Swype Beta For Android Is Open, Temporarily

FyreWyr writes "In 2008 we discussed Swype, which allows a mobile (phone, e.g.) user to draw a path over a virtual keyboard to enter words, rather than requiring precise tapping to accomplish the input. Using this software, a Swype intern (Franklin Page) beat the Guinness record by about 6 WPM for the Guinness-standard phrase: The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human. (Unfortunately the video at that link is marked private.) TechCrunch reports that Swype is presently in open beta, and will be available for 'a couple of days,' supporting English, Spanish, and Italian entry. Finally, while the deadline has apparently passed, I was able to retrieve the Android beta for testing a few minutes ago. I'm posting it here for the benefit of Android-enabled Slashdot readers."

Comments

Already on

[yakumo.unr]

It's pre installed on the Samsung Galaxy S, you just have to click and hold on a text input field to get the menu up that lets you enable it.

Swype is really awesome

[Asmor]

My girlfriend and I recently got new phones, and I wanted to go Android but got an HTC HD2 (running Windows Mobile) with the intention of returning it within the 14 days allowed, because the phone I wanted was coming out a week later...

Anyways, long story short, I stuck with the HD2 in very large part because I was so enamored with Swype, and was distraught that Swype wasn't available for Android.

It's not perfect, of course, but I enjoy it. In particular, it can be a bit fiddly with smaller words (e.g. me, of, to), but once you get a rhythm going it is, dare I say it, actually fun. It's like every text message is a little game.

It's also very intuitive and you pick it up very quickly. If you've got an Android, definitely give this a look.

Re:Swype is really awesome

[iammani]

Oops, I take that back. Its actually Motorola Droid X, that comes with swype. I got my version numbers wrong.

Re:Swype is really awesome

[adolf]

I've been running Swype for months on my Motorola Droid. It works great, and it was not at all difficult to locate it using Google. AFAICT, it's been running on most or all Android phones for quite awhile (though mostly with questionable legality).

That said, it's great that the beta is open -- this way, I get to legally use Swype. Hopefully, some day, they'll actually let me pay for it -- I'd love to give these guys a few bucks.

Re:Not Much Interest In This Article?

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Also, if I want to convey

The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.

to someone using my phone, I can like totally call them, and it only takes about 6 seconds to say, while I'm guessing "kthxby" doesn't gain a lot of speed from being "swyped".

Meanwhile, a pox on Yet Another Stupid Internet Word like "swype".

Krogdor

[Krogdor]

I think the whole Guinness World Record thing is a bit skewed... The phrase is extremely well made for Swype. I know this wasn't intentional, but Swype excels at typing out extremely long and complicated words—the exact bane of most text inputs, and the reason that they are included in a world record phrase. Where Swype has trouble, however, is short words that are easily misinterpreted.

Re:Krogdor

[beanpoppa]

I've been using Swype for a little while now on my Droid, and you are right. Short words are more ambiguous, and harder for Swype to interpret. But Swype also lets you touch-type words like any other touch-screen keyboard. I've gotten into the habit of touch-typing out short words, and 'Swyping' the longer ones. While other touch-screen keyboards try to mimic the physical keyboard world (haptic feedback, etc), Swype embraces new methods that a touch-screen can bring about.

shapewriter

[markdavis]

For the moment, I am extremely impressed with Shapewriter. And for a few days more, you can get that for free with no expiration and it is not a beta. So I don't see a need for Swype right now:

http://www.androidcentral.com/shapewriter-being-pulled-market-get-it-while-you-still-can

Dasher

[TeknoHog]

A "sweeping" mobile input method always reminds me of Dasher. I guess one reason why it doesn't get all the attention is that it must be tuned to a particular corpus of text, so it's not immediately usable like something qwerty-based.

http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/

Re:Dasher

[numb7rs]

I used to use Dasher on my old iPAQ from 2004. For the first couple of weeks, it was only slightly better than the OSK. Then as its dictionary of my words (and my practice) grew, I could eventually use it at speeds rivalling a QWERTY keyboard, probably after a couple of months or so.

It also looked awesome while you 'typed'. Like some sort of bizarre arcade game.

Well I'm certainly glad you posted this!

