Having read this article over on CNet Crave UK I couldn't help but compare it to the standard voice offering within Android.
To get the results of the test for Siri and S-Voice look here:
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/samsung-galaxy-s3s-s-voice-vs-siri-on-iphone-4s-50008087/
Here is me doing the same test with Google Voice:
Here is my response to the article:
Test One: Call Luke Bailey, the standard Google voice recognition on my HTC One X hits this one out the park... RESULT: Success
Test Two: Whats the weather like today? Another instant success with the standard Google Voice offering, bringing up Google Search with a 5 day forecast for my location in Wigan, UK. RESULT: Success
Test Three: Do I need an umbrella today? This trips up the standard offering by just doing a Google Search for the statement but the first result is half way to success by giving me the option to input my location (which I do again with Voice on the keyboard and it returns a successful YES response) RESULT: Fail
Test Four: Text Luke Bailey, again instant success using the standard Google Voice recognition offering. No problems understanding my Northern Monkey accent when I say "Text Luke Bailey, You will need an Umbrella today." RESULT: Success
Test Five: Slight change of question to suit myself I ask "Find a Good pub nearby" The standard offering understood what I asked but hesitated slightly and gave me five options to pick from. The top being correct required me to use my hands but then swiftly brings up Google and having used location services brings up various pubs.
However even with 15+ pubs within a mile of my house it only brings up those with Google listings the nearest of which is 5 miles away. RESULT: Neither success or fail but requires work.
Test Six: Directions to Wigan Town Hall, it doesn't fail to accurately understand my command and brings up Google Maps with the right directions. RESULT: Success
Test Seven: Set Alarm for...unfortunately due to Google Voice not integrating with the Clock App on my HTC One X this results in a web search when asked to set the Alarm for 1023pm. However Google do list this as a valid command... RESULT: Fail
Test Eight: How High is Mount Everest? 29,029feet bang on and instant answer. RESULT: Success
Test Nine: Tell me a joke? Asking the standard Google Voice to talk to me made me one. RESULT: Fail
Test Ten: Search Bonobo Apes, apparently my Northern Monkey accent isn't helping here and after two attempts I give up but it does seem to they they are Noble Apes lol RESULT: Fail
Test Eleven: Google Voice does not integrate with the Calendar app and offers no commands for it. However I can open up Google Calendar in my browser via Voice to input manually.
Still...RESULT: Fail
Test Twelve: Again as the standard Voice offering is not designed to talk back to you all this does is make me look like a twonk. However for me this beats S Voice and Siri hands down as the web search this results in gives me the YouTube Video for Crossing the Bridge of Death in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Result: FAIL but laced with WIN
Test Thirteen: What's the best smart phone? Well having asked Google Voice it returns with a web search and in the top sponsored results I find the HTC One X with an average of 4 and half stars out of 5 from over 120 seller reviews. Not perfect as it doesn't take consumer reviews into consideration however as I get a result which neither Siri nor S-Voice does I say... RESULT: Success
Test Fourteen: Update Twitter, Again lack of app integration means another web search RESULT: Fail
Test Fifteen: Speed? What is the Capital of Iraq? Answer: Baghdad in 3 seconds flat...RESULT: Success
Conclusion: With seven successes and having read how the Siri and S-Voice offerings don't really fare much better my conclusion is that voice commands only serve their purpose while doing other tasks such as driving and you can't hold your phone. Leaving me with the same opinion I had at the outset, if you either brag about having Siri or I see you talking to your phone as they do in the ads in public, I reserve the right to tell you, you look like a tw*t.
You've entirely missed the point of Siri.
Sent from my SGH-I777
MikeyMike01 said:
You've entirely missed the point of Siri.
Sent from my SGH-I777
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disability accessibility tool? Make the human race even lazier? A friend for anti social or socially inept types?
Please be a little bit more constructive and tell me what you think the point of Siri is?
As you say I miss the point of Siri when all I've done is compare both offerings as they exist and work from a UK perspective as per the CNET article I fail to realise how me adding GVoice into the mix is missing the point of anything?
I've not even tried to explain what the point of either of the three is. My conclusion is based on personal opinion and even if Siri lives up to what its point is, you'll still look like a twonk using it out in public.
I agree that the human race will be getting lazier and fatter at the same time I'm afraid that we have become to dependent on our technology. It's a scary feeling.
