Related
There have been lots of posts by people looking to properly disable XT9 that is integrated in the HTC soft keypad and keyboard to make the "regular" word completion work when using the hardware keyboard.
For quick SMS messages, I still prefer a phonepad with XT9. I like the large layout of the HTC keypad, but XT9 drives me nuts. After trying about every SIP I could find, I think the smootest for T9 phonepad input is the HTC Phone Pad (also called Intellipad) that apparently used to be included on HTC roms. It's quick and T9 only rears its face when you're using it.
There are a number of skins out there for it, including a touch-style one that looks close to the new HTC Keypad (sorry for not looking up the creator) but the 0-9 keys are always smaller (due to the extra keys on the sides I guess).
I think it would be great if someone with some knowledge of creating SIPs and skinning them could create a new skin for this Phone Pad that is laid out just like the new HTC Keypad. I imagine this would take a little more modification than just a new skin due to the size of the buttons and the layout. For example, I don't see the need for the arrow buttons on the corners of the Phone Pad, but you can't scroll through the word suggestions with the hardware "D-pad" 'as is'.
I wish I could get this started myself, but unfortunately I have no knowledge of how to make/edit a SIP. I know there's plenty of people out there that can however, so hopefully someone might be interested in making a more usable version of the new HTC Keypad and interested in taking this on.
First off: I text A LOT, so having decent text input options is very important to me. I send upwards of 3500 sms per month
I have known of Swype for a long time now. I enthused about it when i first saw it demoed, but later found it to be less than efficient; but that was on the Windows Mobile platform. Now I might have been a little bit harsh on swype in the past but seeing the final Beta up for open testing i felt I HAD to give it another chance. This is a new operating system after all, and there has been plenty of time to iron out any flaws. So here is my take on it:
it is well designed and feels like a lot of work has gone into it BUT I just don't see how it could EVER be faster than typing with the default Froyo keyboard. For one, you can only use ONE finger, standard keyboard lets me use TWO, thereby doubling PRODuctivity (!); for two, much as Swype's predictive algorithms are GOOD, the fact that the standard keyboard shows suggestions along the top bar as you TYPE is a lot more efficient. In the event Swype gets it wrong you have to highlight the word, press the Swype button in the corner and choose the alternative word. You also hit a stumbling block when it comes to punctuations too as Swype doesn't seem to suggest possessives or other grammatical nuances. So there it is: I'll be Swyping Swype from my Android phone and forever wondering why it even exists.
What do other people think?
leoni1980 said:
What do other people think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think its terrible, horrible and YUK
Kev
Swype has a learning curve. Most people who learn to use it find that they type much much faster with a single thumb than with two.
I swype probably 5 times faster than I type, now that I have gotten the hang of it. Just keep practicing. At first it is slow and sucks. Give it a chance. Now I can't imagine typing on my Nexus without it. I really hate it when I have to go terminal to do something and then have to switch to HTC or standard keyboard to get the emulator to take the input.
moved this thread to general, which is the better place for discussions like this.
So if would type with three fingers you would get triple the productivity? Sorry, but this is BS mate. Same with making mistakes. I don't know about you, but I was making mistakes way too often on HTC_IME, and had to go back as well, or choose a different word from the suggestion list (which brakes my train of thought).
At the end of the day it is all about WPM and if you can squeeze more words on a traditional soft keyboard then do it. I swype almost as fast on my phone as I type on my laptop which in my case means really fast.
I can't imagine using anything other than Swype these days. I switched to it from HTC_IME a few weeks ago and immediately felt an increase in composition speed. However, Swype's dictionary can get a little odd sometimes and there is a definite learning curve when it comes to using punctuation. However, once you get used to it, it's better.
Also, if you are having trouble with possessives, just spell out the noun. Then, drag down to the apostrophe then back to the S. Swype will automatically put the correct suffix on the noun.
