SwiftKey Breaks Out Of Beta
Back in July, we told you about a new application for Android smartphones that claims it can predict the next word you intend to type. The app, known as SwiftKey, was previously available for free as a beta product. Now TouchType (the makers of SwiftKey) want you to know the app is ready for prime time. With the official launch of SwiftKey, the app now supports voice dictation as well as multi-touch. It also has a new keyboard layout and is capable of making simultaneous predictions in two languages. If you've been anxious to try out the official version, now's the time—to celebrate the launch, TouchType is offering SwiftKey for $0.99 for the next week. Regular price is three dollars more.
SwiftKey Touchscreen Typing app Uses AI to Write for you
LONDON, September 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- SwiftKey(TM), a new keyboard app for Google Android smartphones that uses breakthrough artificial intelligence (AI) technology, launched Thursday after receiving more than 250,000 downloads during its public beta. The app's AI learns a user's writing style to complete words and sentences for them, offering an unrivalled touchscreen typing experience.
SwiftKey accurately predicts about a third of words before a user chooses a single letter and the majority of remaining words only require one or two key-presses to type, speeding up SMS or email composition by up to 50%.
London-based developers TouchType Ltd launched the app following the popular beta, which saw SwiftKey become the most downloaded keyboard on the Android Market, amid hundreds of positive reviews. Tech blog Gizmodo wrote, "The star feature of SwiftKey is its predictive text -- it literally learns the way you type." Engadget said the app has "an uncanny ability" to guess your next word. "It's like a psychic, only for less money," wrote Mobile Crunch.
The key is TouchType's Fluency(TM) prediction engine, which uses new techniques to analyze billions of sentences of background text to understand how words combine. The technology can also learn from users' message archives and their typing over time to provide eerily accurate personalization.
"We were overwhelmed by the success of SwiftKey's beta launch and the positive response from our users," TouchType's CEO Jon Reynolds said. "SwiftKey is already one of the most popular keyboards on Android. We hope to continue that trend now with our enhanced full version."
The new app supports voice dictation and multi-touch, has a new keyboard layout including a numpad and arrow keys, and can make simultaneous predictions in two languages. To celebrate the launch, TouchType is giving SwiftKey away for just $0.99 for the next week on the Android Market, a three-dollar discount. A free trial version will become available next week.
Dr Ben Medlock, TouchType's CTO, said, "SwiftKey isn't just the first keyboard to harness Fluency's incredible prediction power; it's now the first keyboard to offer multiple-language prediction -- an amazing breakthrough for bilingual smartphone users."
Medlock said these innovations are just the beginning. "We're developing new techniques based on machine learning that will blow away today's keyboard technology. Watch this space."
SwiftKey predicts in US/UK English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Swedish, with many new languages coming shortly. See more at http://www.swiftkey.net.
