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Tuesday 4 December 2012

SwiftKey Flow

Forget about the whole Android versus iOS battle, when it comes to third party
keyboards, things get really bloody really fast. Some pople prefer the stock keyboard
that Google builds into Android, others swear by Swype, and then there’s SwiftKey.
SwiftKey is easily our favorite, and with their new “Flow Through Space” feature,
we’re even more in love. Here’s how it works: Instead of having to swipe a word, lift
up your finger, swipe another word, and so on and so forth, now all you have
to do is swipe over the spacebar to insert a space. Put another way, you never
have to take your finger off the screen. Confused? Just watch the video below.



Will Google bake this feature into Android? Why wouldn’t they? Google pretty much stole Swype when they came out with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. We wouldn’t be surprised to see
them steal “Flow Through Space” when they announce Key Lime Pie in 2013. Why doesn’t
Google simply buy SwiftKey? We honestly have no idea. It seems like such an obvious
thing to do, but then again maybe the SwiftKey team wants to stay independent? Maybe
they’re fine with the lives they’re currently living and don’t want to move just to
take on a new job? We’ll never really know.
Anyway, it’s kind of funny now that we think about the market today. When the iPhone
came out, and then Android a year later, there were people who swore that they’d never
get a touch screen device. That hitting physical keys was the only way they’d ever want
to use a smartphone. The total lack of QWERTY devices today is a testament to how far
we’ve come with touch keyboard technology.

Imagine how much better they’ll be in another five years?

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