Swype keyboard

[JungianZoe]

I have a Samsung Galaxy S phone and the people at the store said that Swype keyboards are supposed to get more intuitive and smarter over time.  I swear mine is backpedaling and never gives me what I want.  Tonight, I tried to type "My lips are sealed."  What did the phone give me?

My lupus ate seals.

[Cindy]

What is a swype keyboard?

Cindy

[justmeinoz]

Lucky it wasn't in Korenglish!

Karen.

[JungianZoe]

What is a swype keyboard?

This is a video of Swype in beta and it's GREATLY improved since then (like automatic capitalization following a period), but my phone's getting dumber.  I move my finger across the letters and it always chooses the wrong word.  ALWAYS!

[Cindy]

So it chooses the word for you? I think I have that on my phone and turned it off as being too crap to use. I ended up having tantrums and swearing at a phone, sadly phones don't swear back


Cindy

[V M]

My phone swears back at me 

Sorry, but that System seems kinda lame 

[versuchsanordnung]

Actually i am using the very same phone to write my.posts as my laptop is in repair.  Turned swype off because  constant swearing at objects in public is bad for what little reputation i have. If you dont like the english version you should try the german one.could have been programmed by kafka..... Ohne daß josef K sich irgendeiner scbuld bewusst war, wurde er eines tages zum bedienen unsinniger vorrichtungen gezwungen.....

[LivingInGrey]

That's why I still like qwerty hardware keyboards on phones. I know there's a lot of people out there who don't like them and the market for them is slowing losing support but I can't stand losing 50% or more of my screen to a keyboard every time I want to type something.

I have swype on my phone and just for giggles I turned it on and tried using it. Seemed ok for generic conversation but if I expected to use any words past a Fifth Grade reading level I would notice that the program couldn't recognize it and would give me the pop up with words not even close to what I had attempted to type.

It's sad really, with the change in social media that the Internet has brought us I had hoped that this could be a fantastic way for the general population to improve their English skills. Sadly though the general population has shows their true form in the guise of auto correct, spell checking and yeah, sooner of latter someone will look at a keyboard in the Smithsonian and wonder how people of the 19th, 20th and 21st century could even consider themselves technologically advanced. Swype to me is just another brick in teh (and yeah, I left the typo there for old times sakes) wall used to support the next round of advances. Give it a few more years and Swype will just be another addition to the list of programs no longer used on a Wiki board or what ever they call it in the future.

But I'll still be here working the matte finish off my keyboard's keys as long as I possibly can.

[Ender]

Tonight, I tried to type "My lips are sealed."  What did the phone give me?

My lupus ate seals.

LOL, wow.  I despise autocorrect features; I've never found one that works well enough to not drive me crazy.  LivingInGrey, you are absolutely right about these programs having issues with words past a 'Fifth Grade' reading level.

This site is more for those having issues with iPhone's autocorrect, not Swype, but it's hilarious (and a bit sad) nonetheless: damnyouautocorrect(dot)com

[tekla]

I don't want any machine thinking ahead of me.



Dave Bowman: Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL?
HAL: Affirmative, Dave. I read you.
Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave Bowman: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Dave Bowman: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL.
HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
Dave Bowman: [feining ingorance] Where the hell did you get that idea, HAL?
HAL: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
Dave Bowman: Alright, HAL. I'll go in through the emergency airlock.
HAL: Without your space helmet, Dave? You're going to find that rather difficult.
Dave Bowman: HAL, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors!
HAL: Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.

[MarinaM]

Swype is a bit weird, because it doesn't really think ahead. What it does is try to estimate words you are trying to type and puts up what it thinks you wanted. If you type "air" one time and add it to the library, then you try to swype "sit" later it will input the word "air" next time you make that swype.

Try this:

Settings>Applications>Manage Applications>Swype>Clear Data

And you should have a smarter smart phone.

[V M]

It's kinda like the search engines that you have to constantly correct? As in "Can you use it in a sentence? Sorry, the machine will F that up too so you only have a 50% chance at best of finding out what you want to know or saying what you want to say" 

[MarinaM]

It's kinda like the search engines that you have to constantly correct? As in "Can you use it in a sentence? Sorry, the machine will F that up too so you only have a 50% chance at best of finding out what you want to know or saying what you want to say" 

Yep. If you move your finger a certain way, and you tell it that it means "this," it will always give you "this" when you move your finger across that area of your qwerty interface. You will have to correct it every single time forever until you clear the data.

[tekla]

I spent years working my keyboard speed up to 80WPM, I'm not giving that up.

[Cindy]

Interesting how voice activation systems have been a (total) failure

Cindy

[tekla]

Interesting how voice activation systems have been a (total) failure

Not for lack of trying, there are just too many idiosyncrasies from person to person, and even with the same person depending on mood and strength.  I mean I'd like to think I'm pretty international as far as English goes.  I live in a place where its not the native language for many, and I work with people from around the world all the time, Aussies, Kiwis, Brits, Irish, Scotts, as well as people from different regions here, and the diversity is just staggering.  The other day I was watching a film about Irish history made in Ireland, called The Wind that Shakes the Barley, and I swear I needed subtitles for the thing, I was lucky to get every fifth word.  And for some reason (that I actually think I understand) Scotland exports tons of roadies and technicians.  Oh my god.  That's not even close to English.  It took me hours one day to finally get that he was trying to tell me to take something 'out and about' but to my ears it sounded like 'Ooot 'n aboot'

[Cindy]

Even at a one one level they have not worked. I got so bored talking into a VIP that I gave up after ten minutes. But they seem such a good idea. I still use a 'dictaphone' type technology and pass it to a my secretary, who the passes it back to correct my mistakes. I suppose when It works I lose my secretary. I'd rather keep her.

Cindy

[tekla]

Besides, ain't all that stuff phone related?  My phone, it gets calls, and you can make calls.  I get text messages, but I never send them.  No camera or anything else.  I use email on a computer and that's more than enough, thank you.  I find I almost have to work overtime to try to keep that stuff OUT of my life.

[justmeinoz]

I have a phone with a qwerty keyboard too. I have never been able to get my large fingers and thumbs to work a multi-click phone pad.  Predictive text just makes it worse.

Karen.