SB13X You're a legend
SB13X said:
Disability accessibility tool? Make the human race even lazier? A friend for anti social or socially inept types?
Please be a little bit more constructive and tell me what you think the point of Siri is?
As you say I miss the point of Siri when all I've done is compare both offerings as they exist and work from a UK perspective as per the CNET article I fail to realise how me adding GVoice into the mix is missing the point of anything?
I've not even tried to explain what the point of either of the three is. My conclusion is based on personal opinion and even if Siri lives up to what its point is, you'll still look like a twonk using it out in public.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree with you. Unless you're driving there is no reason to use voice recognition because the accuracy isn't there yet. Mike, interesting to see you weren't able to reply with any constructive reason why "the point of Siri" was missed in this very fair test of voice recognition. This leads me to conclude you're one of the people referred to who likes to brag about Siri or enjoys talking to his phone and looking like a tw*t.
AutoReader 3D
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
This not just another ebook reader.
It has several unique features:
- in AutoReader mode flashes words or phrases one by one sequentially on the screen, with regulated speed.
- in 3D Stereo mode you can read with 3D effect on any device.
- in overview mode you can scroll or flip pages in the same time.
- support pinch, spread and rotate gestures to change text size or screen orientation any time you need.
These features allows to turn reading into a useful and fascinating process, and reduce eye strain.
AutoReader allows to read much larger text, what's important not only for people with impaired vision.
But also, for example, in transport, on the go, on the running machine, etc. when focusing on a small text tiring for the eyes or impossible.
Moreover, 3D Stereo mode can even be beneficial for your eyes, if done right, the visual axis
are parallel (as when looking at the horizon), which relaxes the external eye muscles, and the focus is on the stereo pair,
that helps to synchronize the focus of both eyes, which is also useful, as it's often one eye focuses better than the other (we can be unaware of it, but simply feel tired).
Read for the benefit of your eyes! But that's not all, AutoReader allows you to read faster than usual.
AutoReader increases the speed of reading and helps get rid of subvocalization, one of the main factors slowing down the reading process. Subvocalization - it is hidden, unconscious movement of the lips, tongue and other organs of speech.
The habit to pronounce the words formed in the childhood, when learning to read, and does not disappear completely, without any special training.
Try to gradually increase the speed of displaying words (slide your finger up the screen), with the growth of speed the vocal apparatus is no longer keep up with the volume of information and no longer involved in the processing - information from the visual analyzer will be immediately sent to the meaning.
The feel is cool, as if you just catch the author's idea, not a speech.
You realize that you can read much faster and without much effort.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivChJlwb15U
List of features:
- Built-in file browser.
- Supported formats. Txt, Txt.zip, Fb2, Fb2.zip, Epub, (PDF, DOC and others are comming soon).
- Automatic detection of encoding.
- Smooth scrolling text (finger up / down).
- Flipping through the pages (finger left / right).
- Go to a random page number.
- Change the text size "on the fly" (zoom with two fingers).
- Rotate the screen at any time in any mode (tap the screen with two fingers and rotate it 90 degrees).
- Double click to go to another mode (from Overview mode to AutoReader, from mono to 3D Stereo mode and vice versa).
- Infinitely variable speed of AutoReader (finger up / down the screen).
- View and move to the previous or next sentence in the AutoReader mode (finger left / right on the screen).
- Settings for the font, text color and background color.
- Select from over 20 background images for AutoReader.
- Built-in help for gestures and 3D Stereo mode.
Android market pages (play.google.com)
free version
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.webstunning.fc
paid version
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.webstunning.textreader
This is really really nice. I mean really.
Some ideas and remarks:
I may be wrong but I think each word is displayed the same amount of time, without regards to its length. I think it would be better if the display duration takes into account this length. My brain needs more time to read a word like "is" than a word like "development". I also guess that the brain doesn't read words but recognizes their shapes. This means that a word rarely used and long (like the name of an unknown guy) requires a lot more time that the word "is" in order to be decrypted by the brain. If the word is not in the dictionary, then it should be displayed longer.
Each new word is a little below the previous one, which is fine. But when the sentence is very long, the vertical distance between the last word of that sentence and the first one of the next sentence is large. This makes me loose focus.
