Hasta La Gadget!

If there’s one thing about Android is that it is not as restrictive compared to iOS. This means that users are able to customize their device to their liking, sometimes without even having to root their phone. For example customization could be a change in launchers, or keyboards, or even changing the default camera/browser app. Well the good news is that it looks like some of that customization could be headed iOS’ way in the form of Fleksy keyboard. The app has been available on Android and recently left its beta phase, but its developers have not stopped there and have released an SDK for iOS developers.

While Fleksy will not be able to replace all of iOS’ keyboards, developers now have the option to include the keyboard within their apps. Speaking to The Verge, Fleksy’s founder, Ioannis Verdelis, was quoted as saying, “With every new version of iOS the work required on our part to build a keyboard SDK has reduced significantly […] We’re [now] doing stuff on iOS that integrates the keyboard deeper than it’s ever been integrated.” As it stands there are a handful of apps that have already integrated Fleksy into their apps, such as GV Connect, Blindsquare, Wordbox, and Launch. If you’re wondering what those apps might be like to use with a keyboard different from the default iOS one, go ahead and check them out.

Fleksy Keyboard Makes Its Way To iOS Through Third-Party Apps original content from Ubergizmo.

It has been nearly one year after Syntellia’s Fleksy keyboard for Android debuted, and we are glad to say that there has been progress made to the situation as Fleksy is no longer in beta. Of course, some folks would point out the fact that Fleksy arrived on Google Play half a year ago, but do bear in mind that this was available only to those who had linked up with the company’s Google+ community as a tester. It is nice to know that whoever who wants to give Fleksy a go now will be able to do so, after downloading it from Google Play and installing it of course.

If you would want to give the Fleksy predictive keyboard a go, it will be free for the first 30 days so that you can try it out, but once that time period is over and you would like to continue using it, be prepared to hand over $3.99. Of course, this does not mean that Syntellia is done with improvements to the Fleksy keyboard, as they intend to make sure that the beta app remains around for testing purposes. The beta has just received a new update that adds multiple language support. For the iOS side, Fleksy 2.0 for the iPhone was introduced just two days back, boasting a completely revamped engine which is touted to deliver better responsiveness, a new user interface that will flow alongside iOS 7.

Fleksy Keyboard For Android Leaves Beta original content from Ubergizmo.

Toronto-based startup Whirlscape believes that taking a keyboard originally designed for a typewriter, turning it digital and calling it a day is the wrong way to go about making the best possible smartphone text entry experience. That’s why the young company from a team of University of Toronto faculty and researchers created Minuum, a new kind of virtual keyboard that it’s now looking to fund via Indiegogo.

Minuum does away with the traditional three rows of letters and space bar layout of a standard QWERTY keyboard, replacing that with a single line of letters and predictive typing algorithms that help reclaim a huge percentage of usable screen real estate, while supposedly retaining precision entry capabilities. It’s designed to keep the QWERTY order mostly in place to ease the transition from standard software keyboards, but also includes powerful auto-correction algorithms to make sure you can be pretty sloppy with text entry and still get a usable result. Think something like Fleksy, but with a very different approach.

Part of that difference is Minuum’s ability to extend its innovative typing model to hardware devices beyond just smartphones and tablets. The company is planning an Android app as well as an iOS SDK for developers who want to use it in their own apps, but there’s also plenty of opportunity for Minuum to type practically anywhere. In the demo video, we see the project creators showing it working via camera capture tech like that used in the Microsoft Kinect or Google Glass, with just a hastily scrawled keyboard written in pen on the tester’s arm. It could also work with hardware designed to detect fine motor movement like the forthcoming MYO armband.

“All of the different kinds of techniques people have been working on are really focused on touch screens, and everyone is starting to build swipe into their different kinds of keyboards,” Whirlscape co-founder and CEO Will Walmsley explained in an interview. “I think the future of small devices is not going to be limited to touchscreen things. Given that we have devices that are as smart as they are, thinking beyond the touchscreen just makes a lot of sense.”

First, however, Whirlscape will be focusing on making its prototype iOS and Android software ready to ship by the start of 2014 (public betas arriving later this year), with a hardware SDK to follow sometime after that. Whirlscape has some seed funding already from UTEST, the University of Toronto’s early stage accelerator program, and MaRS Innovation, but believes crowdfunding is the best course of action to generate buzz while gearing up for public launch. Walmsley explained that Indiegogo helps it build a direct relationship with users, as well as create a pool of early adopters from which to draw testers for the initial private beta.

Ultimately, Walmsley says that the goal is to work direct with OEMs to get Minuum in front of as many users as possible. If it can deliver on its promise of flexibility and cross-platform functionality, it should have no problem attracting suitors once it launches.

We’ve long been fans of Syntellia’s Fleksy for its astonishingly accurate predictive touch keyboard, and were excited to see an Android version finally come out to play at CES 2013. Well now there’s news that’ll please fans on the iOS side: the company has announced the full version of the app, formerly $4.99, is now available for the unbeatable price of free. This isn’t just a special weekend offer either; CEO Kostas Eleftheriou told us in an email that it’ll be free forever. Eleftheriou said that this is in the interest of a “more open keyboard space, so that more innovations can happen in the area,” but also as a service to the blind community, which was Fleksy’s original target audience.

Interestingly, the updated app even includes a direct button to email Apple’s CEO Tim Cook so that users can advocate for a more native OS-level integration of Fleksy. It’s an audacious goal, but as Eleftheriou stated in the blog post, it’s also one that many users have demanded. While we’re not sure if such a grass roots campaign will work with Cook and co., you can certainly download the new fully gratis version of Fleksy at the App Store source to give it a go yourself.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

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Source: Fleksy Blog, Fleksy (App Store)

You may be familiar with Syntellia’s Fleksy — its predictive touch typing solution has already been available to iOS users since last July. But as we recently learned at CES, the company’s gearing up to offer Android and Spanish-language versions. It’s not something you’ll necessarily see in the Google Play store, however, as we were told the company intends to license the platform out to various Android OEMs. We pressed CEO Kostas Eleftheriou for more details on possible partnerships, but he remained tight-lipped, only assuring us that talks were in progress.

So, how does it work? For starters, the Android version offers two keyboard options — a simple QWERTY-only and one with a space bar — that can be toggled on or off with a two finger swipe down. Text corrections are also controlled via gesture control, with your seemingly garbled input transformed into the closest possible word match via a right swipe. Users can even browse through a list of suggestions by highlighting text and then swiping up or down. Admittedly, word prediction seemed to fare better for the company’s (well-trained) reps than it did for us, but we’ll chalk that up to a learning curve. Punctuation is handled by swiping twice to the right and the symbol menu can even be accessed by a swipe up from the right edge of the full keyboard.

Since its announcement this week, Fleksy for Android’s managed to notch around 5,000 beta testers and Kostas expects that number to continue growing. If you’re interested in taking the mobile keyboard alternative for a test drive, we’d recommend you head to the company’s site now to sign-up. Otherwise, content yourself with our gallery below and a brief video demo after the break.

Continue reading Fleksy for Android beta hands-on (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software

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