Nokia beta labs released beta version of swype. In case you are unfamilier with swype then it is a very popular and convinent method for text input in a touchscreen phone. Unlike other input methods where you have to lift your finger to write different characters here you just need to swype your finger or stylus across the screen keyboard so that all characters in a word are connected to your finger or stylus motion.
You need to Sign in on nokia beta labs and the follow the above link.
Supported Phones
All Nokia Symbian S60v5
Nokia 5800
Nokia 5230
Nokia X6 (no portrait mini-qwerty for firmware v21.0.004)
Nokia N97
Nokia N97 mini
Nokia C6-00
Key features
- Standard QWERTY keyboard layout makes Swype easy to learn.
- Use a stylus or finger – Swype’s amazing input path analyzer allows you to go fast and sloppy. Just make a reasonable effort to trace through the word and Swype will do the rest
- Double Tap Editing – Make a mistake? Double tap on a word to bring up a list of other possible matches.
- Auto-Spacing
- Auto-Capitalization
- Auto Spelling Correction
- Automatic Help – Swype detects when you may be having trouble or might benefit from a particular feature and prompts you with helpful tips and instructions
- Instant access to Symbols, Numbers and Editing functions
- 65,000-word Learning Dictionary – Chances are the word you are typing is already in the Swype dictionary. If it isn’t, just tap it out once followed by a space and Swype will remember it for future use.
Installation
I installed it on Nokia N97 mini which already has physical full qwerty keyboard but it doesn't has on screen full qwerty keyboard. After installation it requires your phone to restart to fully integrate swype with nokia default onboard keyboards. I was rather excited as I wished N97 mini had a full on screen qwerty keyboard because its annoying to open physical keyboard to just input few words.
Settings
Swype setting is accessible from the keyboard itself where you can configure swype for your convinence. In simple setting you can specify whether to use swype or not but if you change this option then you will have to restart your phone to get it changed, next you can enable or disable word prediction, audio feedback or vibration feedback. There are more options in advanced setting where you can enable of disable auto-spacing, auto-capitalization, complete trace, word choice window, speed and accuacy.
Use experience
When I opened swype for first time I was a bit disappointed because portrait keyboard was almost unusable whereas on landscape I was making so many errors. But after using it for 2 days I love landscape keyboard. Portrait keyboard is still unusable because N97 mini screen is not that much wide also I was unable to press shift key, whenever I try to press shift key 'z' got pressed so I left using portrait keyboard. Swype is designed to be very intelligent, it does things what exactly you wanted to be. Switching between numeric, alphanumeric, special characters and capital letters are very easy you just have to press SYM and SHIFT keys. Word prediction is very handy at times but sometimes it can be annoying also, like when you want to wirte a word of other language in english. Typing is little sluggish when you enable complete trace but overall its good. Most of the time you will be using swype with only one fingure or a stylus also you need to press little harder on resistive screen to get correct word typed. In case swype is unconfortable for you then you can disable it and you can use it as a simple on screen full qwerty keyboard in that case you can even use your both fingers/hands.
Verdict
Nokia beta labs claims that you can reach upto 40 words per minute with swype but I don't think so unless you practice typing with swype for an hour daily. Swype can be very handy for phones without physical qwerty keyboard like 5800, x6, 5230, 5530 but for N97 and N97 mini physical keyboard is better for long typing like writing an email still swype can be used on these devices for small typing like sms reply etc. Overall this software is must have on all Nokia Symbian S60 touchscreen phones whether there is physical qwerty present or not.
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