Swype vs SlideIT vs Shapewriter? All look great (and similar)!

[Shaneathan]

I've used SlideIT a little bit today, and there are a couple of things I don't like about it. There have been times where I'll type and then instead of even guessing the word I'm trying to type, it just comes up ??

Also, you can't swipe a word and then add letters to the end of it. Try it: swipe a word, it'll auto space, do a backspace so that the cursor is at the end of the word, and try to add a letter to the end of it. It'll auto space the letter. That's pretty annoying.

 

[jacestone40]

I've used SlideIT a little bit today, and there are a couple of things I don't like about it. There have been times where I'll type and then instead of even guessing the word I'm trying to type, it just comes up ??

Also, you can't swipe a word and then add letters to the end of it. Try it: swipe a word, it'll auto space, do a backspace so that the cursor is at the end of the word, and try to add a letter to the end of it. It'll auto space the letter. That's pretty annoying.

What you just discribed it what was happening to me with Swype all the time I guess it is a point of view

 

[Matth3w]

Sad to see that the newest SW update kind of sucks with the hardware keyboard bug.

 

[aaf709]

Downloaded SlideIT. Guess I'll see how I like it.

Where did you get it from? It's not in the Market and even the Dasur website doesn't have it.

I've used both Swype and Shapewriter. Currently I'm using Shapewriter, but Swype is cool to use too. The problem is that there's a learning curve so you have to unlearn some of the things in order to use another. Like knowing how to use a stick shift, but trying to drive a Model T.

 

[wiredout46]

swype is tight, but the one thing it needs to be able to do (or i need to figure out how to change the settings on this) is to continuously delete as i hold the delete button, not one word at a time.

 

[jacestone40]

Downloaded SlideIT. Guess I'll see how I like it.

Where did you get it from? It's not in the Market and even the Dasur website doesn't have it.

I've used both Swype and Shapewriter. Currently I'm using Shapewriter, but Swype is cool to use too. The problem is that there's a learning curve so you have to unlearn some of the things in order to use another. Like knowing how to use a stick shift, but trying to drive a Model T.

It is on the droid market "SlideIT Keyboard LITE " that is where I found it

 

[aaf709]

Downloaded SlideIT. Guess I'll see how I like it.

Where did you get it from? It's not in the Market and even the Dasur website doesn't have it.

I've used both Swype and Shapewriter. Currently I'm using Shapewriter, but Swype is cool to use too. The problem is that there's a learning curve so you have to unlearn some of the things in order to use another. Like knowing how to use a stick shift, but trying to drive a Model T.

It is on the droid market "SlideIT beta " that is where I found it

Thanks. I was looking at Androlib.com instead of the Market and it wasn't there. It's on AndroidZoom..com.

 

[flosho]

In all honesty it doesn't appear that either of these keyboard methods are any faster or more accurate than the stock method.

T9word is still the best.

 

[Matth3w]

Sad to see that the newest SW update kind of sucks with the hardware keyboard bug.

:icon_ banana::icon_ banana::icon_ banana::icon_ banana::icon_ banana::icon_ banana:

Dear Sir/Ma'am,

Are you aware of the issue with the new update that the shapewriter keyboard pops up even when the hardware keyboard is out? This used to be my favorite app that I would recommend to all new Droid owners but I use my hardware keyboard too much to overlook this flaw. It never used to do this...is there a fix in the works?

Sent from my Motorola Droid
xxx.xxx.xxxx

Dear Matthew;We have noticed that, and will fix it ASAP. For now, you can use command stroke "hide" to hide ShapeWriter Keyboard.
Now we are on holiday, but we will solve it ASAP.


Thanks
Allen

 

[JonKyu]

Ok I'm finally able to comment as I've used all three. Right now I'm still kinda leaning toward using swype but have been Pleasantly surprised to see that SlideIt and ShapeWriter are absolutely viable alternatives!

I just used SlideIt and must say I really like it! I'd say that SlideIT and ShapeWriter are pretty equal, but for some reason I'm leaning more toward SlideIT (the grafitti feature is pretty neat).

