We were pretty stoked when we first got our hands on the beta version of SwiftKey for Android back in July. We’re happy to announce that the full version is now available to download from the Android Market.
In case you missed the beta, here’s the lowdown; SwiftKey is to text input methods what Google Instant is to Google. The app uses a creepily accurate predictive text system which app makers TouchType Ltd are calling ‘Fluency’. You start typing and SwiftKey automatically displays suggestions in the bar above the keypad.
This isn’t the first text input method on Android to offer this kind of functionality (ThickButtons and Swype do it too) when it comes to typing single words, but SwiftKey takes things to the next level by predicting the next word you’re going to type, even before you’ve started typing it.
You can be halfway through a sentence and SwiftKey will start suggesting whole words, allowing you to compose texts incredibly quickly. Not only is this method super efficient it’s also pretty cool; it has huge show-off-to-your-mates value.
Typos are automatically corrected and SwiftKey also ‘learns’ how you construct sentences so future suggestions are more relevant. There’s an option to dictate to your phone using Google Voice Actions, but this doesn’t seem to work so well – we’re not even sure why you’d want to use this when you’ve got such a great text input system anyway.
But the million dollar question is: is SwiftKey faster than record-breaker Swype? Ultimately this depends on your preferences. The join-the-dots handwriting feel of Swype is very different to SwiftKey’s near-psychic auto predicting software. We’re really torn between the two and until we do a side-by-side comparison ourselves we can’t really say which one is faster.
Watch the video below to see SwiftKey in action and then download the app; SwiftKey for Android is currently available for a mere 60 pennies until the end of the month, after which it’ll be going for the regular price of £2.50.
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