboards on your Android device, have I got good news for you: the Swiftkey beta is now available in the Android market.

I’ve been using Swiftkey through a private beta for the past few weeks and there’s one word I have to describe it: fantastic. I replaced my Swype keyboard with Swiftkey and haven’t looked back since.

Predictive Text

One of the best features of this keyboard is the predictive text. I’m not talking about predicting the rest of a word that you’ve already begun to type. I’m talking about actually predicting the next word that you might type based on what you’ve already input.

Jul

Swype Voice Input Button Coming Soon - Already Present On Samsung Galaxy S And Motorola Droid X

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Droid X (Shadow), Galaxy S, Motorola, News, Samsung

One of Swype keyboard's most glaring omissions, especially apparent to those of us with Android 2.1/2.2 is the missing voice input button.

The voice input button, present on the stock keyboard when typing in any text field, lets you utilize Android's speech-to-text capabilities and works surprisingly well. I sure missed it when I installed Swype.

And I'm not alone - over 2000 votes have been cast by Swype users, making it the #1 requested Swype feature - the next one down is only around 600 votes.

The good news is: Swype has been listening, and the voice input button is coming soon.

Jul

Tip: How To Get Arrow/Cursor Keys On The Swype Keyboard

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Tips & Tutorials

Last Updated: July 5th, 2010

Today's tip is almost a necessity because I've seen so many of you looking and asking and complaining about having no cursor keys in Swype (us EVO 4G users absolutely need them - the phone has no trackball!).

So I am here to tell you that Swype actually does have cursor keys but they're hidden away in a secret menu behind a super-secret swipe. Well, not too secret but if you haven't looked through the manual, you are probably unaware of it.

How To Get Cursor/Arrow Keys On Swype

To get to the special menu, just swipe from the lower left button (the one with the letter 'i' and a squiggly) towards the button with 'SYM' on it.

Jun

The Bad News: Swype Beta Expired Today. The Good News: Swype Will Be Re-Released Today, June 16th, This Time To Everyone

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Swype, an alternative Android keyboard, that pretty much turned the whole texting industry upside down a couple of months ago when it debuted, is coming to all Android handsets, regardless of the manufacturer, today, June 16th (hey, that's a nice birthday present for me!).

Previously, you could only get your paws on Swype if you acquired one of very few handsets that came with it preinstalled, downloaded it as part of a limited beta, or mooched a leaked version online.

The latter 2 groups felt some sadness yesterday as it marked the last day of the beta period. However, Swype cleared the bad mood right up as it announced a that the new beta version would be available to everyone, without the need for an invitation.