Swype is cool, but is it really faster?

[Jus Cruisin]

I have Swype installed and rarely use it. The HTC and speech to text best for me, anyway

 

[jsh1120]

I have Swype installed and rarely use it. The HTC and speech to text best for me, anyway

I've been experimenting with the HTC keyboard and the speech to text features in comparison to Swype (imo the best of the "swiping" input methods.) I do find some problems using the HTC keyboard when I'm entering long texts. (The keyboard obscures the text I'm entering. That's a problem with all of the input methods to a greater or lesser degree, but it seems worse with the HTC.)

On the other hand, the speech to text works very well if I speak slowly, distinctly, and without the inflection I would use in conversation.

I have found, however, that there is a huge advantage in reducing background noise. Trying to use speech to text while I have music playing in the background is problematic. That's hardly surprising but it does limit the environments in which it can be used.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed by the speech to text functionality. So much so that for some text entry I'm willing to put up with the tap keyboard.

 

[Brokn68]

i find that I text faster and more accurately with Swype.

 

[hiphopvenom]

I prefer using the HTC keyboard..works best for me

 

[Natedogg]

Is speak to text the same if you click it from the swype keyboard or the stock keyboard?

Also, I started swyping with my index button.... much much better.

 

[iPirate]

Swype pisses me off. It seems like the more it "learns" the worse it gets. For the past week I have been getting "thou" instead of "you"... COMEON!

 

[jsh1120]

Swype pisses me off. It seems like the more it "learns" the worse it gets. For the past week I have been getting "thou" instead of "you"... COMEON!

Your system calendar may be messed up. Swype thinks it's Easter.

 

[iPirate]

I'm going to start using the physical keyboard more often now

 

[datboijon]

since i got the phone i have been using swype i tried the htc keyboard today and find it more forgiving (or better at guessing) what im entering. and that allows me to be faster. so far im leaning towards htc but i can see how swype can be really fast for some.

 

[SSHGuru]

I was using HTC over Swype and then I found Swiftkey which is by far the best of them all.

 

[gszeman]

why can't i find Swype???

Because you didn't read the entire thread...

Link on Page 2

 

[currahee474]

I was using HTC over Swype and then I found Swiftkey which is by far the best of them all.

Link to this Swiftkey? I couldn't find it.

 

[billyk]

Been a diehard Swype user from the start on the Droid. I've read about the HTC keyboard and how many people say it's great and maybe faster than Swype.

I have to say, I am using the HTC keyboard as of today and once calibrated, I am damn fast. It seems that QWERTY is something I don't have to think about, even though a QWERTY keypad logically seems like a more difficult way to type. I seem to go from thought to text with the HTC, and with Swype, I go from thought to swype pattern to text.

The HTC seems to be MUCH better than the Android keyboard, and possibly better than Swype as well.

 

[jsh1120]

Been a diehard Swype user from the start on the Droid. I've read about the HTC keyboard and how many people say it's great and maybe faster than Swype.

I have to say, I am using the HTC keyboard as of today and once calibrated, I am damn fast. It seems that QWERTY is something I don't have to think about, even though a QWERTY keypad logically seems like a more difficult way to type. I seem to go from thought to text with the HTC, and with Swype, I go from thought to swype pattern to text.

The HTC seems to be MUCH better than the Android keyboard, and possibly better than Swype as well.

I've been mulling over similar reactions. And my experience is similar to yours, as well. I think what you may be experiencing, I know I am, is that with Swype I think in a word-at-a-time mode. That was a huge advantage over the stock keyboard where I found myself thinking in a letter-at-a-time mode.

The HTC keyboard comes closer to (but doesn't achieve) the thought-to-screen translation that occurs when I use a full-size QWERTY keyboard. (An experience that reflects a deeply grooved set of brain patterns resulting from years of practice.)

In many ways the HTC input is an extreme version of what I experience when I move from my full-size keyboard to my netbook's more cramped keyboard with a less positive feel. When I do that I can type normally but my brain seems to reserve a bit of consciousness that never lets me forget I'm working on a "foreign" input device.

This all tends to reinforce a feeling I've had for awhile; that one can adjust to almost any kind of input method. Swype has an immediate appeal that eliminates much of the discomfort with the tiny virtual keyboard on the Droid (and the mediocre physical keyboard as well.) But a better designed "tapping" method such as the HTC keyboard may ultimately be easier to use quickly.

 

[brochaos]

have you guys seen the swype commercial on the samsung phone? when i first started swyping, i was going really slow, and trying to be really accurate. but it just ended up taking longer than if i was using a stock keyboard. in the commercial, the dude just hauls arse and is all over the place, then at the end, he does all the corrections, instead of doing them as they happen. i've started doing this as well, and i seem to be faster than i was before...