The estimated reading time for this post is 3 minutes
Typing on a smartphone can be a challenge. In fact, it can be a downright pain. Many smartphones have small virtual keyboards that can make typing quickly and accurately nearly impossible. That’s why, when Wonder of Tech reader J.J. Quin suggested the SwiftKey X typing app in his comment to Poll: Physical Or Virtual Keyboard?, I had to check it out.
SwiftKey X is a typing app for Android phones and tablets that uses artificial intelligence to learn your typing style and then uses that information to predict how you type. After you download the app, you set it up by allowing it to access your Facebook, Gmail and Twitter accounts, as well as the text messages you have sent.
The app uses those samples of your writing to predict what words you will type next. When you start typing a word, SwiftKey X suggests three words at the top of the keyboard, with the most likely word appering in the middle. If you press the space bar, the middle word will be inserted. If that’s not the word you want, you can choose one of the other two words or keep typing until the app figures out the word you want.
SwiftKey X will then predict the next word you will type, even before you type a letter. The developer claims the app accurately can predict one-third of the words without you entering a letter and 80% of the words when two letters are entered. The more you use the app, the more it learns your style of writing to enhance the accuracy of its predictive text. Imagine how many keystrokes you will save as the app learns your writing style!
This app makes typing much easier, but if you don’t think it makes typing easy enough, you can choose to use Voice Input which is amazingly accurate. Just dictate what you want to say and SwiftKey will offer three choices for you.
For information on the development of the app, I refer you to the Android Central podcast of July 21 with an interview of Joe Braidwood, Chief Marketing Officer of TouchType, the developer of SwiftKey X. He promises that the developer is not interested in reading your private emails, but is using the information for making the app work better for you. Check out the podcast here: Android Central Podcast featuring Joe Braidwood.
SwiftKey X offers plenty of customized options, including three different keyboard colors, the function of the space bar, and many other choices. SwiftKey X includes 28 languages with the option of activating up to three languages for multi-lingual users.
When I first downloaded the app, I allowed it to access my Facebook and Gmail accounts, but not my Twitter and text messages. Since both of those limit the number of characters I type, they don’t tend to represent how I really write. I wish it could access my blog to learn my true writing style!
I have been very impressed with the artificial intelligence feature of SwiftKey X. The very first time I used the app, it guessed “Nicander” after I typed “Ni”.
What’s really fun is to just play with the app to make silly sentences based solely on SwiftKey’s predictions. Just keep pressing the space bar to see what the app comes up with.
This is a sample of what I typed with SwiftKey X by just pressing the space bar:
I am a beautiful person.
How can you not love an app that tells you that? Hmm…I wonder if its artificial intelligence is so smart that it knew I was writing a review.
SwiftKey X is available in the Amazon App Store for $3.99. SwiftKey in the Amazon App Store. The app is also available in the Android Market for $3.94. SwiftKey X in the Android Market.
Bottom Line
If you own an Android phone or tablet, grab SwiftKey X today to make your typing much faster and more precise. Again, many thanks to reader J.J. Quin for suggesting such a great app!
Have you tried SwiftKey X? Do you look for ways to make typing on a smartphone easier and more efficient? Let us know in the Comments section below!
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Philadelphia’s Most Valuable Blogger contest continues until Friday which means that you have five more opportunities to vote. Yea!
Thank you very much for your support!
I just voted, I must have forgotten this morning. We made a video today but it’s not very good. It wouldn’t edit in HD using the program I usually use. I think editing makes the photos and video. I didn’t write a blog either…
Thanks for yet another vote, Mike. Really appreciated.
I agree, better not to post than to post something you’re not happy with. You have plenty of quality content on your blog to keep your readers satisfied.
I am looking forward to your next post, whenever that might be. 🙂
I still like FlexT9. It combines the finger dragging of swype, plus voice dictation and ‘drawing’ words, and like swiftkey it learns your words, though it does sound like swiftkey has a greater capacity.
Hi Matt, I’m a fairly good typist, I prefer apps that allow typing instead of swiping. But I’m very glad you have discovered an app that works well for you on your Android phone. Thanks for letting us know about Flex T 9. 🙂
Carolyn, Interesting and cool app!. I like the artificial intelligence concept and social network linkage to identify the writing style. Really a nice thought and design. Android users, frequent SMS community surely will love the app. Thanks for the post
Hi Manickam, Welcome to the Wonder of Tech. I agree SwiftKey X is an amazing app. The use of AI and social media seems to be a glimpse of the future.
Thanks so much for your visit and brilliant comment! 🙂
Carolyn, I must tell you that one needs to be careful about this app. it tends to track everything you type on your smartphone, Password and login details are tracked and might not be very safe.
Hi Eddie,
I’m Joe Braidwood, the CMO of the company that makes SwiftKey X. I just wanted to explicitly challenge the comments you made about our keyboard app.
We take privacy very seriously and SwiftKey X does not collect any personal data without your explicit permission.
The warning message that says SwiftKey may be able to collect “all the text you type, including personal data like passwords and credit card numbers” is a part of the Android operating system that appears when any third party keyboard is enabled.
If you choose to personalize using services in the cloud such as Facebook, Gmail or Twitter, you give explicit permission for our servers to process your language data, which may or may not contain your personal data. This is done in accordance and with strict European data protection laws and our privacy policy, available at http://www.swiftkey.net/privacy. Additionally, we use API authentication to obtain access to this data, and so do not have access to your passwords for these services. All data is handled securely and will never be passed on to third parties without your additional and explicit permission. We derive anonymous statistics and language insights from the data we handle.
If you would like any of your stored data deleted, then please contact us directly from within SwiftKey app and we will process this for you immediately.
Thanks,
Joe
Hi Joe, thanks so much for stopping by and explaining SwiftKey’s privacy policy for Wonder of Tech readers. People are justifiably concerned about privacy these days and your information is very helpful.
Best wishes for much continued success with your amazing app!
Looks like a really handy app but I have found that as I started to rely on autocorrect and spell checkers more and more my ability to actually spell words properly declined massively to the point where I would just lazily type something that was close enough knowing that the computer would take care of it! Now whenever I see a spell checker highlight a mistake I go back and retype the word. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing but my scrabble game has certainly improved!
Hi Mike, So true, I find myself having to fight to remember the spelling of words now that autocorrect and spell check come in so handy. I find that to be the case with phone numbers too. Between speed dial on my landline and Contacts on my smartphones, I haven’t memorized phone numbers anymore.
You’re right, playing Scrabble and Words with Friends can improve spelling and your vocabulary. Having fun while you learn is a great combination!