The recent release of Swiftkey X was greeted by a flood of downloads and a lot of hype. What’s the big deal you ask? This is nothing short of the best Android keyboard available, period. Aside from its customizability and support for multiple languages, its prediction capabilities are second to none. This is due to its ability to analyze your SMSs, Gmail account, Twitter account and even Facebook account to build up a dictionary, as well as its uncanny ability to learn over time.
Setup:
When you first install Swiftkey X, you will be prompted to select a language pack to download. You will also be asked to select whether you wish to grant the application access to your SMSs, Gmail account, Twitter account or Facebook account. Pick one or more of these and the application will perform a background scan, building up a personalized dictionary. This process is quick and painless – the analysis of my Gmail account took under 2 minutes.
Layout:
You have a choice of three different themes in preferences, all of which look pretty cool. The choice is between dark, light and TRON. You can also choose to have it display foreign characters, and toggle whether arrow keys are shown on the keyboard.
Use:
SwiftKey X is similar to most other keyboard apps for Android, with a prediction bar that sits above the input box. The difference is, of course, in how accurate these predictions are. When I first started up the app, I was amazed. If you commonly use slang terms or casual language in your text messages or emails, you will previously have had to constantly save new words into the phone’s dictionary. Swiftkey X worked perfectly from day 1. I haven’t had to add a single word to the dictionary since I installed it, and its predictions are the most accurate I’ve ever seen!
Wrap-up:
I repeat, this is the best keyboard input app for Android devices, period. The $3.99 price might seem a little steep for some, but I assure you, it’s worth it.
==== About the Author ====
JJ runs IT Support Sydney, an IT services company based in Sydney, Australia, that caters for home and business clients. He also moonlights as a tech blogger.