Swype has a steep learning curve. But once you've mastered it, it's painful to go back to the primitive way of typing. I think Swype will ultimately become the standard of touch interface. It's perfect for tablets too, knowing that you'll always have one hand holding the tablet and only one hand available to type.
I agree, after mastering swype, it blows everything else away. Also, you are ALLOWED to make mistakes with it versus if I made a mistake on a regular keyboard, it usually screwed up the word prediction.
I say give it a try, man. I disliked it at first too tbh, but now I won't text without it.
I like swype a lot. Just got it last night. It does have word prediction if you want it.
I usually use Swype instead of my Milestone's hardware keyboard!
I would hate to have to revert to the standard software keyboard since Swype is so quick and easy to use once you've practiced a bit.
The new Swype auto-punctuates for you (eg. dont will be don't). Each to their own really, I use Swype when I need to be one handed as I have the hardware keyboard for two hand times, it is a useful setup.
Swype is the faster keyboard, but is my opinion only
when the swype beta on my phone ran out for that day i felt handicapped trying to type on the default keyboard again
once you get used to it, its amazing
Forgot to say, read up up on the tips and tricks. It will amaze you how much faster it can become even after mastering it.
It is my #1 must have, most used app by a mile! I feel awkward even trying to type on a regular keyboard now. There is definitely a learning curve but once you get used to it, it is amazing!
After I got used to swype it's way faster. According to my own speed tests (timed by a stopwatch). I can finish a 40 word paragraph roughly 6 second quicker using swype, and I can FLY using tap keyboards.
It's far more accurate for me personally. For sure had a learning curve but I'd feel naked without it now.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
This might sound odd, but one thing I do like a lot about Swype is that it is fun. I like challenging it sometimes with super-long words, and it amazes me how it recognizes the swiping patterns. Now admittedly, I'm not a "power user" who needs to text and email constantly, so I could understand why people might tire of it, but for longer emails I actually find it very useful, and I think if I had to use my phone constantly, it'd grow on me even more and become invaluable. What I do love, and this is what make Android so versatile for me, is that we get the choice. It's easy to switch from the stock keyboard to Swype in a second, and that's valuable in itself, because so many other smart phones don't allow the user that much choice.
One other thing I forgot to mention is that unlike with the stock Froyo keyboard if you type with Swype you have to put in EVERY letter, much like with the old number pad T9. Just for example, almost every word I am currently typing with the stock keyboard requires only half or less of the actual word to be tapped out before it guesses and autocompletes it with a press of the spacebar. This is how I am able to type so fast. It basically ups your word productivity by about 50% at a guess.
A while ago I did some tests and found roughly the following order for my particular fingers (greater means faster):
Swype portrait N1 > landscape iPod Touch > landscape stock Android N1 > portrait iPod Touch > portrait stock Android N1 > landscape Swype N1
In landscape Swype is truly awful... the spacing is just too awkward to make it work. But it's very handy in portrait. Currently I'm on my Milestone so it works out nicely. For my N1 it would be nice to be able to choose separate keyboard options for portrait & landscape modes.
cmstlist said:
A while ago I did some tests and found roughly the following order for my particular fingers (greater means faster):
Swype portrait N1 > landscape iPod Touch > landscape stock Android N1 > portrait iPod Touch > portrait stock Android N1 > landscape Swype N1
In landscape Swype is truly awful... the spacing is just too awkward to make it work. But it's very handy in portrait. Currently I'm on my Milestone so it works out nicely. For my N1 it would be nice to be able to choose separate keyboard options for portrait & landscape modes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. I really wish I could have Swype in portrait and HTC_IME in landscape.
Which of these keyboards have the biggest keys when using the phone in portrait mode; the android keyboard, the ime mod keyboard or better keyboard? I am looking for one that makes it less likely for those of us with fat fingers to fat finger what we are typing.
