Google Keyboard Now available and Free!

[onthecouchagain]

No doubt this is by far Samsungs best efforts at a keyboard in quite some time but it's still nowhere near as good as SwiftKey. I guess people tend to forget that the more mileage you log with SwiftKey, it only gets better.

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I

Swiftkey is great except for Flow.

Flow just doesn't work with their prediction algorithm. They keep "predicting" what I mean to swipe when it's not what I want. For example, it doesn't always get "too." It doesn't register the second 'o' because it's trying to predict for me my next word more than it is recognizing my swipes. This works great for tapping but not so much for swiping.

For example, Swype allows you to clearly swipe two consecutive letters in a row and it registers that as such.

They really need to fix Flow. If you visit the Swiftkey forums there's an entire thread of "Impossible to Flow" words ("too" being one of them. "It's" is another one).

I'm an avid Swiftkey fan but Flow needs serious work.

Whereas other keyboards like Swype or Kii or the stock Android keyboard may not have the best predictions but they work so well overall that it's forgivable.

I don't really know anything about the Samsung keyboard, though.

 

[mattopotamus]

Swiftkey is great except for Flow.

Flow just doesn't work with their prediction algorithm. They keep "predicting" what I mean to swipe when it's not what I want. For example, it doesn't always get "too." It doesn't register the second 'o' because it's trying to predict for me my next word more than it is recognizing my swipes. This works great for tapping but not so much for swiping.

For example, Swype allows you to clearly swipe two consecutive letters in a row and it registers that as such.

They really need to fix Flow. If you visit the Swiftkey forums there's an entire thread of "Impossible to Flow" words ("too" being one of them. "It's" is another one).

I'm an avid Swiftkey fan but Flow needs serious work.

Whereas other keyboards like Swype or Kii or the stock Android keyboard may not have the best predictions but they work so well overall that it's forgivable.

I don't really know anything about the Samsung keyboard, though.

I wonder if a lot of people use flow. I type much faster using two thumbs and relying on auto correct

 

[onthecouchagain]

I wonder if a lot of people use flow. I type much faster using two thumbs and relying on auto correct

Fair question. If Swiftkey is serious about swiping as an alternative, they'll really need to fix/improve Flow.

Personally, I've been swiping more than thumb tapping. It's nice now that you can do both anytime you want depending on the need.

There used to be a time when using a keyboard dedicated to swipe meant thumb tapping was slow and unresponsive, or using a dedicated thumb tapping keyboard meant unreliable swiping. Now, the two have married very well. Both are very usable without the need to switch keyboards or turn on/off the swiping feature.

It's a beautiful thing for Android users.

 

[mattopotamus]

Fair question. If Swiftkey is serious about swiping as an alternative, they'll really need to fix/improve Flow.

Personally, I've been swiping more than dumb tapping. It's nice now that you can do both anytime you want depending on the need.

agreed. I use flow whenever I have my hands full or am laying in bed.

 

[onthecouchagain]

agreed. I use flow whenever I have my hands full or am laying in bed.

My god. You responded really fast to that, huh? I added a bit more to my post immediately after I posted, but you quoted it right away.

Ha.

 

[mattopotamus]

My god. You responded really fast to that, huh? I added a bit more to my post immediately after I posted, but you quoted it right away.

Ha.

tapatalk haha.

 

[Dontazemebro]

Swiftkey is great except for Flow.

Flow just doesn't work with their prediction algorithm. They keep "predicting" what I mean to swipe when it's not what I want. For example, it doesn't always get "too." It doesn't register the second 'o' because it's trying to predict for me my next word more than it is recognizing my swipes. This works great for tapping but not so much for swiping.

For example, Swype allows you to clearly swipe two consecutive letters in a row and it registers that as such.

They really need to fix Flow. If you visit the Swiftkey forums there's an entire thread of "Impossible to Flow" words ("too" being one of them. "It's" is another one).

I'm an avid Swiftkey fan but Flow needs serious work.

Whereas other keyboards like Swype or Kii or the stock Android keyboard may not have the best predictions but they work so well overall that it's forgivable.

I don't really know anything about the Samsung keyboard, though.

Tell you the truth I don't use flow, I don't care for it, not my thing and I stopped using swype back when I was a beta tester. I'm more old fashioned thumbs on and with SwiftKey I can just mash away senselessly at the keyboard and still come up with a coherent sentence.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Tell you the truth I don't use flow, I don't care for it, not my thing and I stopped using swype back when I was a beta tester. I'm more old fashioned thumbs on and with SwiftKey I can just mash away senselessly at the keyboard and still come up with a coherent sentence.

When it comes to thumb tapping, there is no better than Swiftkey. It's actually hard to make a typo.

 

[Stuntman06]

I wonder if a lot of people use flow. I type much faster using two thumbs and relying on auto correct

I normally dual thumb typing in landscape with SwiftKey. I type fastest this way.

I don't like flow. In portrait, I use the Google keyboard with the gesture typing. I only use portrait if I want to type with one hand only.

I gave MessagEase a try, but the learning curve was just too much for me. As I can already type at a fairly good pace and accurately with SwiftKey in landscape and the Google keyboard in portrait, it just wasn't worth my while to spend the time and effort to learn such a radically different keyboard. If I had discovered this keyboard before SwiftKey, I might have made the effort.

