As promised yesterday, the Swype team have released an update to the beta version of their keyboard that brings all of the same features as the recent NS4G-exclusive version, including gestures, personal dictionary, and a new feature called Swype Connect.
Swype Connect is a lightweight background service that collects Swype-specific data and ensures the integrity and validity of the installation, while reporting usage details and device information back to Swype's servers. Like most apps that collect such information, Swype Connect doesn't gather anything personal, just basic information that can then be used to enhance and improve future versions.
The update is available right now on Swype's beta site, but you must be registered in order to gain access to it (and future versions).
Update: Looks like we killed the server for now, but at least Swype has a clever and entertaining 404 to make light of the situation. And it's back!
The full changelog is below.
Swype v3.25: Gestures, Dictionary Management & Swype Connect
Swype Gestures - With this version, we've introduced several new gestures for quickly doing some of the most common tasks involving text. You've always been able to use some basic, core Swype gestures, like punctuation words, and jumping quickly to the editing layer. We've added 2 new categories of gestures with this version: Editing gestures and application gestures. Check out our video introduction to gestures while you read the specifics...
Quick Editing - Access cut, copy, paste, and select-all functions in a flash!
- Cut - Swype from the Swype key to the X key
- Copy - Swype from the Swype key to the C key
- Paste - Swype from the Swype key to the V key
- Select-All - Swype from the Swype key to the A key
Send-to-Application - Highlight any text, anywhere, then send it directly to an application with a quick gesture. Currently supported apps are Twitter, Google Maps, and Facebook
- Twitter - Swype from the Swype key to T-W to create a new tweet using the highlighted text
- Google Maps - Swype from the Swype key to G-M to search Google Maps for the highlighted text
- Facebook - Swype from the Swype key to F-B to create a new wall post on Facebook using the highlighted text
Personal Dictionary Management - Take control of Swype's personal dictionary with the new Personal Dictionary option in Swype Settings. Long-press the Swype key, then tap Options and you'll see 2 new entries. If you tap "Personal Dictionary" you'll be able to view, add, remove, and edit words in your custom dictionary. Press the "plus" button to add, "minus" button to remove, and tap any entry in the list to edit. You can also choose "Reset Personal Dictionary" to empty all words from your Swype user dictionary.
Swype Connect - Prior to this release, licensing and device information polling was done entirely through our installation program (SwypeInstaller). This proved both unreliable and tedious for the user. It also left us unable to gather important measurement statistics that could help us improve Swype by learning about how our users are actually interacting with the keyboard day to day. This initial version of Swype Connect features two main components, and lays the groundwork for more innovative, experience-enhancing features in the future.
License Management - In order to keep track of how many installations of Swype there are, and verify that each installation has a valid license that matches the installed version and device, Swype Connect will periodically communicate with our servers and exchange some basic information about the device. This is all done behind the scenes, is guaranteed not to impact your ability to use Swype, and includes no personally identifiable information. Information collected for licensing/activation is not shared with third parties, except when required by law.
Measurement Statistics Collection - The quality of our product is incredibly important to us, and in our ongoing attempts to better understand the user experience you have with Swype, we will begin collecting measurement data to help us identify errors and areas that need improvement. Swype may collect the following measurement data: Speed of text entry, how often words are added/removed from the Personal Dictionary (Note: We do not collect the actual words added/removed, just how often words are added and removed), and language selection. None of the measurements we collect are personally identifiable, and any measurements we collect are done efficiently to minimize transmitted data.
The privacy of our users is extremely important to us, and we're sure this will raise some questions. We encourage you to read this post about how Swype Connect works, and check out our privacy policy for good measure.
Bug Fixes & Usability Updates - As always, this version of Swype includes numerous improvements over previous versions. You can find a full changelog directly below, but here's a quick list of some of the major fixes/updates:
- Single-tapping a word no longer repositions the cursor to the end of the word
- Words added to the dictionary will now retain their capitalization (e.g. Cyanogen instead of cyanogen)
- Fixed a bug that prevented Swype from reading the screen resolution properly on devices running Android 3.2
- Fixed a bug where dictionaries would sometimes fail to load after a device reboot
- Lots of application-specific improvements and fixes!