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The newest version of SwiftKey is here, bearing an improved prediction engine, more languages, and a big feature called SwiftKey Flow.
Announced in October of last year, SwiftKey Flow adds gesture-based typing to the app's already rich feature set. This means that SwiftKey now lets you swipe (not Swype) from letter to letter to complete the word you're typing, all without lifting your finger off the screen. Initially, this feature was slated to become available as its own standalone download, separate from SwiftKey's flagship keyboard. However, the company has since decided to bundle the two together into a single, more powerful offering. Thank goodness for that.
If you're not familiar with SwiftKey, it's an Android keyboard replacement that also happens to be a Google Play Editors' Choice app and a winner of the coveted Most Innovative App award at the Global Mobile Awards in Barcelona, Spain. What sets this keyboard apart from others in its category is that it's capable of understanding not just patterns in your typing, but also how words work together. This makes it scarily good at predicting not only the next letter you need to type, but also the next word, sometimes even before you begin typing it. What's more, SwiftKey can continue to learn from your e-mail, SMS, and even social-media accounts (if enabled), so it gets noticeably better at making predictions as you use it.
One of SwiftKey's most useful features is Smart Space, an almost magical feature that can tell when you accidentally omit or otherwise screw up spaces in your typing. With Smart Space, you can actually tap out an entire sentence without spaces, and SwiftKey corrects you as you go. I find myself inadvertently taking advantage of this whenever I accidentally hit the "b" or "v" keys instead of the spacebar.
SwiftKey 4 brings an improved prediction engine and expanded language support. But its biggest addition is the Swype-like Flow feature.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jaymar Cabebe/CNET)And then, of course, there's Flow, SwiftKey's take on the gesture-based input scheme that Swype has made so popular over the last few years. Just like Swype, SwiftKey and its new Flow feature let you type by dragging your finger across letters in a single continuous motion. Flow even lets you glide through the spacebar key, so you can type out several words without ever lifting your finger off the screen. If you manage to incorporate this into your natural typing style, you'll be amazed at how fast you'll be able to input words on your screen.
