Comparing Swype to other virtual keyboards would not do it justice. It stands in a league of it’s own. It is the first virtual keyboard for Android that appears to have some real intuition (Can I say that without sounding weird?) At first glance it looks like any other virtual keyboard, but after you use it to type your first word you’ll notice a sleek blue line trailing behind your thumb as you move from letter to letter. When you finish a word a friendly suggestion box pops up with options to select the word you actually intended to use. many times we type so fast that we miss a letter or two and we end up tweeting or texting a misspelled message. Those days are over. The Swype keyboard that @Kmobs has ported over to the HVGA devices like the G1 and the Cliq from the leaked beta version intended for the Nexus One and the Droid is now available for your typing pleasure. Now this keyboard still takes a little getting used to as with any new virtual keyboard, but if you’re like me, you’ll be texting and tweeting quicker than ever in no time at all.
After using with Swype for 1.5 weeks here are some pros and cons
Pros: Swype is a solid virtual keyboard (better spacing than stock). Swype doesn’t feel cramped to my fingers when typing in portrait mode. The text suggestion functions very quickly to offer me the best possible choice in what I was typing. Swype’s tutorial was good, showed me what to do and how to use it.
Cons: Some words were not found. Had some spacing issues when I typed and moved to a next word (such as racecar, [possible spelling issue, but I'm from TX] would come up race car. If I tried to fix it, it would delete the whole word). Word search was way to big, made me feel like I was competing with my screen for space. Adding words was a tad confusing…I think I may have gotten it right, but sometimes I think not. Oh one more thing, typing in passwords are a pain if you have both numbers and words…can’t really swipe all that well. Used my physical keyboard for most of my passwords. Another issue I have is not seeing what I type. With the physical keyboard you see what you are typing on the screen. With Swype, either the one finger swipe or trying to type with two, you wont see what you typed till you are finished with that word.
Other: Like I said, solid virtual keyboard. Mostly had to use the one finger approach, mostly had to swipe to a word rather than type (not a con, just a middle-of-the-road thing). Perhaps make the search at the bottom, rather the middle of the screen. A better add to dictionary feature. A possible password way of typing (don’t know how that will work on virtual though). Great tutorial. Swype was fast and for the most part very accurate to what I was trying to type. Over all, my virtual keyboard of choice.
Ok, a quick issue of landscape. Again, screen is taken over by the word search. Swiping is very difficult in that the words are closer. Swiping and straight typing the word(s) were not shown till after I finished typing. I have fat thumbs so have to Swype with one thumb…kind of makes typing in landscape pointless
A special thanks goes out to @Kmobs, @gfurr24 (Garrett Furr) and @ZombieUsr (John-Michael-Guerra)
To give Swype a try for yourself on your G1, MyTouch 3G or Cliq go to @Kmobs’ download page.
