I quite like using SwiftKey, its great at fixing my sloopy typing.
But coming out from under my tin foil hat (coincidently I just returned from a crypto-party at the Open Source Developers Conference), I don't trust proprietary keyboards which require internet permissions, because they have access to all of the passwords I type in. I've got DroidWall [0] denying internet access to it, and I can sleep easier at night. The only down side is I can't download new dictionaries if they become available.
At least in this case it's well known why the permissions are needed.
You could use Titanium Backup to back up SwiftKey, download the new dictionaries copy them somewhere safe, restore your files, than replace the dictionaries.
I don't think you can avoid entering passwords into software that can connect to the internet. And once you start using a desktop or laptop, anything and everything can both listen to your keystrokes and also connect to the internet.
Swiftkey was almost perfect. Then came last big release (not this one) and started to insert spaces between perfectly written combined words as well as adding what seems like a hard coded "correction" of i to I regardless of context. (One of the languages I write uses i a lot.)
Someone else reported it, I and several others voted the bug, nothing happens. I still use it but now it may take days after a new firmware before I care to reinstall.
They really aren't very responsive. I don't think it should take so long to make changes this trivial. What you describe is a new feature that can tell if you missed a space, but, since it's a problem for you, they should have added a simple checkbox where you can disable it.
I have no idea why many companies don't release often.
I find that it wouldn't store words I've told it to remember and would constantly tell me they're misspelt, or it would remember bogus words and would continuously autocorrect them. Meanwhile, the stock Android keyboard is pretty nice, I don't know how long SwiftKey will continue selling when they are this sluggish.
On top of that, the "send feedback" feature on the mobile phone redirects you to a forum where you have to go through a lengthy registration process just to post something. I'm really disappointed and frustrated by SwiftKey's (nonexistent) customer support.
I have SwiftKey and Swype. There's a reason I don't install Swype anymore (and - what's the point now, if recent versions of Android bring this functionality?)
That aside, SwiftKey isn't active on my devices either: It was really neat and got worse. It's technically unusable for my 'flow' right now and I see the same issue reported multiple times on their site. No fix. Keyboard that doesn't work as keyboard: Failed product. Adding a new way to input stuff while the current version is broken is a bad way to treat users..
Swype has one huge benefit that the Android stock keyboard doesn't: if it autocorrects incorrectly, you just tap the incorrect word and it will display a list of alternatives. Tap one and it replaces the incorrect word. The Android keyboard forces deletion & retyping/swiping incorrectly autocorrected/autocompleted words.
I use SwiftKey too, and am quite happy with it. Nonetheless, 'm not really convinced when it comes to enhancing a keyboard with such a feature without first having tweaked it to near perfection. At the moment, I still get quite a lot of autocorrection errors that I need to then fix manually (if I happen to notice them before hitting send..), which is not as quick as it could be, but still bearable. I can't imagine going back and trying to fix something if whole sentences are typed in one go. Having said that, if I didn't have to worry about autocorrection errors, this would be awesome.
One of the reasons why SwiftKey doesn't perform as well as it could for me might be that I use it with two languages, typing in each more or less 50% of the time. The fact that it can predict the next word based on the current one does help here in order to get the language right, but the three measly slots it has for word suggestions are still cluttered with words from the other language most of the time when I type. I think performance would boost if it could detect the language during the first few words and only suggest words in that language from that point forward. Then again, I often mix the two languages in a single sentence..
I often mix the two languages in a single sentence
This, for me, is the killer feature of SwiftKey. I hate having to go into some settings panel and switch between languages each time I want to type something. I don't think I'd ever consider switching to a keyboard that didn't support this.
I've only tested it on my Nexus 7 but the swiping motions are very smooth and nicely decorated. The 'never lift your finger from the screen' thing works very well, and its genuinely a really pleasant keyboard to use.
It also still works like SwiftKey itself. Despite the opinions of many in this thread, I still consider it to be a a wonderful keyboard if you use it on a device that can keep up and you train it right. It really can make typing very fast with its excellent predictions.
The combination of the predictions with the swiping motion means it comes up with reasonable sentences rather than just relying on the individual words it thinks you typed.
