Tutorial: Moving from the iPhone to Android without totally destroying the Apple Ecosystem (1 Viewer)

[Hanson]

I'm not sure how you think a keyboard is a minor consideration considering the importance of it as an input. I have had ex-BB users tell me that the one thing they thought they would miss by going over to Android was the keyboard, but that SwiftKey turned out to be even better than the physical keyboard because of all of the keystrokes it saved and the ease of use (for instance, long press for symbols and numbers instead of having to press the Alt key).
You may not realize this if you don't type a lot on your phone, but if you do, it's a huge difference. And if you don't type a lot on your phone, it's probably because you need a better keyboard.
And to clarify, SwiftKey is my keyboard of choice. Swype is a popular alternative, but I never got into sliding around the keyboard because I found it mentally fatiguing. The reason is because on SwfitKey I think about what I'm typing as words. With Swype, I have to think about each letter and where my finger is moving, and I end up forgetting what I was writing. Plus SwiftKey's prediction engine and interface is just much better and it's much easier to use taps one handed.
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On the first, I'll just roll my eyes: I get that you are enamored with Swype but it's something only a technophile could really make a swing decision on and something so minor it's not even considered in the article Ron links.

So you offer evidence that SwiftKey is minor consideration because it's not singled out in the referenced article, yet you agree with my first point about the importance of defaults and intents that are also not singled out in the referenced article.
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I prefer to have a pocketable phone and a 10" tablet.

I have a 5.5" phone that is pocketable and a 10" tablet as well. So we're in the same boat except my screen is bigger than the entirety of your phone.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Hanson, Absolutely agree with you about the keyboard being such an important aspect of the Android device. I am so glad you brought this up because I have a question for you... I have used SwiftKey. Love it. Best Keyboard out there. But I stopped using it once Jellybean was updated to 4.1.2 The reason being is that Samsung's new stock keyboard is pretty damn good and as far as I can see, does as good as a job of what SwiftKey was doing with one HUGE addition.... I love the handwriting to text ability of the Samsung keyboard. For some reason, once I upgraded to 4.1.2 that handwriting keyboard always became default. I didn't like it at first, but now that I have been practicing using it, I find it really easy to just handwrite replies to email and it does a good job translating it. Does SwifKey also have handwriting to text ability? And, do you think SwiftKey still outdoes the new Samsung keyboard that came with 4.1.2?

 

[TonyD]

Jellybean is not on gs3 yet as far as i can figure?

 

[Hanson]

Verizon was the last US carrier to get Jellybean on the S3, at the end of December. The AT&T JB update happened in the beginning of December. Check for updates in settings. Version 4.1 is Jellybean -- you may already have it. Ron, the Samsung keyboard had two missing features I found invaluable: 1) No configurable long press duration 2) No swipe left to erase the entire word I have my long press duration set to 200ms. This allows me to use all of the alt characters fairly quickly without having to go into a second screen. It saves me a ton of time. And the swipe left alone is reason enough for me to stay with Swiftkey. SwiftKey does not a have a Pen option nor does it have a one handed mode. I didn't feel these two features trumped the two from SwiftKey.

 

[TonyD]

4.0.4. Att says i am up to date.

 

[Hanson]

Ahh... are you rooted?

 

[TonyD]

No i just checked again as i have been every week or so and I finally have an update.

 

[Hanson]

This article from an iPhone site could alternatively titled, "What I really want is Android". www.todaysiphone.com/2013/01/5-things-id-like-to-see-in-ios-7/ If it wasn't limited to the OS, he would probably ask for a larger screen and removable batteries and SD cards.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I left an honest response on that page that probably will not be received well.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I just switched to SwiftKey 3 as well for my new GS3. The adjustable long press duration makes a big diff especially since Samsung didn't give separate number keys for the GS3 keyboard. Haven't needed the word delete gesture just yet, but I'm sure that will be handy as well. Curious, did Samsung license SwiftKey for their keyboard w/ some changes? Also, I don't normally use the predictive word feature, but just noticed that it wasn't showing up when I was writing this post using the stock browser on the mobile site until I placed the cursor back a sentence for an edit. Odd. Wonder if the mobile site's reply box is somehow suppressing the feature upon initial use. One thing. I definitely prefer SwiftKey's approach to allow me to choose word prediction than iOS's annoying autocorrect feature. Now, let's see when SwiftKey's ability to auto-adjust to my key presses kick in to help my thumb typing accuracy. _Man_ PS: Love that I no longer need to go thru 2 pages of keyboard to type underscore ...

 

[Hanson]

SwiftKey licensed their prediction engine to Samsung. But the features I need in SwiftKey weren't part of the deal. Man, what did you set your long press duration to? Mine is 200ms (give or take -- that adjustment field is a bit wonky). The auto-correct turns itself off when you're typing in web address fields. It will also shut off when you're typing in user name and passwords. It does work when I type HTF posts in Chrome. Were you finally able to get the GS3 through work?

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Yeah, I got the GS3 as my company phone last week -- I think they were probably just tightening up their year-end budget before, which made getting the upgrade/replacement much harder, so I just postponed it (though the GN2 is probably still off-limits). SwiftKey via the stock browser on this mobile site still seems a tad wonky. The predictive feature just disappeared on me again for this post. That plus choosing a predicted word sometimes misses replacing my originally typed 1st character. Haven't noticed the problem elsewhere so far (though I'm still new to this), so it might be specific to this mobile site and/or the stock browser. Anyway, I don't use autocorrect, but am going w/ occasional use of the word prediction. And for now, I've set the long press to 220ms. I don't type fast (and accurately) enough yet for shorter duration. BTW, we really need a better way to scroll inside this reply/edit box. _Man_