The new 5.3 update now includes adaptive keyboard layouts for Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi and Nepali languages
Be it on a smartphone or tablet, the touchscreen is the de facto input device these days. With physical keyboards all but fading into irrelevance, finger-typing on glass is the undeniable norm for text entry. But images of keys on the screen hasn’t always translated into intuitive text input: being packed so tightly, it has always been a challenge getting anything more than a couple of sentences in, because we’re accustomed to typing entire words on full-sized keyboards. This quickly becomes a drudgery on a space-limited smartphone screen.
To crack the small-screen text entry conundrum, numerous apps like Swype to Fleksy offer up various approaches including smarter word guessing and slide-based input controls. But SwiftKey, with its ever-evolving smart predictive engine and intuitive keyboard layout has always been one of the most effective tools for typing on glass.
They have now launched an update that now brings to Indian languages the intuitiveness of predictive text along with the power of adaptive keyboard layouts. This new version supports Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi and Nepali, using special dynamically-changing layouts that make it intuitive to enter characters and words, given the complexity of our local languages.
The most significant changes are the addition of a top row of the language’s vowels that are contextually relevant, with layouts that are language-specific and numbers that are available in both Roman and local script. The app also incorporates, as a first, emoji predictions in these languages.
To help tackle the challenge of local language input, the SwiftKey team worked closely with the Jawaharlal Nehru University to make the app as relevant as possible to users who prefer communicating in these languages, taking into account the nuances and context of the way these local languages are used. The app’s extensive use of Machine Learning enables it to offer word predictions based even on the context of a conversion--a casual WhatsApp message may be treated differently compared to a formal email. The result? Quicker and more seamless message composition.
Some of the other general changes to the app include the SwiftKey Hub that collates frequently-used actions in a single location, a new Carbon default them that straddles a minimal theme and Google’s Material design, and a new tie-up with Dashlane that helps securely predict when password entry is required, making them available as needed.
If you’re already using SwiftKey look out for the update in your Play app, otherwise find it on the Play Store here.
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