Monday, December 14, 2009

Swype


Type over 50 words per minute!

Move over T9, here comes Swype
Swype works with an on-screen QWERTY keyboard like you have on the tablet version of Windows and on the iPhone. But instead of tapping letters out, you press your finger or stylus on the first letter, then, without lifting it, move it to the remaining letters in the word. When the word is done, then you lift.

It works. Even on tiny small screens, it is intuitive and fast, and you don't even have to run the tutorial. Basically, it's an amazing new input method.

A built-in 65,000-word dictionary corrects obvious and even creative spelling errors. A word menu pops up if the correction is somewhat ambiguous; in our tests, the top choice was usually correct, and it can be selected with a simple swipe upward.

Little tricks make it possible to capitalize words (jerk the stylus up and down) or select double letters (wiggle the pen over a letter).

You can type 55 words per minute on his product. Discount the developer's advantage: Real human beings should be able to motor along at about half that, we estimate. *From Cnet

Main features are...
Simply Trace a Path
The word “quick” was generated from tracing the path shown above in a fraction of a second, by roughly aiming to pass through the letters of the word. A key advantage to Swype is that there is no need to be very accurate, enabling very rapid text entry.

Fast!
You can go fast and be sloppy. There’s no need to try to accurately hit each key. Just make a reasonable effort to trace through the word and Swype will do the rest.

Easy to Learn
The keyboard layout is QWERTY, so there is virtually no learning curve if you’ve already learned to type on a regular keyboard.

Natural Feeling
The smooth motion of sliding from letter to letter feels very natural, not to mention fast.

Finger-Tip Operation
Swype can be used equally well with either a stylus or your fingertip. You don’t have to be precise; so even if you have a large finger that partially obscures the keys, Swype still works!

Auto-Spacing
You can go even faster since Swype automatically enters spaces for you. (Spaces are prepended in front of each word entered by Swype).

Auto Spelling Correction
Not only can you go fast and be sloppy, in most typical cases, Swype will even correct misspelled words. For example, trace out “freind”, and Swype will automatically generate “friend”.

Capitalization Shortcut
Save time by capitalizing any letter in a word with a simple gesture: just slide from the letter to off the top of the keyboard and then continue entering the rest of the word.

65,000-word Learning Dictionary
Chances are the word you are typing is already in the Swype dictionary. But if it isn’t, just tap it out once followed by a space, and Swype will automatically learn it for next time.

Statistical Tracking
Keep track of your speed using Swype’s built-in statistical tracking.

Accented Characters
Words with accented characters (“diacritics”) require no special action - just Swype the word and the correct spelling will be entered. New words with accented characters can by typed by tapping and holding on the letter to see all possible variations.

Over 50 Symbols
Most common symbols are on the main keyboard layer and can be quickly entered by tapping on the key and sliding off the top of the keyboard. Many other symbols are readily available on Swype’s second keyboard layer.

Automatic Help
Swype detects when you may be having trouble or might be able to benefit from a particular feature, and prompts you with helpful tips and instructions.

Interactive Tutorial
Get up-to-speed quickly with the fun and fast Swype interactive tutorial.

Advanced Features
When the Swype software is first started, it runs a short piece of test code to estimate the overall speed of both processing and file access in its current environment. This estimate is used to establish a default value for a “Swype Operation” parameter that can be adjusted by means of a slider control displayed in the user options.

Input Slider
The slider is labeled at the far left with “Faster Response” and at the far right with “Sloppier Input.” This slider setting controls a broad range of internal parameters that determine the breadth of the initial database search to identify the most likely matching word for each entered input path. It also controls a large number of other thresholds, such as how close the path needs to come near a key in order for that key to be potentially considered as a “match” to the path at that point. The slider is initialized to the determined default value, which results in an average response time of less than 250 milliseconds. This means that, on average, Swype will generate the intended word for an input path within ¼ second of when the stylus or finger is lifted from the screen at the end of the path


Swype is faster than existing text entry methods because it has built-in intelligence that does not require users to hit each letter accurately. Also, tracing a smooth, continuous path is much faster than “target-tap-lift-target-tap...”. Even novice users can quickly achieve sustained data entry speeds of over 40 words per minute.

Specifications:
An application requiring from 500K – 900K (depending on options, when compiled for the Windows Mobile platform).
65,000-word language database with an average size of approximately 250K.
Input path analyzer,
Word matching search engine with accompanying word database,
User interface – which is customizable by OEM’s.

Features:
Over 40 words per minute on touchscreen devices
Standard QWERTY layout
Use a stylus or finger
Ideal for all screen sizes and resolutions
Multiple languages compatible
Supports common editing actions
Patented
Single Tap Predictive Text
Easy tips and tricks to Swype faster
*Holding extra long on a letter shows all variants that it has (In other languages)

Current language databases:
English
Spanish

Known issues:
The programs may have conflicts with latest 6.5 builds.
The program might not work on some none WWE ROMS.
Overlap in some 6.5 ROMs.
Swype’s built-in statistical tracking doesn't work.

Goals:
Editing .zdb.le files. (.zdb.le files look like main dictionaries of this application, By editing it we are able to add more languages. Their structure is still not described.
Making the program compatible with most applications.
Fixing overlap in some 6.5 ROMs.

Must do/have:
Install to device memory
2mb free memory
Touch Screen
If you are using this input in none WWE ROMs, Copy whole Swype folder from your locale programs folder to /Program Files/ (Device Memory) to get this working. (Solved with new CAB files)
A soft reset feels good after installation (Not necessary)

Swype

No comments: