SwiftKey is challenging Swype for supremacy in typing without lifting a finger. The London-based maker of a popular Android keyboard announced SwiftKey Flow today, which combines its auto prediction technology with glide-based typing.
The software will give real-time prediction while the user slides a finger across the keyboard, according to a company video. SwiftKey will begin beta testing the application within the next few weeks. In order to sign up, head over to the SwiftKey Flow site.
SwiftKey Chief Marketing Officer Joe Braidwood said the new technology will be built in to the existing keyboard app, tapping into SwiftKey’s ability to learn a user’s typing styles and preferences.
“Our engine will take its understanding of you to a whole new level,” he said. “That understanding is pretty phenomenal. We are tapping into that learning and language enginge that swiftkey holds close to its heart.”
Over time if the new system isn’t your cup of tea, you can just stick to the traditional tap-on-the-virtual-keys style of typing.
“You can ignore it and go typing merrily away and you won’t notice a difference,” Braidwood said.
SwiftKey Flow will use the company’s artificial intelligence engine to build a prediction profile for each user. You can give the keybaord access to your SMS, email, Facebook, or Twitter archives to learn your typing style. When writing the keyboard will then offer predictions and make corrections based on what it has learned about your typing preferences.
The new sliding feature is similar to Swype, which makes such a keyboard for Android devices. It comes preinstalled on specific devices, however, and is not sold in the Google Play store.
According to SwiftKey the prediction engine correctly predicts 30 percent of the next words before characters are even entered. Additionally, 84 percent of next words are correctly predicted after two characters. It also has a very useful feature allowing you to swipe back to delete words, which is extremely useful when typing a longer section of text from a mobile device.
SwiftKey is a favorite among the staff, offering a far superior typing experience to both the stock keyboard on iOS or Android. To find out more about the app, check out our original review.
SwiftKey makes two versions of its keyboard for Android devices: one geared for smartphones and another tailored for tablets.
Images Credit: SwiftKey