 

[Hugh Jass]

I downloaded SlideIt from the market, It's status is "Downloaded" but It's nowhere to be found on my phone and I can't open it from the market either, the "Open" box is gray and can't be selected. WTF?

 

[Dibrom]

I used each for a few days (ok, I've been using swype for ages) and here are my thoughts.

Swype-
I'm sure everyone know this.
Pros:
*Accuracy is amazing- made even better by having it adjustable in the options.
Cons:
*Editing is a nightmare. This is what made me look for alternatives. If I want to delete a word I have to hold the del key for ages. If I want to delete a sentence, I have to hold, lift, hold- forget it. If I want to correct a misswipe, I have to touch the word, touch the swype icon, then touch what word I want. Choosing the word I want is in a list that's stacked vertically meaning I have to carefully pinpoint the word I want and avoid hitting the others that are less then a half inch away.
*Because we're all using unauthorized swypes, the company added a timeout feature that will render the keyboard useless if left up.

Overall:
The best ABC letter input with the absolute worst editing system. Inputting numbers is ok, but the amount of keyboards you have to cycle through isn't the greatest. And the system of inputting capital letters and repeating letters isn't as streamlined as the others.
====

ShapeWriter-
With the last update, usability has increased greatly.
Pros:
*Able to easily switch languages on the fly (untested since I only barely know 1 other unsupported language).
*Nice capitalization system.
*Supports commands (such as select all/copy/paste) via the command key+swiping.
Cons:
*The worst accuracy of the three- much better since the last update, but was off enough that I switched to another keyboard.
*The keyboard doesn't handle slang too well- but you can always add it to the dictionary.

Overall:
If this had the accuracy of swype, it would probably be the best of the three.
===

SlideIT-
I believe the newest of the three for android. The 'Lite' version is the only version right now.
Pros:
*Has a grafitti system? (Not useful for me)
*Very good with slang and able to add custom abbreviations.
*Very good capitalization system.
Cons:
*UGLY- looks like all the buttons were upscaled to fit the Droid.
*Also lacks being able to hold a key to get a special character- you have to hit a button to switch to the special character menu.
*Too good with slang. The C-word and the word "chubby" are kind of close with this keyboard.

Overall:
Good accuracy- not as good as swype, but not too much of a noticable difference in my experience. It also has a copy/paste system, but since it's difficult to select text, it's not that useful. No defining pros but not lacking anything.
===


After trying all I'm now using SlideIT as my main. The lack of any real negatives made it my choice. I am thinking about skinning it though, my poor eyes :icon_eek:

 

[JonKyu]

I downloaded SlideIt from the market, It's status is "Downloaded" but It's nowhere to be found on my phone and I can't open it from the market either, the "Open" box is gray and can't be selected. WTF?

Keyboard replacements cannot be launched you have to enable them in the Keyboard section in "settings".

Great write-up Dibrom, absolutely agree with you on every point! Editing in Swype almost negates all the positive/speedy things about it. I can type fast but end up losing all the time I gained by clicking on a wrong word, clicking the "i" cycling through the word choice window, find out it's not there, select word, delete then retype and strangely it's right even though you swyped the same think as last time but maybe a tad slower......

 

[Hugh Jass]

I downloaded SlideIt from the market, It's status is "Downloaded" but It's nowhere to be found on my phone and I can't open it from the market either, the "Open" box is gray and can't be selected. WTF?

Keyboard replacements cannot be launched you have to enable them in the Keyboard section in "settings".

Great write-up Dibrom, absolutely agree with you on every point!

Oh, I thought it had to be enabled in the settings with the program SlideIt it's self. I'll take another look after my update finishes, thanks.

 

[JonKyu]

I downloaded SlideIt from the market, It's status is "Downloaded" but It's nowhere to be found on my phone and I can't open it from the market either, the "Open" box is gray and can't be selected. WTF?

Keyboard replacements cannot be launched you have to enable them in the Keyboard section in "settings".

Great write-up Dibrom, absolutely agree with you on every point!

Oh, I thought it had to be enabled in the settings with the program SlideIt it's self. I'll take another look after my update finishes, thanks.

No problem lol it's something that's easily overlooked lol since it's not a "traditional" app