Um, i'd have to say Smart Keyboard Pro with the HTC Skin has the biggests keys. And it's not as big of a file as the HTC IME mod so there isn't that much lag when using it
come keyboards i have used
There is a keyboard called thick buttons which resizes the keys as you type making the keys that are most likely the next letter in the word larger and the rest smaller, you can also set the resize rate (small,medium, large)
SwiftKey is a pretty cool keyboard that scans your chat history to try to predict what word you will type next. They keys are pretty much the same size as the htc keyboard though. feature updates to the app will be able to scan sms, twitter, email and then create different recommendations based on the app you are typing in i.e. sms, email, or twitter.
Right now my fav keyboard app is touchpal. Don't be afraid that a lot of the text about the app is in chinese in particular parts of the tutorial they board can be set to english and all your txt recommendations will be in english. This keyboard has three layouts (my fav is the compact keyboard which gives you two letters per key but with txt prediction enabled typing is not a problem. they keys in this layout are pretty big to making it hard to miss the one you want) What is really cool about this keyboard is the ability to swipe either side ways to change keyboard layouts or down to access the secondary key (e.g. swiping down on say e will give you a 3) or in full quwerty keyboard swiping up gives you the capital letter of the letter.
Another keyboard you might want to put on your radar is blindtype. It is not out yet but it looks really awesome. It functions similar to swype but instead of swiping your finger across the keys you type normally. Look it up and you can see videos of it being demoed. It is not aval right now though but it looks like the keyboard to have for us with big fingers lol
blindtype DOES look amazing!
cant wait for it.
umm, it does not show up in my market. wth
you might want to check out ultra keyboard it allows you to re-size the keyboard making it bigger or smaller and it also has incorporated swype style typing and it also allows you to use better keyboard themes it's a paid app but in my opinion well worth it
been using big buttons keyboard for months. since i only type one handed in portrait this works perfect. it's laid out different but within a minute of typing im a pro.
itrackit said:
umm, it does not show up in my market. wth
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No offense if you looking for blindtype they said in the post its not in the market. Don't feel bad I didn't completely read it the first time
Sent from Froyo 2.2 Super Hero
This is a thread for people testing TouchPal's beta. This is not an "applying for beta" thread, if you don't have it installed, you're in the wrong place.
From my PM, I got the following:
----------------
** Feedback **
The main goal of having beta testing is to collect valuable feedback. Your feedback is important to us! To submit your feedback, please email to (removing address to prevent spamming).
Besides TouchPal Keyboard, TouchPal Dialer is another app that helps you find contacts quicky in T9 keypad, display caller location, and much more. Search "TouchPal Dialer" in Andorid market and it is free!
Again, sincere thanks from TouchPal team!
Best regards,
Jessica Wu
TouchPal
-----------------------------
Personally, I'm having some luck emailing Jessica (and got a reply), but also having a lot of bounces. I'll try to get a note through to CooTek that I started this thread.
I'll post my email & reply in a moment.
oops - double posted. sorry.
What I sent earlier today:
Only been playing around 30 minutes, so will try to send a longer one after using a few days, but some quick thoughts:
- I kept typing "This is a test" to see if the keyboard would learn. I know on Swiftkey (which I own) that the first time I type it, it's the default next time (ie, when I type "This" then "is" "a" "test" will all be top suggestions in that order.
On TouchPal, the word "Test" didn't show the first couple times, then it did show on the right, and slowly moved to the left of suggestions - so I think it's learning. I don't know how the settings are, but might need some tweaking.
- With tracing turned on, you obviously can't slide down on letters to get alternate symbols But holding down works just fine. Likewise, with tracing on, you don't get to see the predicted next word until you hit a space.
The problem with that - with tracing keyboards I usually do trace-trace-trace, never hitting the space bar. Spaces are auto-entered. To get the next-word predition, I have to do trace-space (see if the word I want is on the list & if not go back to tracing). I'll have to try this for a few days, but right now it's faster to just trace the next word I want then hit the space & see if the word I want is up there.
On, with tracing on, no idea how to change keyboard layouts.
