Hasta La Gadget!

Touchscreens on smartphones are great for surfing the internet or browsing photos but they can be frustrating if you want to type more than a few words.

A new app called ThickButtons for Android phones hopes to fix that by claiming to improve the accuracy of onscreen keyboards. The app says it will make it easier to type on touchscreens by dynamically shrinking the letters that are not likely to be used and enlarging the buttons that are.

For instance, as you try to type the word ”Wired,” the software attempts to guess the word and the letters in it appear enlarged, while the surrounding keys shrink.

It’s an interesting spin on the predictive text input technology. Instead of trying to predict the full word during the typing process–as most predictive text systems do–ThickButtons highlights the next few letters that you are likely to use to create the word.

The advantage with ThickButtons, says the company, is that users don’t have to learn a new way to type and they can reduce the number of errors they make.

ThickButtons is easy enough to install, but you will have to choose it as your input method by making a change to the language and keyboard settings in your phone.

And promising as it sounds, ThickButtons can confuse some users as the letters on the keyboard change in size rapidly. When I used it, it didn’t seem to make a visible difference in the number of errors I made as I tried to type fast.

Since the app is free, if you have an Android phone give it a try but be warned: it’s not going to give you a significant edge in your texting skills.

Check out the demo video to see how ThickButtons works:

Photo: Screenshot of ThickButtons/ ThickButtons