> The 'never lift your finger from the screen' thing works very well
Really? I can't get it to work at all. It looks like it tries to predict the entire sentence, and if it gets lost it just drops the whole thing. I would much rather it spit out a word each time I swipe down to the spacebar, that way if there is a prediction error I can stop and correct that word without losing an entire sentence.
For example, it sometimes gets my HW keyboard state reversed (when I slide the keyboard out, the on-screen keyboard appears, and when I retract it the on-screen keyboard disappears).
SwiftKey is incompatible with other apps. Typing in Firefox or Sygic gives all kinds of problems. If these issues were fixed its prediction capabilities would make it the best keyboard out there. I've reported the issues and haven't seen any progress.
[+] [-] pserwylo|13 years ago|reply
But coming out from under my tin foil hat (coincidently I just returned from a crypto-party at the Open Source Developers Conference), I don't trust proprietary keyboards which require internet permissions, because they have access to all of the passwords I type in. I've got DroidWall [0] denying internet access to it, and I can sleep easier at night. The only down side is I can't download new dictionaries if they become available.
[0] - http://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=droidwall&...
Edit: Specified why I don't like them having internet permissions
[+] [-] randomchars|13 years ago|reply
You could use Titanium Backup to back up SwiftKey, download the new dictionaries copy them somewhere safe, restore your files, than replace the dictionaries.
[+] [-] mistercow|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eitland|13 years ago|reply
Someone else reported it, I and several others voted the bug, nothing happens. I still use it but now it may take days after a new firmware before I care to reinstall.
[+] [-] StavrosK|13 years ago|reply
I have no idea why many companies don't release often.
I find that it wouldn't store words I've told it to remember and would constantly tell me they're misspelt, or it would remember bogus words and would continuously autocorrect them. Meanwhile, the stock Android keyboard is pretty nice, I don't know how long SwiftKey will continue selling when they are this sluggish.
On top of that, the "send feedback" feature on the mobile phone redirects you to a forum where you have to go through a lengthy registration process just to post something. I'm really disappointed and frustrated by SwiftKey's (nonexistent) customer support.
[+] [-] gareim|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sandGorgon|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] darklajid|13 years ago|reply
That aside, SwiftKey isn't active on my devices either: It was really neat and got worse. It's technically unusable for my 'flow' right now and I see the same issue reported multiple times on their site. No fix. Keyboard that doesn't work as keyboard: Failed product. Adding a new way to input stuff while the current version is broken is a bad way to treat users..
[+] [-] eitally|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] elisehein|13 years ago|reply
One of the reasons why SwiftKey doesn't perform as well as it could for me might be that I use it with two languages, typing in each more or less 50% of the time. The fact that it can predict the next word based on the current one does help here in order to get the language right, but the three measly slots it has for word suggestions are still cluttered with words from the other language most of the time when I type. I think performance would boost if it could detect the language during the first few words and only suggest words in that language from that point forward. Then again, I often mix the two languages in a single sentence..
[+] [-] dagw|13 years ago|reply
This, for me, is the killer feature of SwiftKey. I hate having to go into some settings panel and switch between languages each time I want to type something. I don't think I'd ever consider switching to a keyboard that didn't support this.
[+] [-] ElliotH|13 years ago|reply
I've only tested it on my Nexus 7 but the swiping motions are very smooth and nicely decorated. The 'never lift your finger from the screen' thing works very well, and its genuinely a really pleasant keyboard to use.
It also still works like SwiftKey itself. Despite the opinions of many in this thread, I still consider it to be a a wonderful keyboard if you use it on a device that can keep up and you train it right. It really can make typing very fast with its excellent predictions.
The combination of the predictions with the swiping motion means it comes up with reasonable sentences rather than just relying on the individual words it thinks you typed.
[+] [-] elemenohpee|13 years ago|reply
Really? I can't get it to work at all. It looks like it tries to predict the entire sentence, and if it gets lost it just drops the whole thing. I would much rather it spit out a word each time I swipe down to the spacebar, that way if there is a prediction error I can stop and correct that word without losing an entire sentence.
[+] [-] aidenn0|13 years ago|reply
For example, it sometimes gets my HW keyboard state reversed (when I slide the keyboard out, the on-screen keyboard appears, and when I retract it the on-screen keyboard disappears).
It's also completely unusable with firefox.
[+] [-] liminal|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] andyana|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] swah|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gadders|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] erik_p|13 years ago|reply