- Toolbar area, please change the buttons. Make the language one be settings with one click & language with 2 clicks. I don't need another settings button where words will be. Likewise, I don't need a tutorial button there. I do like the middle buttons for cut/copy/arrows. Maybe a button to turn tracing on/off or change layouts?
- Percise mode. One of the BIGGEST things I use in SlideIT is the ABC/Sliding button so I can turn off tracing and go to exact input. Very useful for web page addresses, user name, password, names - anything where you temp. need your exact clicks. Maybe make your TouchPal symbol a toggle to turn this mode on & off.
- Is it me, or is the bottom left A/Book button the same as the Shift button?
===========================
The reply:
Thanks for the feedback! Here're some quick response:
On TouchPal, the word "Test" didn't show the first couple times, then it did show on the right, and slowly moved to the left of suggestions - so I think it's learning. I don't know how the settings are, but might need some tweaking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please note that in the example, "a" is followed by "test". There are many possible words after "a", so inputting "a test" for once doesn't necessarily mean you will have "a test" in the next time. If "test" is promoted too fast, this would be a disturbing option. If you try some other combination, such as "This is a quick test", I believe "test" will be immediately promoted after you input "quick".
The problem with that - with tracing keyboards I usually do trace-trace-trace, never hitting the space bar. Spaces are auto-entered. To get the next-word predition, I have to do trace-space (see if the word I want is on the list & if not go back to tracing). I'll have to try this for a few days, but right now it's faster to just trace the next word I want then hit the space & see if the word I want is up there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's true. Because we need to give you an option to change the traced word first.
On, with tracing on, no idea how to change keyboard layouts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Slide from the toolbar button, such as shift key.
- Percise mode. One of the BIGGEST things I use in SlideIT is the ABC/Sliding button so I can turn off tracing and go to exact input. Very useful for web page addresses, user name, password, names - anything where you temp. need your exact clicks. Maybe make your TouchPal symbol a toggle to turn this mode on & off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do have such a toggle button on the left-bottom-corner with A and a book (indicating dictionary). Is it not obvious enough? Do you have a better suggestion?
My verdict.
I like it but currently swype is better.
Improvements
* the ability to add words to dictionary by manually typing it.
* Auto correct is to sensitive. A slight delay when typing gives you an extra letter. swype is smoother.
* auto capitalisation after fullstop
* symbols done the usual way, its a nice idea but annoying when having to scroll through pages, try to add more on each page.
to be honest i thought i would type this with TouchPal so i could see bugs whilst typing, and I'm starting to like it. autocorrect the only annoyance
Swyped from my MIUI Galaxy S II
dh2311 said:
* the ability to add words to dictionary by manually typing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I can tell, it already does that. Type a word (no matter whether you are in dictionary mode or not), and next type you are typing it it will suggest the word. Or when swiping it next time, it will also come up.
My comments:
I agree with most of the things that are posted here. I had one crash of touchpal today, it occured while i tapped and hold the backspace key to get rid of a few lines of text. Touchpal closed and didn't give me an option to send a crash log, unfortunately. Tried it a few times more, and sometimes when "backspacing" a lot of text, it will crash. Pretty reproducible.
I just don't completely understand the dictionary button, I don't find a difference in behavior whether it's turned on or off?
And when clicking a word (that was a mistake), it would be neat if other suggestions would come up so you can easily correct it, like swype does.
Thusfar, I think SlideIT (my normal keyboard) is better. My big thing is wanting the next word suggestion but I can't see an easy way of doing it and suggesting fixes for the Slide.
My only thought so far would be to split the suggestion line and make the first 2-3 suggestions fixes for the current word and then the next 2-3 words suggestions for the next word. Color code them so you know which are which.
I suppose you could also do two lines and let the user decide which one or both they want to see.
I will keep this one as my default for at least a week to see how it goes. I've found some other differences that would require adjustment. Spacing particularly going from single taps to tracing and back seems to be a bit inconsistent.
