Keyboard developer SwiftKey released its official new version of SwiftKey Wednesday, Feb. 20 for Android phones and is now available in Google Play for download. After 11 weeks of testing under the name SwiftKey Flow Beta, the new slide-to-type keyboard is finally ready.
SwiftKey 4 offers gesture-based typing and is similar to the Swype keyboard app, but does it have an edge on its competitor? SwiftKey 4 boasts its Flow Through Space feature, which allows users to simply glide to the spacebar for continuous typing. This is not new, Swype offers this same feature although without a name. Both SwiftKey and Swype are available in over 60 languages so on that score, they remain even.
SwiftKey touts a unique and revolutionary SwiftKey Flow approach: a combination of personalized auto-correct capabilities and how fast the user's fingers glide across the screen. Swype keyboard has pretty much the same concept, and it also has an auto-correct feature. However, SwiftKey 4 may have an edge over Swype with its personalization feature. SwiftKey 4 adjusts to the user's writing style to make mobile keyboard slide-to-typing easier. Even for users not accustomed to gesture typing, SwiftKey offers an easier way with customization.
"Whether you write inaccurately with two thumbs or more carefully using a single finger, SwiftKey 4 now automatically adapts to how users type to provide more insightful corrections and predictions," said the SwiftKey 4 press release.
"Honestly, many of us do not word check text messages or emails until after we send them. Everyone's had embarrassing autocorrect moments. That's why we built SwiftKey to understand the context of words, not just their spelling. It works from the word go to adjust to you - from the phrases you write to how you touch the screen. It means you don't have to worry about typing, it does all the hard work for you," said Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey.
The only feature that could put SwiftKey at the top of the slide-to-type market, over Swype, is its personalized typing capability, which would make auto-corrections possibly more accurate than Swype.
