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After Swype, HTC taps China's TouchPal for new Android keyboard
Tech-savvy users may have already come across TouchPal when trying different keyboards on Android and iOS 8 (and maybe even Windows 8), but it looks like a whole lot more people will be introduced to it soon. According to the Shanghai-based keyboard developer, HTC is replacing Nuance's Swype with TouchPal as its new default input engine on upcoming Android devices -- including the recently announced One M9 -- around the world (unless requested otherwise by operators). While HTC wouldn't officially comment on this, an internal source close to the matter verified TouchPal's announcement, though it didn't go into detail as to what prompted the move.
Grippity 1 back-typing keyboard finally up for pre-order, asks for $60 and your patience
To say the Grippity has been a long time in coming would be an understatement. The quirky keypad that stashes the buttons around back seemed to have all but vaporized into thin air after showing some early promise, but hey, it's back now! Back with a vengeance, which in this case means pre-order availability on its eponymous site at $60 a pop. Mind you, the earliest deliveries are scheduled for February, so we do hope you have enough to distract you while waiting through this holiday season. January should be nice and fun, though, as we're sure the Grippity guys will find a way to hit up our CES 2011 trailer for another hands-on opportunity with this trackball-equipped peripheral -- which is now billing itself as the ideal media center controller. We'll let you know how well the Grippity plays that role as soon as we can.
Hitachi displays a capacitive screen capable of accepting stylus input (video)
Can someone ring up Lucifer and check that his heating's still working? Hitachi has achieved the unthinkable in bringing together the high precision and input flexibility of resistive touchscreens with the finger friendliness of capacitive panels. It's graced this year's FPD trade show with a new prototype that offers the capacitive functionality we're all used to by now, augmented with the ability to recognize input from a stylus or, perhaps more importantly, gloved hands. We're sure we can hear the sound of cheering coming from the chilly shores of Scandinavia right now. If all goes well, Hitachi should be able to bring them (and you, and the rest of the world) this finger-saving innovation at some point in late 2011, after production gets going in the second half of that year. Video demonstration after the break.
BlindType acquired by Google, Android typists grin uncontrollably
The note's short and sweet, but it confirms that Google's buying spree is still on -- BlindType was just acquired by the Big G. If you'll recall, we were wowed back in July by the software's ability to predict words regardless of how text was inputted, and it seems as if a few bigwigs within Google were as well. It's unclear what Google's Android team plans to do with its newfound IP, but you shouldn't have to strain your imagination too hard to hazard a guess. As for the BlindType team? They're "excited to join Google, and look forward to the great opportunities for mobile innovation that lie ahead." Likewise, folks... likewise. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
BlindType vows to autocorrect all wrongs with your iPhone or Android virtual keyboard (video)
Remember that episode of The Simpsons where Homer gets too fat to be able to dial a number? Well, he wouldn't have had that problem had BlindType been around. This soft keyboard is described by its makers as being extremely resilient to inaccurate input and looking at the demo video after the break, you kinda have to agree -- it seems to have a pretty kickass predictive algorithm. Aside from that, the keyboard also dynamically adjusts to wherever and however you choose to type, meaning its size and orientation track along to your input, which goes some way to justifying the somewhat odd name (it's meant for blind operation, not blind people). Text can be inserted without the keyboard even being on screen, while spaces are added by swiping to the right. BlindType should be coming to Android and iOS devices some time in the near future. [Thanks, Fadl] Update: We asked BlindType's makers whether implementing their software will require replacing Apple's default button slate and they've confirmed that it would. They're making and submitting it for iOS use, nonetheless, "to put pressure on Apple to finally allow this kind of thing."
T9 Trace lets you Swype through your text messages
You may or may not yet be aware of the Swype virtual keyboard (comes preloaded on the Cliq XT from Motorola), but you'll definitely be hearing about the T9 Trace from Nuance. This is because, although it's fundamentally the same thing as Swype (but from a different maker), the T9 Trace is on offer from the company behind the T9 predictive text dictionary that pretty much everyone from your 7-year old nephew to your octogenarian grandpa has used. The big idea here is that you trace out the word on your virtual keyboard without lifting your finger off, with short stops at each letter you want to add being taken for input. Once you get over the seemingly unintuitive idea of abandoning those woodpecker taps for the grace of tracing, it promises to be a real fun and rapid way to input text. Nuance has bundled the whole thing with error correction, word prediction and auto-completion, while supporting 70 languages. The company has yet to tell us when the T9 Trace will be showing up on phones (touchscreens only, for obvious reasons), but you can check out video of the competing Swype implementation after the break.