It will be huge if you integrate your app with ReadItLater or Pocket. At least, you can make you app read the files in /sdcard/Android/data/com.ideashower.readitlater.pro/files/RIL_offline/RIL_pages/1000XX/text.html. But I am not sure if it is legal to use data file from other app.
Another nice feature would be to use the Android ClipboardManager. Let's say that I am reading a web page in my android browser. I would like to copy the text, launch your app, and read it in 3D.
Using the "Share" feature could be nice too, instead of copying the text myself. But then you will have to write a piece of code that extracts relevant text from web pages.
Currently I am not trained to read in 3D. I need up to five minutes watching the first word before start reading. Maybe you can display the first the word only once in the center, then make a clone of that word appears and make them both move away from each other horizontally, slowly and smoothly, until they reach the expected distance, or until the user touch the screen to say stop. Maybe their movement can be totally commanded by a horizontal slide of finger.
Thanks a lot and please, keep going.
Transparence Code
http://transparencecode.blogspot.com
Thanks for detailed review and suggestions.
1. You are right, short words displayed the same amount of time.
But starting with 5 letters the time increased proportionally.
And two letter worlds such as "is" usually attached to the next word.
We need to think about the dictionary - good idea.
2. Each new word is a little below the previous one,
yes, but the distance is always the same. I don't understand how you
loose the focus.
We can make a parameter to disable the feature, but you can believe
me, you getting tired very quickly when you look at the same point.
3. Yes, we are planning to add the clipboard integration, need to
think about Read It Later.
4. I'm not sure that moving words can help to see 3D.
I recommend to reduce the distance between words in the options.
And by the way if you read in French, we can add support of French,
just few short words, articles etc.
It supports all languages encoding, but sentences can be split better with little adjustments.
Thank you for your anwsers.
dmpost1 said:
2. Each new word is a little below the previous one,
yes, but the distance is always the same. I don't understand how you
loose the focus.
We can make a parameter to disable the feature, but you can believe
me, you getting tired very quickly when you look at the same point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With regards to my second comment:
Each new word is below the previous one, until a new word is displayed again at the top (screens have a finite size obviously). I may be wrong but I think each first word of sentences are displayed at the top, and each last ones at the bottom.
Even if I am wrong, the fact is that regulary, I have to move my eyes from the bottom to the top again. Sometime the distance between the bottom word and the following top word can be large. This is when I loose focus.
I think it occurs when there is two large sentences in a row, since my guess is that the middle words of sentences are displayed in the center of the screen.
A solution can be to split sentences in half. The first part will be displayed from top to bottom, and the second half from bottom to top. That way, the last word will appear at the same vertical position than the first next one, avoiding any discontinuity.
Hmmm. I guess I am still not clear. So there is an attached picture to help .
dmpost1 said:
And by the way if you read in French, we can add support of French,
just few short words, articles etc.
It supports all languages encoding, but sentences can be split better with little adjustments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I am French. I am not sure to understand what you mean by "adding support of French, just few short words, articles etc.". You mean you need help for translation or something?
does it support chm books?
By "adding support of French" I mean few additional rules for short words to combine them.
For example in English following short words are always attached to a next word.
pattern1 = "(?i)my|as|an|the|of|to|at|no|in|on|by"
pattern2 = "(?i)mrs\\.?|mr\\.?|ms\\?.|dr\\.?";
and the word "up" is always attached to a previous word.
So that e.g. "my car" and "make up" will be shown at once.
And of course if you can translate the app description and several words inside user interface it would be wonderful.
I can send you files tomorrow to your email.
2. As for words distance,
I don't see a problem in that maybe because I'm used to it.
I don't want to make a mess in the movement up and down.
At the moment the words positions gives you a hint about the length of sentence.
I think it would be better to make some pointer that will guide your eyes to next sentence start position.
There is an additional delay already between sentences, so you have a time to move your eyes up.
Thanks for your suggestions.
the app seems to be interesting
dmpost1 said:
By "adding support of French" I mean few additional rules for short words to combine them.
For example in English following short words are always attached to a next word.
pattern1 = "(?i)my|as|an|the|of|to|at|no|in|on|by"
pattern2 = "(?i)mrs\\.?|mr\\.?|ms\\?.|dr\\.?";
and the word "up" is always attached to a previous word.
So that e.g. "my car" and "make up" will be shown at once.
