SplitKeyboard
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SwiftKey X for Android hits v2.1, fingers party everywhere
Rejoice, virtual keyboard aficionados! SwiftKey X 2.1 for Android tablets and smartphones just became available today, and brings a bunch of new features and bug fixes to your favorite touchscreen device. Since our hands-on with v2.0, TouchType has updated its on-screen keyboard using the feedback it gathered from its 25,000+ VIP members. The new version of SwiftKey X adds blog personalization, insights about your typing (shareable with friends), heat-map visualization (see screenshot above), localization / language enhancements, and an auto caps toggle. We've been using the final build of SwiftKey X 2.1 on our Nexus S for the past couple of days and noticed some improvements in terms of typing speed and accuracy. Pricing remains $4.99 for SwiftKey Tablet X and $3.99 for SwiftKey X. Full PR after the break.
SwiftKey X virtual keyboard launches for Android tablets, we go hands-on (video)
We're no strangers to SwiftKey here at Engadget HQ, and today TouchType is launching a major new version of everyone's favorite Android virtual keyboard -- SwiftKey Tablet X for devices running Honeycomb, and SwiftKey X for devices running Android 2.x. Both applications improve upon the original by using TouchType's Fluency 2.0 artificial intelligence engine, a unique predictive phrase system which learns how you write. New features include cloud learning, which analyzes how you type in Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, and text messages to predict phrases in your style, plus keypress technology which continually monitors your typing precision and adapts the touch-sensitive area for each key to improve prediction accuracy. SwiftKey now supports 17 languages (with more coming soon) and is smart enough to interpret three languages at once. There's also a handful of other enhancements, including support for themes which allow users to customize the look and feel of the keyboard. And that split keyboard option we first encountered at CES? It's there of course, in the tablet version. We've been testing SwiftKey Tablet X on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for a few days now, alongside SwiftKey X on a handful of phones (including the Nexus S and the EVO 3D), and it's probably the best virtual keyboard we've used on Android yet. In fact, it's now replacing the stock keyboard on all our HTC Sense-equipped handsets. Prediction accuracy improves quickly after you start using the keyboard, and we liked having the option to turn off the spacebar-triggered auto-completion of words and phrases. Another useful feature is the ability to display arrow / cursor keys on the phone version. The supplied themes are attractive (especially Neon), and the layouts are intuitive -- although we'd have preferred the numbers to be arranged in a row instead of mimicking a numpad. Both applications are available today only for $1.99 in the Android Market. Regular pricing is $4.99 for SwiftKey Tablet X, and $3.99 for SwiftKey X. Take a look at our screenshot galleries below, and hit the break for our hands-on videos and more. %Gallery-128376%%Gallery-128378%
Microsoft Research reveals RearType, puts QWERTY back where it belongs
We've seen a few wacky split keyboards in our day, and even the occasional back-typing peripheral, but Microsoft Research has just congealed the core ideas into a why-didn't-I-think-of-that device for mobile use. Dubbed RearType, the QWERTY solution literally sticks a three-row keyboard on the back of a tablet PC, allowing users to have the same physical sensation as on laptop or desktop without taking up valuable touchscreen real estate. While there's still a few kinks to be worked out of the system (like how to set it down without triggering input) and no plans yet for commercial availability, a brief study showed users could attain 15WPM speeds on average with a single hour of training, and one participant managed to eke out a healthy 47WPM in the same timeframe. We imagine a certain Motorola device is feeling a mite jealous right about now. See the front of the (non-Microsoft) tablet right after the break, and read the full study at our more coverage link.