[56]

They definitely are still letting people download it - I just installed it on my HTC Magic. It works quite well, shocking so actually. In vertical one-handed typing, I'm already much faster and more accurate than I ever was with the regular keyboard. However, the swype idea doesn't make much sense for horizontal typing - there's no real way to use both hands so what's the point? I would prefer to be able to stick with the traditional keyboard for horizontal typing. That said, I'm going to stick with it for a few days and see how it goes under real-world circumstances.

Re:Well I'm certainly glad you posted this!

[AusIV]

Enable word prediction in the Swype Settings menu, and swype will behave quite similarly to the standard keyboard if you tap letters one at a time instead of swyping. That said, from my initial impressions I'm unconvinced that using both hands to type on the horizontal keyboard would be faster than swyping on the vertical keyboard.

Sweet, could be sweeter

[unfortunateson]

It beats the living snot out of the standard soft keyboard, and may be faster than the slider keyboard on my Moto Droid, except that I can use *two* thumbs on the slider.
I haven't yet gotten used to the right actions to say, "no, it's not one of those eight words" without having to reswype the whole word -- annoying on lengthy words. It's accuracy is pretty darn good anyway, even if I swerve because I'm going the wrong way toward a letter, it often gets the right word.

Only app I haven't gotten it to work on is Twisty, an interactive fiction interpreter -- it would be a big help there.

Privacy?

[solevita]

Presumably this is going to phone home and report usage stats from my usual mix of sexting and work emails? Android has already warned me of this on installation. I'll give it a go, but not for anything I wouldn't want made public.

Flick Input

[JanneM]

I really prefer flick input, to be honest - 9-key layout, and a small "drag" in different directions determine which character to enter. You got big, easy to hit keys, and you're not dependent on the predictive input to get words right. I started using it for Japanese, but it's so convenient I now use it for English as well. Now, if I could add the Swedish characters to the Xperia Japanese/English flick keyboard I would never have to switch input method again.

Re:Flick Input

[JanneM]

The keyboard I use is the one included in the Japanese Xperia, and is actually the best one I've used so far. Simeji (http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.adamrocker.android.input.simeji/) and OpenWnn (http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.owplus.ime.openwnnplus) are similar Japanese input methods, and both have several modes including flick input (the left screenshot in the Simeji link and right screenshot for OpenWnn shows flick input in action for Japanese).

Of those two I like OpenWnn better, but both do suffer a bit from featuritis. They have a system of plugins where you can add all kinds of shortcuts, precanned sentences and stuff. The default Japanese Xperia keyboard is much cleaner and simpler, and feels more responsive too.

Re:Flick Input

[JanneM]

"They are faster than multi-tap for sure, but, with the exception of typing obscure non-dictionary words, swype will be way faster."

In my particular case (admittedly not very common) I write in multiple languages. An input method that relies on dictionary matching would require me to switch the input language all the time. You could solve it by allowing the use of multiple simultaneous dictionaries of course, but I know of no input system that would allow me to do so (and there may be reliability problems if you increase the corpus too much I guess).

But I also like flick better because it lets me type with the same hand I hold the phone. Swype - and, to a lesser extent, a normal qwerty input - really needs you to hold the phone with one hand and type with the other.

Anyway, I really like that there's multiple ways of typing available - not to mention Android phones with hardware numpads, slideout keyboards and laptop-style fold-out designs. We can all choose our own preferred way to write.

Re:Flick Input

[demonlapin]

I can't help you with the multiple-language problem, but Swype is easy to use with one hand. Grab with the fingers, type with the thumb. I do it all the time.

I love Swype, but hate their marketing strategy

[zizzybaloobah]

Swype's marketing plan is to *only* distribute Swype via phone manufacturers, *not* through channels like Android's Market. Reasons given included being a small company, limited ability to provide end-user support, yada yada yada. This is despite scores of users who willingly want to fling money their way, regardless of support options (or lack thereof). I know when my Swype beta expired, I was heartbroken. You just can't go back to tapping after Swyping. I tried SlideIT and Shapewriter. I really disliked SlideIT, and while Shapewriter was tolerable, it was still no Swype. I admit I may be biased having used Swype first. I was elated to see the day after my beta expired, that they opened up the official program to anyone who wanted to sign up. Perhaps the Swype folks are having at least a small change of heart regarding their marketing stratgey.