And of course if you can translate the app description and several words inside user interface it would be wonderful.
I can send you files tomorrow to your email.
2. As for words distance,
I don't see a problem in that maybe because I'm used to it.
I don't want to make a mess in the movement up and down.
At the moment the words positions gives you a hint about the length of sentence.
I think it would be better to make some pointer that will guide your eyes to next sentence start position.
There is an additional delay already between sentences, so you have a time to move your eyes up.
Thanks for your suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I would be pleased to translate your files. By the way, what is your native language ? If it is not English, I may ask you too translate the language files of my own app too It's called CopySearch.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1664463
Some further remarks/suggestions:
In the Google Play description, you should mention that your app works without a 3D screen or glasses. I though first it was for the HTC evo 3D. Maybe you can also put a link to a website containing 3D stereo images and explaining how it works.
I understand about the words distance, and the rules for shorts words. I can help you for that too for French (I know regular expressions). By the way, I increased the font size and sometime, a single word takes 2 lines, just for a letter or 2. Maybe in such a case, the font can be automatically decreased a little bit, just for this too long word.
I made an epub from wikipedia with their online tool. Your app doesn't read it. Maybe it is because it contains images? By the way can you display images with your app ? Of course I just mean 2D images, like the one present in a wikipedia article.
How does your app works? The 2 occurrences of the word have a slightly different shadows? This is made using HDR? (I am a noob in optic)
In 3D mode, I can't find a way to "pause" the reading. The overall navigation can be improved, but I guess you already planned that.
Can rich text be displayed? An item list for instance? like an index ? (of course, it should be displayed with a really tiny font)
Well, there are more questions than suggestions this time
Transparence Code said:
In the Google Play description, you should mention that your app works without a 3D screen or glasses. I though first it was for the HTC evo 3D. Maybe you can also put a link to a website containing 3D stereo images and explaining how it works.
I understand about the words distance, and the rules for shorts words. I can help you for that too for French (I know regular expressions). By the way, I increased the font size and sometime, a single word takes 2 lines, just for a letter or 2. Maybe in such a case, the font can be automatically decreased a little bit, just for this too long word.
I made an epub from wikipedia with their online tool. Your app doesn't read it. Maybe it is because it contains images? By the way can you display images with your app ? Of course I just mean 2D images, like the one present in a wikipedia article.
How does your app works? The 2 occurrences of the word have a slightly different shadows? This is made using HDR? (I am a noob in optic)
In 3D mode, I can't find a way to "pause" the reading. The overall navigation can be improved, but I guess you already planned that.
Can rich text be displayed? An item list for instance? like an index ? (of course, it should be displayed with a really tiny font)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. OK, I will.
2. Thanks, I'll contact you via email about the languages deal.
3. Can you send me the epub file to check? Maybe we will add the images in future versions.
4. In stereo mode words have slightly larger span than background images. That gives effect of words floating above the background at a distance.
5. The single touch should pause/resume the reading in stereo mode, the same as in mono.
6. Not sure what you mean. But for now we have more desired/needed features than we can do in a month.
You are welcome
meethere said:
does it support chm books?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure that chm is needed for such a reader.
CHM is usually used for technical documentation and manuals,
if I'm not mistaken.
Doest it really reduce eyes strain?
The fact is that this app can make you read texts with a really big font. This is a huge feature for small screens. Especially when you read in public transportation, or when you are driving or making love.
I am kidding of course only for the two last conditions.
For the 3D Stereo mode, I thinks it's confortable. I can't tell if it really reduces eyes strain in long term. I would like some scientific studies for that. However the developper is a nice guy, and I believe him easily.
Yeah... at first I was sceptical about that 3d thing. But I was thinking a little about it and decided to give it a shot. The problem was that I'd had terrible headaches for over 1 year so it goes without saying that reading books in a usual way made me to take a break for every 15 minutes. Flash reading gives you even more stress to your eyes and additionally it require more focus. Since I mastered stereogram reading the headaches ceased because after 30 minutes session I feel refreshed rather than tired of reading. Much as there is no scientific document about benefits or side effects of that type of reading it is definitely worth trying.
My side-effects:
- Normal flash reading was about 250 and it seems too fast, or sometimes I was lost in meaning. During stereo reading I find it much easier to comprehend what I'm reading.
