Smartphone Gesture Typing Keyboards
As I had predictive text keyboards with continuous gesture typing (like the Swype keyboard) by default on every smartphone I've used (Samsung, ASUS ZenPhone, Lumia), I found it strange that a new Android device that I started using, Lyf Wind 3, did not have it.
While searching for an Android keyboard, I learnt interesting facts about gesture typing keyboards -
* Swype keyboard app isn't free
* The two popular free keyboards currently are Swiftkey & Google Keyboard & they have a lot of similar features -
* These keyboards may collect all the text you type, including personal data like passwords & credit card numbers - they are like key loggers
* While swiping and looping to type words, there’s no need to hit the backspace button and retrace your words when you have an unintended auto-corrected word. Instead, just tap the wrong word and tap one of the suggested words displayed along the top of the keyboard. When you do, the word you picked will smoothly take the place of the wrong word.
* To capitalize the first letter or the entire word, tap the word you want to change, make sure it is highlighted. Hit the Shift key (lower left on keyboard; it looks like ‘↑’). Tapping Shift key once capitalizes the first letter; twice to capitalize the whole word. This works on regular keyboard as well. Just select the word and hit the shift button
* Swype is the brain child of Cliff Kushler, the inventor of T9 texting back in the flip phone days
* The size of Swiftkey & Google Keyboard vary according to device. The installation file was 14.65 MB when I downloaded it for my Lyf Wind 3 device.
* For Indic languages, Google also offers Google Indic Keyboard in the Play Store with Hinglish and transliteration support.
While searching for an Android keyboard, I learnt interesting facts about gesture typing keyboards -
* Swype keyboard app isn't free
* The two popular free keyboards currently are Swiftkey & Google Keyboard & they have a lot of similar features -
| Feature | Swiftkey | Google Keyboard |
| Gesture Typing | Yes | Yes |
| Number Row | No | Optional |
| Learns from You | Yes | Yes |
| Next-Word Prediction | Yes | Yes |
| Updated Dictionary | Yes | Yes |
| Dictionary Sync | Yes | Yes |
| Themes | Yes | Yes |
| Emojis | No | Yes |
| GIF Support | No | No |
| Bilingual | No | Yes |
| Coolest Feature | Material Design | A.I. predictions, cloud backup |
| Price for Pro Version | Free | Free |
* These keyboards may collect all the text you type, including personal data like passwords & credit card numbers - they are like key loggers
* While swiping and looping to type words, there’s no need to hit the backspace button and retrace your words when you have an unintended auto-corrected word. Instead, just tap the wrong word and tap one of the suggested words displayed along the top of the keyboard. When you do, the word you picked will smoothly take the place of the wrong word.
* To capitalize the first letter or the entire word, tap the word you want to change, make sure it is highlighted. Hit the Shift key (lower left on keyboard; it looks like ‘↑’). Tapping Shift key once capitalizes the first letter; twice to capitalize the whole word. This works on regular keyboard as well. Just select the word and hit the shift button
* Swype is the brain child of Cliff Kushler, the inventor of T9 texting back in the flip phone days
* The size of Swiftkey & Google Keyboard vary according to device. The installation file was 14.65 MB when I downloaded it for my Lyf Wind 3 device.
* For Indic languages, Google also offers Google Indic Keyboard in the Play Store with Hinglish and transliteration support.
Hei, nice article. Maybe you should also try RedrawKeyboard, it's pretty new and it works great on my mobile devide. And it's free.
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