 

[Oohara]

I use flow/gesture typing all the time, absolutely love it. My biggest issue with a keyboard is that it has to be able to handle double languages well, as I write in both Swedish and English all the time. Swiftkey sucked at this, and it only got worse with time (used it for two months or so). Samsung's keyboard was pretty good in that regard, but didn't have Swiftkey's awesome punctuation/alt. characters functions. Now I'm doing Kii, it's holding up pretty well so far. Will be interesting to see how it improves with time.

Now, if someone were to combine the best of these three, I would be in heaven...

 

[onthecouchagain]

Giving Swype another shot.

I love how suggestions populate when you swype, as oppose to Swiftkey just predicting things for you (which can lead to unwanted words; the biggest culprit is "too." Swiftkey always predicts "to" instead). But Swype puts "to" and "too" and a ton of other suggestions on the suggestion bar for you to choose from right away. In Swiftkey, you have to backspace to "to" and then change it to "too."

I also love the addition gestures you can do with the "Sype" logo button from the corner. Very interesting.

I'm giving the trial version a shot and then I might consider purchasing the full paid version. Only 99 cents.

 

[Nabooly]

Google keyboard is fantastic. However I went back to Kii after a few weeks. It's just much better, has all the features of Google Keyboard and more.

 

[onthecouchagain]

For swiping, Swype definitely reigns king.

I notice I've been swiping almost exclusively now. I rarely type. Swype might be the way to go.

Sorry, Kii and Swiftkey.

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Google keyboard is fantastic. However I went back to Kii after a few weeks. It's just much better, has all the features of Google Keyboard and more.

Yeah, no doubt Kii > stock keyboard.

Here's how I see the keyboards.

For best overall keyboard (a mixture of tap-typing and swipe-typing) your best bet is Kii.

For best tap-typing keyboard, undoubtedly, go with Swiftkey. The prediction and auto-correction is just superior and ridiculously accurate. For swiping, unfortunately, its own prediction engine is its own fault because it predicts what you're swiping, and it just simply isn't accurate enough (like trying to swipe "too" almost always nets you "to").

For best swiping, undoubtedly, go with Swype. It's just so good at getting your swipes right.

Depending on how you like to type and what suits you best, you have three AMAZING choices. Beauty of choice.

I have been swiping almost exclusively now. In fact, thumb tapping feels ridiculously slow. I think I'm going to go with Swype for a bit. Love choices.

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What the hell is "Dragon"? The voice recording program in Swype?

Why not let us use the stock google voice? Dragon SUCKS.

 

[F123D]

I've stuck with the stock Google keyboard. It's been working great for me.

For anyone who's interested, swiftkey is on sale for 50% off right now for $1.99.

 

[onthecouchagain]

I've stuck with the stock Google keyboard. It's been working great for me.

For anyone who's interested, swiftkey is on sale for 50% off right now for $1.99.

Any reason not to use Kii? It's literally the same keyboard but more/better.

It's cool and all. Just curious.

 

[F123D]

Any reason not to use Kii? It's literally the same keyboard but more/better.

It's cool and all. Just curious.

At the time, I was going back and forth between swype, swiftkey, and google keyboard. Didn't want to try out a fourth one. Will give it a go now though.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Swype is actually pretty amazing at thumb-tapping too.

I think this will be my daily keyboard for the foreseeable future. Very impressed.

 

[MRU]

When it comes to thumb tapping, there is no better than Swiftkey. It's actually hard to make a typo.

I wooden bee too short a boat that !

 

[F123D]

Swype is actually pretty amazing at thumb-tapping too.

I think this will be my daily keyboard for the foreseeable future. Very impressed.

What was your issue with Kii that made you switch back to Swype?

 

[Stuntman06]

I went back to Swype for my portrait keyboard. I just felt it predicted words a bit better for gesture typing. SwiftKey is still my landscape keyboard for touch typing.

 

[Technarchy]

Tried it and swiftkey, and overall I still prefer Swype.

 

[F123D]

Giving Kii Keyboard a try and so far so good. Fast, smooth, and accurate.

I love the "alternate character swipe gesture". Swipe from any key to the space bar to input the keys alternate character. This eliminates the need for a fifth row of keys for numbers.

I'm using the Google ICS theme but customized it and increased the size of the keys and decreased the spacing between them. Might just be in my head but it seems to give me a better feel for the keys.

Stock Google keyboard on the left. Kii customized Google themed with larger keys on the right.

 

[Oohara]

I used Swiftkey Flow, Kii, Google and Samsung keyboards extensively, for about 1 month each. Of those, I found that Sammy's keyboard complicated things the least for me, while lacking some of the nifty features found in the other keyboards.

Then, about one week ago, I started using Swype for the first time. Not sure why I haven't thought about testing it before. Think I got it mixed up with Swiftkey or something. Anyway - I already like it far better than the others. It just gets the words right more often. It also handles double languages better - I use 50/50 Swedish and English on a daily basis and Swype doesn't get them mixed up as much as the other keyboards. I think I'll be sticking with this one for now.

 

[onthecouchagain]

The one thing Swype needs to do is stop prompting me with notes. I already turned off the tips but it still sometimes give little hints. Okay we get it.

 

[F123D]

Swiftkey is FREE in the Amazon Appstore for the next 24 hours!