- Normal flash makes me tired and after 30 minutes or so I felt urge to take a break. During stereo reading I actually feel like taking a break. When I make some difficult taskt and need to take a break I go reading and after 30 minutes I'm ready to go.
- As it was said, my headaches ceased.
- Before I was extremely stressed during the day, but somehow if I maintain that relaxed stayed in my eyes after reading it somehow makes me calm afterwards.
- The way how I was looking before changed a bit. Most people are used looking at the world around by focusing at particular item. After I learnt seeing stereograms I'm just looking at everything without focusing on one area which helps to maintain relaxed state of mind.
- Since the act of reading become more pleasurable, using that software become kind of addicting.
There are the most important ones and so far I haven't noticed any bad side-effects but if they arise I'll let you know about them.
I don't know if the creator of this software carry outs some kind of scientific experiment, or just have amazing idea to make reading experience more natural for the eyes, but I'm really glad that something like that appears on the google play. Good job!
And please do something with tagging, because looking for "spead reading" software there is no result leading to "autoreader" which is a bit disappointing. : )
good review
Murakamii said:
Yeah... at first I was sceptical about that 3d thing. But I was thinking a little about it and decided to give it a shot. The problem was that I'd had terrible headaches for over 1 year so it goes without saying that reading books in a usual way made me to take a break for every 15 minutes. Flash reading gives you even more stress to your eyes and additionally it require more focus. Since I mastered stereogram reading the headaches ceased because after 30 minutes session I feel refreshed rather than tired of reading. Much as there is no scientific document about benefits or side effects of that type of reading it is definitely worth trying.
My side-effects:
- Normal flash reading was about 250 and it seems too fast, or sometimes I was lost in meaning. During stereo reading I find it much easier to comprehend what I'm reading.
- Normal flash makes me tired and after 30 minutes or so I felt urge to take a break. During stereo reading I actually feel like taking a break. When I make some difficult taskt and need to take a break I go reading and after 30 minutes I'm ready to go.
- As it was said, my headaches ceased.
- Before I was extremely stressed during the day, but somehow if I maintain that relaxed stayed in my eyes after reading it somehow makes me calm afterwards.
- The way how I was looking before changed a bit. Most people are used looking at the world around by focusing at particular item. After I learnt seeing stereograms I'm just looking at everything without focusing on one area which helps to maintain relaxed state of mind.
- Since the act of reading become more pleasurable, using that software become kind of addicting.
There are the most important ones and so far I haven't noticed any bad side-effects but if they arise I'll let you know about them.
I don't know if the creator of this software carry outs some kind of scientific experiment, or just have amazing idea to make reading experience more natural for the eyes, but I'm really glad that something like that appears on the google play. Good job!
And please do something with tagging, because looking for "spead reading" software there is no result leading to "autoreader" which is a bit disappointing. : )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the detailed review and volunteering for the scientific experiment on yourself
I read in 3D mode regularly, and my eyes feel cool,
without any side effects.
Of course you can feel tired, as after any other kind of reading.
But anything that I say as developer people regard as advertising.
So your review is very appreciated. ( leave it on Google Play please )
Thanks for the advice on tagging.
Murakamii said:
Yeah... at first I was sceptical about that 3d thing. But I was thinking a little about it and decided to give it a shot. The problem was that I'd had terrible headaches for over 1 year so it goes without saying that reading books in a usual way made me to take a break for every 15 minutes. Flash reading gives you even more stress to your eyes and additionally it require more focus. Since I mastered stereogram reading the headaches ceased because after 30 minutes session I feel refreshed rather than tired of reading. Much as there is no scientific document about benefits or side effects of that type of reading it is definitely worth trying.
My side-effects:
- Normal flash reading was about 250 and it seems too fast, or sometimes I was lost in meaning. During stereo reading I find it much easier to comprehend what I'm reading.
- Normal flash makes me tired and after 30 minutes or so I felt urge to take a break. During stereo reading I actually feel like taking a break. When I make some difficult taskt and need to take a break I go reading and after 30 minutes I'm ready to go.
- As it was said, my headaches ceased.
- Before I was extremely stressed during the day, but somehow if I maintain that relaxed stayed in my eyes after reading it somehow makes me calm afterwards.
- The way how I was looking before changed a bit. Most people are used looking at the world around by focusing at particular item. After I learnt seeing stereograms I'm just looking at everything without focusing on one area which helps to maintain relaxed state of mind.
- Since the act of reading become more pleasurable, using that software become kind of addicting.
There are the most important ones and so far I haven't noticed any bad side-effects but if they arise I'll let you know about them.
I don't know if the creator of this software carry outs some kind of scientific experiment, or just have amazing idea to make reading experience more natural for the eyes, but I'm really glad that something like that appears on the google play. Good job!
And please do something with tagging, because looking for "spead reading" software there is no result leading to "autoreader" which is a bit disappointing. : )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Murakamii,
How did you get stable 3D-focus?
I lost it after few (3-5) minutes of reading and must re-catch it again and again (and it takes about 10-30 seconds). I must clarify I have discovered the app (as well as stereograms) few days ago.
I liked this enough to pay for it. Is it possible to change the color of the text font? Maybe in a future version?
Thank you for this app. Not sure if I'll be able to use the 3D portion of this app, but the speed reading portion of it rocks.
Is it possible to add in a way to look for books on a network share? Or is the functionality already there and I've overlooked it somehow?
Thanks!
Yakuman said:
I liked this enough to pay for it. Is it possible to change the color of the text font? Maybe in a future version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In current version you can change only color cheme, the text color depends on the background color.
In future versions we are planning to add more color settings.
Truly remarkable concept for increasing speed in reading while relaxing the eyes and reducing strain while reading in a traditional way.
Recommendations:
1. Headset button options to pause, go forward or backward
2. Auto scrolling on regular reading layout
3. Use of volume buttons (page up, page down)
4. Eye tracking option..stops the auto reader when eyes are closed
5. Bookshelf with file images and bookmarks (similar to Aldiko)
Hy Dmpost1!
Your app seems what I was looking for for years: flash reading with speed up-down gesture and stop at touch, great, i bought it.
Got a little problem:
I selected a large txt-file (1,8MB) and the app crashed (java.lang.OutofMemoryError)
Everytime I restart the app it tries to load the same file and crashes again. Same after reboot.
How to get out of this (without reinstalling)?
Maybe you also could look into is, as it also crashes, when I try to load a large epub ebook (1,8MB - its a regular file, bought it online).
Thx
Hi guys,
Just released my app called The Typist: Quick Typing Tests! It's fairly straightforward, it measures how fast you can type on a phone or tablet and can chart your typing speed results over time. Also supports Google Play leaderboards. I couldn't find a good typing test app so I ended up just making my own.
Features:
Test your typing speed with different speed tests based on popular books
1, 2, and 3 minute tests for the ultimate in typing test flexibility
Detailed results page: see your words per minute score, total number of errors, and most frequently mistyped letters
Track your progress with a chart of your past typing test results
Compete against your friends with a local high score list and Google Play Game Services leaderboards support
Compatible with different keyboard layouts - try them out with The Typist and see which ones actually help you type faster
Works well on both phones and tablets
Free updates and support for life
Straightforward permissions: The Typist requires internet, network state, and Google Play billing to serve ads and the ability to purchase the ad-free version. We don't need access to your contacts, location, or your Facebook account! (but if you want to upload your score, you will need to use your Google Plus account)
Want to support The Typist's development? Please rate it and/or unlock the full version of The Typist (removes ads) within the app. Thank you!
Available on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thetypist.typingtests
Compatible with 4.0+/ICS and above. Free/ad-supported and in-app billing for the paid version (removes ads).
Please check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks!
Nice little app, needs some ironing out to do
Hey bloggert,
Frist of all, it's a sweet app and since there seems to be a famine of good typing test app on touch screen devices, it's a really good one.
I came upon this thread because I was going to embark on the same road to develop myself a typing speed tester.
The UI of your app is "A" grade and I just loved it.
That said, there are also a few shortcomings of your app. You seem to have designed a typing speed analyser for a full machine at it's core, just like the others. Your app tries to keep track of each character the user types, and that actually defeats the purpose of the app on a touch screen device. Also your app seems to disable the predictive auto-completion of many of the keyboards which actually is the biggest selling point of such ones like "swype", afterall typing in a touch screen device is completely different from the keyboard, so why apply the same methodologies?
What I think the app must do?
