Swype

Swype

Developer(s)	Nuance
Initial release	Android April 24, 2013
Stable release	Android 1.6.20 (November 19, 2014[1]) [±]
Development status	Active
Operating system	Android (2.2 and later) Bada MeeGo Symbian Windows 7 Windows Mobile iOS (version 8.0 and later)
Type	Virtual keyboard, Speech recognition software
License	Proprietary
Website	Swype.com

Swype is a virtual keyboard for touchscreen smartphones and tablets originally developed by Swype Inc.^[2] where the user enters words by sliding a finger or stylus from the first letter of a word to its last letter, lifting only between words.^[3] It uses error-correction algorithms and a language model to guess the intended word. It also includes a predictive text system, handwriting and speech recognition support. Swype was first commercially available on the Samsung Omnia II running Windows Mobile,^[4] and was originally pre-loaded on specific devices.

In October 2011, Swype Inc. was acquired by Nuance Communications where the company continued its development and implemented its speech recognition algorithm, Dragon Dictation.^[5]

Software

Swype consists of three major components that contribute to its accuracy and speed: an input path analyzer, word search engine with corresponding database, and a manufacturer customizable interface.^[3]

The creators of Swype predict that users will achieve over 50 words per minute, with the chief technical officer (CTO) and founder Cliff Kushler claiming to have reached 55 words per minute.^[6][7] On 22 March 2010, a Swype employee by the name of Franklin Page achieved a new Guinness World Record of 35.54 seconds for the fastest text message on a touchscreen mobile phone using Swype on the Samsung Omnia II,^[8][9] and reportedly improved on 22 August of the same year to 25.94 using a Samsung Galaxy S.^[10] The Guinness world record text message consists of 160 characters in 25 words and was at that time typed in 25.94 seconds, which corresponds to a speed of nearly 58 words per minute, or 370 characters per minute but has since been bettered by the Fleksy app on an Android phone to 18.19 seconds in 2014.^[11]

As of April 2013, Swype supports the following languages:^[12]

	Keyboard	Handwriting	Dragon Dictation
Albanian
Arabic
Armenian
Azerbaijani
Basque
Bosnian
Bulgarian
Catalan
Chinese (CN, TW, HK)
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
English (US)
Estonian
Farsi
Finnish
French (FR, CA)
Galician
Georgian
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hindi
Hinglish
Hungarian
Icelandic
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Kazakh
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Malay
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese (BR, PT)
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish
Tagalog
Tamil
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian
Urdu
Vietnamese

Swype was listed among Time (magazine)'s 50 Best Android Applications for 2013.^[13]

Availability

Swype currently ships on the Samsung Omnia II,^[14] Nokia N9, Nokia N950,^[15] Samsung wave s8500, Motorola CLIQ, Motorola CLIQ XT, Motorola DEFY, Motorola Atrix 4G, HTC HD2 (T-Mobile USA version,) T-Mobile G2,^[16] T-Mobile MyTouch 3G 3.5 mm Jack and myTouch Slide 3G (the latter both by T-Mobile USA).^[17] The most recent additions include the Samsung Galaxy S GT-i9000 and Nokia C7,^[18] as well as the Samsung Droid Charge and the Samsung Stratosphere. Swype has also recently become available for Windows 7 based tablets from certain manufacturers, including HP and ViewSonic.

The software's developer, Swype, Inc. is planning to market the software to other mobile device makers and expects a widespread adoption of the software among touch-based mobile devices.^[19]

On June 16, 2010, Swype opened a public beta for the Android operating system.^[20] The Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy S II, Samsung Galaxy Note, Motorola Droid X, Motorola i1, and Motorola Droid 2 Android-based smartphones come with Swype pre-installed.

Virgin Mobile USA introduced Swype on the LG Optimus V, which runs the Android OS.

Swype is available for the Symbian platform S60 5th edition devices e.g. the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic, Nokia 5230, Nokia N97 original and mini, Nokia C6-00, and the Nokia X6. Swype was released for Symbian^3 on October 16, 2010. It is available on the Ovi store.^[21]

In December 2010, an update including Swype was pushed to Sprint's HTC Evo 4G users.^[22] By the end of 2011, Swype expected to be preloaded on over 100 million devices.^[23]

On November 27, 2012, the Symbian versions of Swype beta v2 stopped working due to a software error. A fix was implemented on January 11, 2013. The Swype v1 for Symbian was not affected by the error.

Swype exited beta in 2013 and became available for download via Google Play on April 24, 2013.^[24] On June 2, 2014 Swype confirmed that they would be making a version of their keyboard for iOS 8, as it now supports third party keyboards.

Competitors

Swype is similar in concept to SwiftKey Flow, Fleksy, SwipeIt, SlideIT, TouchPal, Adaptxt, ShapeWriter, Multiling O Keyboard, Sony Gesture Input, and Android 4.2 Gesture typing, all of which also involve tracing a path over letters on a virtual keyboard. A somewhat different approach, though similar in concept, is found in MessagEase and Minuum.

Keyboards with optional tracing mode include HTC Touch Input, and Ultra Keyboard for Android.

See also

• Dasher (software)
• Shorthand
• Keyboard (computing)
• T9 (predictive text)
• Multi-touch

References

1. "Swype - Android Apps on Google Play". Retrieved 23 Jan 2014.
2. "Swype Home Page". Swypeinc.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
3. "Swype product page". Swypeinc.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
4. "First Swype-enabled smartphone coming to Verizon in the Omnia II". Geek.com. 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
5. Arrington, Michael (2011-10-06). "Nuance To Acquire Swype For $100+ Million « Uncrunched". Uncrunched.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
6. "Tech Crunch 50 Swype Presentation". Blip.tv. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
7. Rafe Needleman, Move over T9, here comes Swype, CNet News, 9 September 2008
8. "Samsung Mobile And Swype Set New Guinness World Record" (Press release). Samsung USA. March 22, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
9. "Swype user sets Guinness World Record for texting speed" (Press release). TechCrunch. March 22, 2010. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
10. "Salford woman makes bid for fastest text title". BBC News. August 24, 2010. Retrieved June 20, 2011.
11. http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/15/tech/mobile/guiness-record-fastest-text/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
12. "Swype | Supported Languages". Retrieved 24 April 2013.
13. Jared Newman (2013-07-01). "50 Best Android Apps for 2013". Time. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
14. "Samsung Omnia II Product Page". Verizonwireless.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
15. "Nokia N950 Mobile Specification at". Nokiahouse.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
16. "T-Mobile G2 product page". T-mobile.com. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
17. T-Mobile MyTouch Slide product page
18. "Swype | Type Fast, Swype Faster". Swypeinc.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
19. "Swype News Page". Swypeinc.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
20. "Swype | Text Input for Screens". Beta.swype.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
21. "Swype now available for Symbian^3 (N8 and C7)". All About Symbian. 2010-10-16. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
22. "HTC EVO 4G update 3.70.651.1 brings Swype, Scan Now". Talkandroid.com. 2010-12-15. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
23. Alyson Shontell (2011-07-12). "Android Keyboard Maker Swype Closes $6 Million C Round". Businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
24. Moscaritolo, Angela (April 24, 2013). "Swype Ditches Beta Tags, Lands in Google Play". PC Magazine (Ziff Davis). Retrieved April 24, 2013.

External links

• Official website
• United States Patent 7,098,896. C. Kushler, R. Marsden, "System and method for continuous stroke word-based text input"
• United States Patent 7,250,938. D. Kirkland, D. Kumhyr, E. Ratliff, K. Smith, "System and method for improved user input on personal computing devices"