Kris Carlon (translation) 2013-11-20T12:00:01Z2 months ago
Putting down roots in Berlin after six years of traveling is a major step for Kris Carlon, who has spent more time living out of a tent lately than sitting at a desk. Kris comes to the AndroidPIT Editorial Team via a lengthy period spent writing on art and culture in Australia and other places he has lived. He joined the Android community while resurfacing in civilization back in 2010 and has never looked back, using technology to replace his actual presence in other people's lives ever since. 
Right now basically everyone is writing extensively on their smartphone, from WhatsApp, Facebook, emails, SMS, social media and video and photo sharing, we're tapping away all the time. A mind-reading keyboard in this context would be a huge step forward for most people's productivity. This is exactly the challenge that the predictive swipe-typing keyboard SwiftKey has taken up. Whether SwiftKey can keep this promise, you will learn in today's review!
Good?? ?Major typing input acceleration?Prediction is good?Custom dictionaryBad?? ?Customization of designs?No direct access to the dictionarySwiftKey is, as you can already tell from the introduction, an alternative keyboard for Android. This keyboard will completely replace the default keyboard and enables several features that are not integrated in the original Android keyboard. I've been using our current test candidate for several months, so the findings in this test are from a long-term engagement with the application.
When SwiftKey is first installed, the user encounters a setup wizard that allows the alternative keyboard to be set as the system-wide default. But the setup does not end at this point. Different languages can be added (up to three languages in active use) and also the custom dictionary can be filled. This dictionary is a special program geared to the user that analyzes the writing habits of the user through different channels like email and social media, thus improving the word recognition, prediction and fluency.
During setup, you can enable SwiftKey Cloud and install up to three active languages. / © AndroidPIT/SwiftKey If set up, right from the beginning, as you use Twitter, Facebook, SMS, Gmail and so on, SwiftKey will be learning how you write and remembering your particular vocabulary. This is the first WOW effect of SwiftKey: during use, even in the early ''learning'' stages, the predictions are scarily accurate if you've linked SwiftKey to your other channels. Everyone has typical phrases and sentence structures that distinguish their particular writing style, and by learning how you speak, SwiftKey can actually predict complete sentences without you ever needing to type anything more than the start of the sentence. In my case, the predictions work in almost 95% of the cases, and the automatic correction of words is a special blessing in this context.
SwiftKey offers not only thee traditional input method of tapping with your fingers, but also a ''flow'' input option. With the flow feature enabled you can swipe-type in SwiftKey in the same way you can with Swype and Touchpal X. This input method, of course, also benefits from the same excellent prediction capabilities, but adds the speed of swipe typing as you slide your finger across the letters in a word rather than slowly tapping them out. Writing in this way is noticeably faster. Whole sentences are even possible without lifting your finger off the keyboard. This is done by gliding over the spacebar to separate words, but the prediction accuracy decreases with the increasing length of the sentence. Of course, as SwiftKey further learns more complex sentences from you, the accuracy will increase again.
The SwiftKey keyboard with the Holo look, and other design options. / © AndroidPIT/SwiftKey SwiftKey can, of course, also access Google voice input and so sentences can also be input via dictation. The limits of how well dictation functions depend on the accuracy of Google's service, though any disadvantages are offset by the excellent word recognition in SwiftKey.
The basic ambitions of SwiftKey are met with flying colors. The word prediction is excellent, the speed increase is astronomical and SwiftKey does a great job of reading your mind. But the further you go in the depth, the more one recognizes some potential criticisms. Thus, although different designs for the keyboard can be selected, a full adjustment is not possible. There is only a couple of preset choices and no market for additional themes.
The size of the keyboard can be adjusted though: from a Full keyboard, to Thumb keyboard (best for tablets) to a Compact keyboard (best for one-handed typing on a phablet or tablet). These option are accessed by long-pressing the "SwiftKey" button when using the keyboard. The good news about these settings, which are not so necessary on smartphones, is that they make using the keyboard on phablets or tablets a breeze.
Long-pressing the SwiftKey button brings layout and further settings options. / © AndroidPIT/SwiftKey The change in input behavior can be quite rudimentary, but SwiftKey would do well to offer more variability in the appearance of the keyboard. For example, the arrangement of punctuation differs from the default keyboard, which will require an initial adjustment period when switching to SwiftKey. After this settling in phase, everything of course runs super smoothly, but various layout options would be beneficial for the comfort of the user. Finally, one thing I missed in my long-term test was the ability to directly access and make changes in the dictionary. This would be useful because sometimes you add incorrect spellings to the dictionary by accident.
The graphical presentation of the application is very successful, even though, as I mentioned above, slightly more individualization in the appearance would be desirable, at least in my opinion. The more important function of a keyboard is the operation and speed of use. During the test period, no delay in input or other functions was experienced on the Nexus 4. The consistently smooth, accurate and speedy operation was very noticeable and really strengthens the overall impression of the app.
In particular, additional settings like using the spacebar to auto-complete a word or insert a quick period, as well as the possibility to adjust the long-press duration, are options that let you speed up your typing to the max, depending on how you write.
Check your usage stats, heatmap and set even more speed options. / © AndroidPIT/SwiftKey SwiftKey only caused a crash once during the test period and got stuck on a word prediction one time. Considering the extended period of the test period this is totally acceptable.
SwiftKey costs $3.99 and for the price offers very good performance. A one-month free trial version is also available.
SwiftKey is, in my eyes, the best alternative keyboard for Android. The keyboard not only allows for faster and more precise writing, but the learning ability of the application is really impressive. The overall picture is marred only by the slightly limited layout and design settings. Particularly in terms of the user-customization of the keyboard's appearance. More design and layout options, and the possibility to access and modify the custom dictionary would also be of use. But for what it promises, SwiftKey really delivers and will only improve over time.
(originally by Nima Begli)
Makers of the award-winning SwiftKey keyboard for Android.
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