1. Let the user type-in a whole text and provied a button that says "submit" and the app should just time it all. This is essentially to let the user correct all the words which went wrong with the auto-correct and auto-complete and all other shinanigins. Maybe your app can also keep track of the time taken by the user to enter the last word and hit the submit button, may be help user to clock the time it takes to fix the stupideties( I am not sure though if this is such a great idea) and provide feedback of somekind on the same.
2. Once the user has submitted the text, now your app does what it already does, check for the characters, are all good, what was the accuracy (most probably it would be hundred, if the user is not dumb), and now you can give the speed.
How will this help?
I think this will help user do justice on the various keyboards out there who rely on various methodologies to input text and probably help the creators of various kinds of input methods to judge the usefulness of there methods when speed is the question.
Am I stupid?
Maybe....:silly:
Hope to hear your comments on it all.
flide
Not stupid at all. This is good stuff and I appreciate the feedback.
You are correct in that The Typist tracks every character. However, the app actually only cares about certain characters (namely spaces, since these determine where words start and end, and I need these to know where to highlight the current word and the last incorrect word). So it's okay if a keyboard uses auto-completion (or any other feature that inserts words), as long as it or the user inserts a space to indicate that the word has ended.
With that said, I'm not actually sure why auto-completion doesn't work. It's definitely not disabled on purpose, and I never noticed this before. I've tried a number of keyboards and typing in partial words and then selecting it from a list above the keyboard works fine, as well as swyping methods, but auto-correct never seems to kick in. I'm going to look into this later today but it should be fixable.
As for the going back and correcting words - I'm a little hesitant about this, and the app does prevent the user from going back or selecting old text (beyond using backspace) on purpose, mostly because in testing the potential to mess up the word tracking and cause errors was too great. In the end I figured that possibility of things screwing up was more important than the need to go back and change a word, and so the cursor selection block was put into place. I don't know if this is the right decision, as I still don't have enough feedback really to really judge. This is why I didn't originally go with the option 1 suggestion.
For option 2, The Typist actually does do this already - the real error checking is done after the test has completed (checking all of the words constantly during the test is pretty time-consuming, and so the app only shows you the last mistyped word) as well as the speed counts.
flide said:
Hey bloggert,
Frist of all, it's a sweet app and since there seems to be a famine of good typing test app on touch screen devices, it's a really good one.
I came upon this thread because I was going to embark on the same road to develop myself a typing speed tester.
The UI of your app is "A" grade and I just loved it.
That said, there are also a few shortcomings of your app. You seem to have designed a typing speed analyser for a full machine at it's core, just like the others. Your app tries to keep track of each character the user types, and that actually defeats the purpose of the app on a touch screen device. Also your app seems to disable the predictive auto-completion of many of the keyboards which actually is the biggest selling point of such ones like "swype", afterall typing in a touch screen device is completely different from the keyboard, so why apply the same methodologies?
What I think the app must do?
1. Let the user type-in a whole text and provied a button that says "submit" and the app should just time it all. This is essentially to let the user correct all the words which went wrong with the auto-correct and auto-complete and all other shinanigins. Maybe your app can also keep track of the time taken by the user to enter the last word and hit the submit button, may be help user to clock the time it takes to fix the stupideties( I am not sure though if this is such a great idea) and provide feedback of somekind on the same.
2. Once the user has submitted the text, now your app does what it already does, check for the characters, are all good, what was the accuracy (most probably it would be hundred, if the user is not dumb), and now you can give the speed.
How will this help?
I think this will help user do justice on the various keyboards out there who rely on various methodologies to input text and probably help the creators of various kinds of input methods to judge the usefulness of there methods when speed is the question.
Am I stupid?
Maybe....:silly:
Hope to hear your comments on it all.
flide
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More thoughts
well thinking about it again, I will say that the idea of allowing the user to correct all the text after it's done is... well not so brilliant, and I will let it go at that.
And about the predictive text feature, for my keyboard the top bar which is suppose to show the possible pridicted words is not visible, so I am not able to use them... don't know if that is a problem with your app or it is a problem with my keyboard (8pen) because it does not show up also when i am trying to use VIM. May be you can check on that if something in particular triggers that kind of behaviour.
