First impressions of Swype 3.0 Beta

I had been using Swype for a while and switched back to Swiftkey - my other favourite Android keyboard.  After news of the new release I have switched back to Swype to give it a try.  They have added a predictive tap technology that sounded to me to be similar to Swiftkey.  One day into using the new version of Swype it would seem that predictive tapping only starts to work after you have begun to Swype or "tap" a word.  In my earlier blog post I noted the astonishing "psychic" ability of Swiftkey to predict my next word in it's three choices.  I will give Swype a chance for a week or more to see if this starts to happen, but as it stands I think I will be going back to Swiftkey after I have completed this trial.  They are both excellent keyboards and this new version is a big improvement over the last as far as "Swyping".  I used to find it rather cumbersome having to correct for mistakes and now with the choice of words that goes a  long way in correcting for this.  I was also impressed when the program offered to remove a word from my custom dictionary that had long been a nuisance in my past usage of Swype.  I will give it some time... That being said, I understand that there is a new version of Swiftkey that is currently being beta tested.  I haven't checked this out, I am going to wait until this comes out for general release before trying.  Both keyboards are awesome and another key to Android users ability to customize their smartphone experience.

Swype vs Swiftkey on HTC Desire - a users comparison

Initial expectation of Swype at time of phone purchase
The first application I wanted to get for my HTC Desire was Swype.  In fact, until I heard about Swype I had not considered getting a touch screen only phone.*  Swype was faster than pecking and looked like fun too.  The HTC Desire and The Samsung Galaxy S came out the same day and I had to decide on a phone.  I chose the HTC Desire, the sister phone to the Google/HTC partnered Nexus One.  The Samsung phone featured Swype as one of its many attributes.  I was unaware that they had secured an exclusive lock-up on Swype.

Swiftkey is the next best thing
I discovered that the next best thing was something called Swiftkey.  With this application you still peck out your words but based on your past history and predictive technology Swiftkey is often able to suggest your next word before you even start typing.  As soon as you see the word that you want press it and on you go.  I have composed text messages entirely from suggested words.  Swiftkey has made significant improvements in stability and speed and the user interface is a thing of beauty.  I really have gotten to like Swiftkey and to use it very fast.  A minor annoyance is the input of my email address.  I have always found this to be an overly difficult task on Swiftkey as the "@" throws the program off.  Not too bad a problem as I have been able to input my address still pretty quick and haven't spent too long trying to fix this.  


Re-opening of Swype beta and immediate switch over
Imagine my suprise when over the holidays the Swype beta re-opened and I was able to download the much anticipated app.  I had all but forgotten about it and was quite content with what Swiftkey offered.  Needless to say, I was eager to try Swype and could set the bar high.

Swype is easy to learn using the on phone video tutorial.  I was off to the races in minutes and within a few weeks pick up more speed.  It is fun.  For me it is almost whimsical and I enjoy writing longer messages as I love dancing my fingers across the screen.  Sometimes however I have to re-engage the program by select an alternate data input and then re-selecting Swype.  This is only a minor annoyance as it seldom happens and only takes several seconds to perform the fix.

I went back to Swiftkey to use it again and see.


Performance comparison
At the end of the day it looks like they are both solid technology.  They stack up well together in terms of speed.  Swype offers a great typing/word-tracing experience  and Swiftkey offers equally impressive word prediction and user experience is equally compelling.  My expectation is that they will both improve significantly in the near future and that further competitive offerings will continue to keep raising the bar higher and higher as smart phone adoption continues.  I have been toggling back and forth between the two over the last several months and for now I am going to stick with Swiftkey.  As fun as it is to Swype, I really can't get over the near psychic abilities of Swiftkey.

That being said, one of the main reasons that I have posted this other than to offer out my feedback is that I love getting comments from people I have never met who stumble on my blog posts.  Please share your thoughts!

* Link to earlier blog post from before I bought the phone.