Bonnie Cha

Recent Posts by Bonnie Cha

SwiftKey Keyboard for Android Gets Smarter

The autocorrect function on smartphone keyboards can be helpful, but it can also lead to some hilarious and embarrassing mistakes. SwiftKey, a virtual keyboard for Android, looks to eliminate those errors by learning how you type and predicting what you’ll write next, and it’s getting smarter.

Today, TouchType, the developers of SwiftKey, released an updated version of the keyboard that brings more intelligent correction capabilities and an improved user interface.

New to SwiftKey 3 is a feature called “Smart Space.” This detects when you’ve inserted a space in the middle of a word or forgotten to insert spaces while quickly typing a string of words and automatically corrects it for you.

The keyboard also now has a larger space bar and a smart punctuation key that gives you quick access to common punctuation. You can also change up the look of the keyboard with two new themes, one called “Cobalt” and another called “Holo,” which looks similar to the keyboard in Android’s latest operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich.

Finally, SwiftKey 3 adds support for seven additional languages, including Korean, Serbian and Farsi, bringing the total number of supported languages to 42.

SwiftKey is different from other virtual keyboards like Swype because it tries to customize itself to the user. You can sync it with your Gmail, Facebook and Twitter accounts, so it can learn your typing habits and vocabulary. By doing so, SwiftKey can not only complete words for you, but it can also predict the next word based on context.

SwiftKey 3 is available now from the Google Play store and is currently on sale for $1.99. The promotion ends in one week, when the app will go back to its regular price of $3.99.

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Another gadget you don’t really need. Will not work once you get it home. New model out in 4 weeks. Battery life is too short to be of any use.

— From the fact sheet for a fake product entitled Useless Plasticbox 1.2 (an actual empty plastic box) placed in L.A.-area Best Buy stores by an artist called Plastic Jesus