For a beta version, it's running pretty smooth. Suggestions and improvements can always be added
I was trying to type 'sim' today and it absolutely would not let me. When I hit the s key, it typed an a. No amount of tweaking would work. If I managed to get the s to work, I'd type an i and then tried to type the m, but it automatically inserted 'sin', and would not let me type 'sim'. Very frustrating.
Plus, there is a typo - I can't find it now, but somewhere the word 'editing' is misspelled 'editting' (two t's).
That reminds me - any way to remove a word entered by accident?
This app makes me miss Ultra Keyboard, wonder how he's doing. That was the one that tried to cram in every dang option from every keyboard out there. I seem to remember that the tracing was pretty bad at getting the correct word, but sure had a lot of options. Don't think it had next word prediction though.
This is my review I posted on reddit
Here is my review after ~1 hour of playing with it
I know I can come off as bashing this, but I'm not. I'm just giving my honest, personnal impression of this beta. I'll also be comparing it to swype only since it's its main competitor
PROS
- The install was flawless (no registration or anything for now). Swype is annoying for this, particularly when it fails to generate license or w/e. Flashing new roms regularly on my phone, I've had a good share of failed installs of swype. Pain in the ass to remove as it's usually a system app (not uninstallable without Root explorer/Titanium Backup/etc.)
- I haven't seen crashes/bugs
- It has been fully responsive without a hint of slowdown unlike swype (sometimes I get a slight lag on swype)
CONS
- I couldn't find the "blank keyboard" shown in the video. I'm thinking it was just a way for them to show you can type blind with the keyboard
- The predictions are pretty bad for short words (2-4 letters). Swype is also not so great at this, but usually better
- The default dictionary seems like it needs much more training than swype. I frequently flash new roms on my phone and usually I barely have to train swype to get to a satisfactory level when typing. This wasn't the case. I'd say swype predicts correctly about 70-80% of my words out of the box while Touchpal is probably around 50-70%.
SWYPE VS TOUCHPAL
Here is some unscientific tests I did with a few sentences with both keyboards out of the box. Using "swype" method and not tapping amongst the suggestions (letting the keyboard pick its best guess)
"Why are you so mad?"
* TOUCHPAL: Whiff ate youtube sop mad?
* SWYPE: Why are you so mad?
"Reddit is the place to be"
* TOUCHPAL: Reaffirm its the place to be
* SWYPE: Freddie is the place to be
"This is a test of an android keyboard"
* TOUCHPAL: This its the testy of android keyboard
* SWYPE: This is a test of an android keyboard
"Let's do one more test for Reddit"
* TOUCHPAL: Lewis dull one mower test for restitution
* SWYPE: Let's do over more test for refit
TL;DR
Promising but swype still far "better". I'm hoping for improvement as I hate Swype installation.
i agree with what you say, TouchPals correction is poor, tries too hard to find what you're trying to say, shouldn't try to lengthen words, just ends up guessing words that begin around where you started. its a good idea but flawed by its predictions. shouldn't go longer than amount of letters you stopped on
Swyped from my MIUI Galaxy S II
Quick questions:
Is it me or with tracing on, is there a way to quickly change keyboard layouts (from full keys to TouchPal+ to T9)?
Is there a way to do tracing while in TouchPal+ mode (2 letters per key)?
After using this for a while, I agree with a lot of the comments here.
1. The auto-correction is too sensitive. Always giving me words that I am NOT often using even as I swype over and over again.
2. I cannot seem to swype words like "Haha" "Hehe" "Lol". Can't even seem to add them to dictionary. It never seems to learn that I like to use those words often.
3. I set my Keyboard Layout in Portrait to FULL QWERTY. When I am on an active telephone call and I want to use the keyboard, it will auto switch to 12-Key PhonePad for me.
