Swype pioneered a new way to type on smartphones–now it’s dead

Re:Swype pioneered a new way to type on smartphones–now it’s... by baddox on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @02:18PM (#16432091)

Definitely the opposite for me. Having to keep your thumb pressed on the screen while moving it around is, for me, clearly way slower and more difficult. Plus I almost always type with two hands, which doesn’t seem to even make sense with a swiping keyboard.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Swype pioneered a new way to type on smartphones–now it’s... by sli on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @02:41PM (#16432304)

Same, I type on my phone with two hands. My experience typically has me going back and correcting words a whole lot more often with gesture typing, which kills any time savings and speed I may have initially gotten.

Typing one or two letters then hitting the suggestion has always been way more consistent for me.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Swype pioneered a new way to type on smartphones–now it’s... by baq on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @02:24PM (#16432151)

thumb...? no wonder you don't like it.

thumb swiping works fine for 3-word responses, anything more than that and it's the index finger that goes to work.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Swype pioneered a new way to type on smartphones–now it’s... by andybak on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @02:31PM (#16432220)

Yeah. I had the same reaction. Who sw(i/y)pes with their thumbs!?

I swipe almost 100% of the time but I feel the system could be improved massively with some better prediction. The Android keyboard consistently gives me the wrong input for some really common words. How does "sine" appear so often instead of the everyday word I was trying to type (I think it's "don't" but I can't remember exactly)? Why doesn't it learn as I correct it every time? Why doesn't it look at the context.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Swype pioneered a new way to type on smartphones–now it’s... by anigbrowl on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @03:04PM (#16432489)

I don't know why developers don't just use Zipf's law to pick the most likely of several possible candidates. I too get annoyed when rather obscure words are suggested in preference to ones that rank near the top of the language corpus. Google's one works a bit better than the stock offerings, but of course that means another vector by which you tell Google every thought you see fit to express via mobile.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Swype pioneered a new way to type on smartphones–now it’s... by baddox on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @08:11PM (#16434401)

Well now I’m really confused! If you’re holding the phone with one hand, the thumb is the only option. If you’re holding the phone with two hands, for me it’s significantly faster to essentially touch type with two thumbs rather than hold the phone with one hand and swipe with the index finger of the other.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Swype pioneered a new way to type on smartphones–now it’s... by FridgeSeal on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @04:52PM (#16433301)

I swipe with my thumb but I have no issues writing accurately at speed, certainly faster than I can type things out in all but a few edge cases.

Added advantage of not needing to look at the screen all the time to work, something that was previously only possible with tactile keyboards back in the day.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Swype pioneered a new way to type on smartphones–now it’s... by acct1771 on Saturday February 24, 2018 @04:30PM (#16455531)

Enjoy! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.keymonk.la...

[ Parent | on HN ]