One of the coolest things about Android is how flexible and
customizable the platform is. You can replace practically any part of
the system with a third-party alternative; you're never stuck using
something just because that's the way it ships.
customizable the platform is. You can replace practically any part of
the system with a third-party alternative; you're never stuck using
something just because that's the way it ships.
There are few better places to flex that power than with the on-
screen keyboard. While the stock Android keyboard is certainly not
bad -- and has actually gotten quite good, with the changes
introduced in Android 4.0 and more recently 4.2 -- there are plenty
of interesting alternatives available. And one of them just got very
interesting.
I'm talking about SwiftKey Flow , the new beta version of the popular
SwiftKey keyboard recently released.
support for gesture-based typing, which means you can type by
sliding your finger from one key to another without lifting it off the
screen.
The app is currently available as a free beta download from
SwiftKey's website . SwiftKey has yet to announce whether the final
version of the keyboard will be integrated into its existing apps or
sold as a separate application.
[UPDATE: The feature is now out of beta and integrated into the
main SwiftKey applications. You can get it by downloading either
SwiftKey's phone app or tablet app from the Google Play Store.]
SwiftKey Flow: A powerful typing package
The concept of gesture-based typing isn't new to Android, of
course, but the combination of that functionality with SwiftKey's
already-excellent interface and word-prediction technology packs a
powerful punch.
SwiftKey Flow's slide-to-type feature is incredibly accurate, rivaling
the likes of veteran Android gesture-typing app Swype and the
native gesture-typing functionality in Android 4.2. In my early tests
of the app, I've struggled to produce many errors at all; even with
sloppy swiping, SwiftKey Flow does a tremendous job of figuring
out what you're trying to say.
While the basic slide-to-type method is the same as what you see
in other applications, SwiftKey Flow does add in a significant new
twist: When inputting with gestures, you don't even have to lift
your finger between words. You can simply swipe down to the
spacebar, then swipe back up and move into your next word --
allowing you to type entire sentences without ever stopping.
I've found the continuous-typing feature to work impressively well,
though it does take a little practice to get used to the motion. The
good news is that you don't have to use it; you can just as easily
lift your fingers between words and do a more traditional slide-to-
type movement if you'd prefer.
SwiftKey's word-prediction system is fully integrated with the new
Flow setup: With longer words in particular, the app will often figure
out what word you're going for before you finish inputting it. When
the word you want appears above the keyboard, you can simply
stop swiping and the app will fill in the rest.
SwiftKey Flow uses its standard intelligent-prediction technology to
guess your next word, too, with three choices appearing in boxes
above the keyboard every time you stop inputting text. Its best
guess sits in the middle, and like with the regular SwiftKey app, you
can tap the word or just press the spacebar to have it instantly
inserted into your sentence.
SwiftKey Flow: More than gestures
So that's the new slide-to-type element of SwiftKey Flow. As I said
earlier, though, what really makes this app stand out is the
combination of the gesture-typing feature with all the stuff that
made SwiftKey so good in the first place. SwiftKey has always been
one of the best options for regular tap-based Android typing, and
the new Flow version is no different in that regard; you can switch
between swiping and tapping seamlessly, and both experiences are
top-notch.
SwiftKey's user interface is also a strong point, both from a visual
and a functional perspective. On phones and tablets alike, the
keyboard is clean and easy on the eyes (and themeable, too), with
large, easy-to-press keys and plenty of on-screen functions.
Those on-screen functions make a huge difference.
While I've
enjoyed using Google's own gesture-enabled stock Android 4.2
keyboard, its setup is a bit sparse in on-screen functionality.
Almost all of its special characters are hidden and require multiple
key presses to access; on tablets, you have to toggle over to a
separate panel of keys just to get to numbers.
On SwiftKey, in contrast, most common characters -- including
punctuation marks, numbers, and things like the plus symbol and
asterisk -- are accessible by long-pressing regular on-screen letter
keys. This makes for a much faster and more intuitive typing
experience.
enjoyed using Google's own gesture-enabled stock Android 4.2
keyboard, its setup is a bit sparse in on-screen functionality.
Almost all of its special characters are hidden and require multiple
key presses to access; on tablets, you have to toggle over to a
separate panel of keys just to get to numbers.
On SwiftKey, in contrast, most common characters -- including
punctuation marks, numbers, and things like the plus symbol and
asterisk -- are accessible by long-pressing regular on-screen letter
keys. This makes for a much faster and more intuitive typing
experience.
SwiftKey's UI is also ahead of Swype's, if you ask me. Beyond that,
it features native one-touch access to Google's excellent voice
input technology instead of forcing you to use its own voice input
system, as Swype now does. And once it's out of beta, SwiftKey
Flow will be offered as a regular Play Store app with automatic
updates, which is far more convenient for most users than Swype's
independent-download-and-update approach.
SwiftKey Flow: Getting nitpicky
I do have a few minor gripes with the new SwiftKey Flow setup.
First, while there is a tablet-specific version of SwiftKey Flow
available, the slide-to-type functionality doesn't appear to work
when used on a tablet in landscape mode. I found this to be the
case when testing the app on both a Nexus 7 and a Nexus 10. (The
app does, however, offer a split-screen keyboard option in this
orientation, which is a nice touch.) I'm not sure if the disabling of
slide-to-type functionality is intentional or not -- this is still beta
software, after all -- but either way, it struck me as a bit odd to
have the feature randomly unavailable in that one particular
scenario.
Next, because of the added slide-to-type functionality, SwiftKey's
handy swipe-left-to-delete-the-last-word shortcut is no longer
present. If you haven't used SwiftKey before, you probably won't
notice -- but if you're a SwiftKey veteran, the shortcut's absence
may be a sore point. Thankfully, there's a relatively painless
workaround: You can just long-press the backspace key to delete
your last word instead. It's not quite as convenient, but you get
used to it (and if you go into SwiftKey's settings, you can lower the
required time for a long-press, which helps).
Finally, the initial setup of SwiftKey Flow was slightly difficult for
me: I got numerous errors while following the prompts to download
the U.S. English language pack and had to try a solid dozen times
before I could get it to work. This is almost certainly an issue
related to the beta nature of the software and the fact that
SwiftKey's servers are likely getting hit hard with people trying out
the new release today.
SwiftKey Flow: The bottom line
All considered, SwiftKey Flow is one impressive package. It
combines the best of both worlds -- gesture-based text input and
regular tap-style typing -- with an outstanding UI that looks great
and is a pleasure to use.
SwiftKey has long been a compelling choice in the Android
keyboard market, and with this latest release, the company has
solidified its place at the top of the pack. Whether you like to swipe,
tap, or speak to input, typing on Android doesn't get much better
than this.
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