So for now, I am still sticking to Swype app. =) Oh I hope there's a quick way to tap the to have a smiley inserted immediately rather than tapping that Smiley > Going into a Smiley Menu > Tap a Smiley. Swype can do it it in one tap of a button.
Currently reinstalling after a reflash earlier but i've got to say what stood out the most (negative) was the desire to lengthen words. I understand that its a great feature to type "ackn" and get "acknowledge" but so many times i'm trying to write something simple and the first suggestion will always be much longer and obscure (can't remember the one earlier for "hey").
Maybe some sort of gesture to let the keyboard know you're trying to write a longer word using less keystrokes? I don't know how many words start with double letters, maybe a quick double tap on the first letter before sliding? Trying to think of situations where that would be worse than what we're experiencing.
Given that this is a phone/tablet keyboard and most users right now are on phones using this for texting and/or quicker e-mails, I think you are more likely to see people simplifying their speech automatically rather than trying to swype a really long word like "got it" instead of "acknowledge"
Will post more meaningful thoughts when I get a chacne to play with it some more
2 things that really bug me:
- not able to correct a word when i tap on it. have to delete the whole word and re-swipe it.
- not able to input custom words.
yeah.. tried to send feedback via the email they gave and it bounced back twice. :l
TouchPal, it was doing great until it comes to learning new words. The promotion system sucks as the word I really use often move very slowly to the blue recommendation box. For those who are fast typist, use super simplified words, this app is not meant for you. Its a damn slow learner. But can be fixed if they implement SMS learning in it. Plus, if I edit some existing word, it will just create another new word, without taking the existed word into account. Even if I just want to add an -es into it.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA App
Really annoying to hit space after every word. Especially with a small space bar. Need continuous swyping!
Samsung Captivate using XDA App
No french dictionnary
thanks for adding me to the beta team.
i could use it for daily use if the german dict would also be released. so i only can test a few sentence because i only use english 5% of my typings.
a must have for me also is a configurable smiley button. want to change some smilies.
the thing i also miss is: when typing some words, and you want to correct a word typed 3 words before, that you put the cursor somewhere into the word and get the correction list as in smartkeyboard pro.
i would also like to see the cursor arrows all the time like in smartkeyboard pro. optionally.
sent from my SGSII via T*patalk
I'd like to add this in case any Epic 4G users happen to read. I found that TouchPal affected my hardware keyboard by making the 'fn' and 'shift' keys lose their functionality. I was unable to capitalize letters and make symbols with it. Was fine before I installed TouchPal, and it was fixed after I uninstalled TouchPal. Tried re-installing it several times to see if it was just a mishap, but after 6 times the problem was always there.
Current build is Froyo 2.2.1, [EC05]SyndicateROM Frozen 1.2, Twilight 1.1.1 Kernel.
Other than that, some very nice features. Love the up/down slide on keys for capital letter/number/symbol shortcut. Would love if a future version had full text shortcuts when pressing they key and scrolling up, down, left or right. For now though, no go. I need my slide-down keyboard :3
I switched from the ASUS Zenfone 2, which was just an all around terrible experience, to the BLU R1 HD, which had been a much better phone. My only problem has been rust while the Zenfone keyboard had an extra row of numbers at the top the R1 does not. I'm not a fan of bloated keyboards with a lot of features, I just want a black theme, swype functionality, and a number row. I thought I might get used to not having the dedicated number row, but several months in I have not.
I have tried switching the Google keyboard to PC layout, but it adds much more than just an extra row for numbers and I find it too squished as a consequence.
Does anyone know how to add a dedicated number row to the Google keyboard or can they recommend a feature-light keyboard similar to google that does have the number row?
Yes I am aware that I can press and hold on the to row to get numbers but that's not what I want as I'd also like quick and easy access to the symbols that typically accompany those numbers via long press.
Thanks in advance!
If you like the Google keyboard and want something similar w/ the addition of the number row, try looking at
Chrooma Keyboard
(You CAN turn on the number row however, I can't remember if you have to purchase it to gain that function)