but: not sure if this is my aging droid or a general issue, but this works the second time for me, but inserts a space the first time I do it in a keyboard session
it also has a new trick where it will show me a word as I'm swiping the swipe keyboard, then type a different word when I release
Apple's knockoff is nowhere near as good, and routinely "forgets" custom words including curses. My text language is often not PG-rated, let alone G-rated.
I still remember - November 2013, I was interviewing for some jobs in Boulder CO, and was invited to dinner by a tech entrepreneur. I showed him how good Swype was. Back then I had a tiny-weenie Xperia (S, or SL or U??). I remember clearly how blown away he was. And I remember clearly how enjoyable it was to actually be able to swype one handed. I did not even ever had a case protector for this phone, and managed to never break it because I would not drop it!
I can't remember which of the phones I had after that with which I was so sad when i realized Swype had disappeared when I could not reinstall it :(I had tried Swift key, the Stock google, and I think another one, but none never came close to Swype learning algorithm :(
One of the key reasons i still hold on to my 8 Plus... but i suppose iOS 16 will probably the last release they'll support on it so i better get used to the thought my next phone won't have it :(
Personally, I still use the BlackBerry keyboard on my Samsung phone because it has features that no other keyboard has. Namely:
- Word predictions are on the keys themselves, and you select them by "throwing" them onto the page (see [screenshot 1]). This means there can be 6+ predictions on screen at any time, and since they're literally on the key you're about to press anyway it is so quick to just select the prediction instead of typing it out fully. On other keyboards the predictions are above the keyboard and using them means taking your eyes away from what you're typing.
- Autocorrections are shown on the space key before you actually hit it, and if you don't want the autocorrection you can swipe up on the space key to select what you actually typed (see [screenshot 2]).
- You can backspace a word with a left swipe across the keyboard. This is HUGE. When backspacing is this easy, when you make a mistake it's almost always faster to delete the entire word and retype it again from the beginning than it is to move the cursor. You can also backspace multiple words at a time by swiping with multiple fingers (great for editing URLs).
- Swiping down across the keyboard cycles through the various symbol layers (you can create a custom layer), and selecting a symbol automatically moves back to the letter layer (you can sticky the symbol layer by opening it normally with the ?123 key).
- The ?123 also acts as a Control key, so you can use common keyboard shortcuts like cut, copy, paste, undo, and select all.
[screenshot 1] https://ibb.co/jVTPg7Q
[screenshot 2] https://ibb.co/p1PTM1S
On non-BlackBerry Android phones the BB keyboard was never officially available, but someone made a cracked version that still works great even though it hasn't been updated in years. But you have to dig around to find the APKs ever since the website got taken down.