Also, you should look up for klavaro. It has 3 criterions for typing : Accuracy, velocity and fluideness, and to tell you the truth I like the concept very much, specially fluidity. Here's the link : "klavaro[dot]sourceforge[dot]net[slash]en[slash]manual-en[dot]pdf"
Will be appriciated if you can think of something to accomodate the fluidity angle, might be difficult but let's try. If something comes to my mind compatible with the touch input, I will share.
Let me know your thoughts.
flide
---------- Post added at 11:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:16 PM ----------
I more request.
Can you include a few texts in plain english, I mean all small case, minimal punctuation, no symbols or numbers... something message like. just to test how good you can hold for every day tasks.
Just a thought.
flide
Ergonomics
One more quick idea.
It's a pain to keep looking at three different places while typing using most keyboards (not 8pen though ), namely :
1. What is supposed to be typed
2. The Keyboard
3. What am I typing
I think the 3rd point can be eliminated if app is somewhat modified. Rather than a text box to enter the displayed text, the user can actually override the displayed text... let me try and explain a bit more clearly.
The text, that needs to be typed, is initially displayed in BLACK. Now, rather than highlighting the next word to be typed, the already typed characters should be in BLUE, and all the wrong ones in RED. This mechanism essentially solves the 3rd problem, the user has just 2 places on the screen to strain his/her/it's neck, there is an inherent highlighting as to what needs to be typed (the first BLACK character), what has been typed correctly previously, in BLUE, and what was typed wrong, in RED.
THINK ERGONOMICS!! :cyclops:
Thanks for the updates
Since you never replied again, I thought you forgot all about your app... But you were hard at work and YES, now my predictive options are visible again. :victory:
+1 for the update and you should not bother to appologise for adding a ad in the app. It's your hard work and you have the right to earn over it.
flide
Hi, I was wondering how about like Antutu you could add a leader board to this which mentioned a username(like it already does) and his device and the scores.
I think it'll make the app much more popular and probably turn it into a benchmarking app for one handed usability of Android cell phones. While individuals will battle it out for the top spot, the addition of their device in the table will show which device feels best for typing.
TLDR; Add a 4 column leaderboard
Position -> Name -> Device -> Score
its multilanguage?
I thought the auto complete was disabled on purpose because then it would not be accurate on how we are typing, because technically we would be letting the device type for us. I rather like the fact we have to actually type every letter ourselves, because then I think its more challenging and more honest. So I would actually be bummed if you did allow auto correct or auto complete to work in this app.
I found nothing wrong with it aside from the fact you have to manually allow your score to be added to the leader board. The first time I did it, I got my best score since trying it a few more times but cannot add it to the leader board because I did not press the "add to leader board" on the top left, I had not even noticed it, until the 2nd go around.
Possible addition
KyleSforza said:
TLDR; Add a 4 column leaderboard
Position -> Name -> Device -> Score
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the leaderboard should also have the "input method" column stating the keyboard used for the test.
BUG Found!!
Hi bloggert,
I think the a bug/error has been introduced with the update 1.2. I have attached a screen shot for reference.
As you explained in one of your post that "spaces" are monitored to highlight the current word.
You are correct in that The Typist tracks every character. However, the app actually only cares about certain characters (namely spaces, since these determine where words start and end, and I need these to know where to highlight the current word and the last incorrect word). So it's okay if a keyboard uses auto-completion (or any other feature that inserts words), as long as it or the user inserts a space to indicate that the word has ended.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the input method I am using, there are 3 predictive options available to type when I am not in the middle of typing a word namely : , . ?
After I type a word a space is automatically inserted as soon as my finger up, but if i select any one of these then that automatic space is removed the character is inserted and space is set again in the wait of the next word.
What your app seems to be doing is, whenever i utilize any of the three the current word shifts one step ahead and there is a mismatch between the "actual" correct word and the one being highlighted in BLUE.
Please look into the issue. It's very distracting.
flide
Hey!
This is a cool app; I've been missing a typing test for some time. Some additional feature requests:
Dark theme (for amoled users)
Practice mode: an additional untimed mode where we can import our own texts
The latter, in particular, could be very nice in training for the usual tests!
Thanks again for the app!
Hi,
I'm using a Samsung tablet with a floating thumb keyboard.
The Text does not recognise that and still says in the middle of the screen, behind the keyboard. (See added Screenshot)
Also would it be possible to highlight the wrong words red in the existing text and not in the written text?
IMHO that would be better....
Your app got hacked
A good app