Swype / Swipe-to-type on a physical BB touch keyboard?

Given that BB has touch sensitive keyboards (only in the passport), wouldn't it be more amazing if "swype" / "Swipe-to-type" gestures was introduced on those touch keyboards to allow typing with one hand?

I think this would truly deliver the ultimate typing experience. With the ability to feel the ridges of the keys as you type/swype along on the physical keys, it can really be an amazing keyboard with high accuracy and fast responsiveness. Especially one handed typing.

Of course, it needs to be able to turned on/off by the user if they don't like it or don't need it.

I don't know the specifics of how precise the touch-enabled PKB of the Passport is but I really doubt it's enough to pull a Swype like experience. I'm not sure if that would really work on the dimensions of this particular keyboard. Plus, I'm not sure how many are really looking for a switch-up to the "swipe up" typing routine on BB10. It works so well!

Via CB10 on this beast they call the Passport

Unless you're thinking of swiping up on each individual key instead of pressing it, so the keys would be physical yet have mini screens on then showing the words. That would be cool, although I think we are a couple years off from that

Posted via CB10

This is more for a keyboard like blackberry classic.

Glide your fingers over the keys and watch a word form right in front of your very eyes.

Think of swiftkey or swype on android, but on a physical keyboard.

Posted via CB10

I think it's an awesome idea. It could be a feature on the passport 2 (or whatever the next generation is called). They are on to something with the touch sensitive physical keyboard. I hope they continue to develop it with improvements and options like this.

Interesting....i also had a similar idea while using the passport pkb....my thumbs tend to want to slide between keys than lift off to reach for the next one. But, with the current way pkb works, it tends to trigger the edit orb thingie as my thumbs slide. This keeps creating typing errors as cursor repositions on previous lines and in middle of words etc.



This Passport takes me places!

Awesome idea!!

Posted via CB10

The reason why I got away from Swype in the first place is because of how inaccurate it is. I wasted more time going back to fix the Swype prediction errors then completing an error free paragraph with my Passport.

Originally Posted by thymaster

The reason why I got away from Swype in the first place is because of how inaccurate it is. I wasted more time going back to fix the Swype prediction errors then completing an error free paragraph with my Passport.

I had the same issue with any of the swiping keyboards on my Note2. With very long words I would forget where I was in the spelling. I would then have to start over. Ugh!


Sent from my BlackBerry Passport using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by thymaster

The reason why I got away from Swype in the first place is because of how inaccurate it is. I wasted more time going back to fix the Swype prediction errors then completing an error free paragraph with my Passport.

Swype is the thing I miss most about Android. I enjoy typing this way, I'm much faster, and very accurate. To be sure, there's the occasional wrong word, but it's not so frequent that it presents an obstacle to the flow of ideas. It forces me to read over what I've written before hitting "send" or "post", but that's generally a good idea anyway.

The way Swype figures out what you're trying to type is exactly the same way the BB10 virtual keyboard does it, but for whatever reason I find Swype more satisfying to use.

Why would you want to ruin the already great keyboard. Don't add this to the blackberry keyboard. Just allow third party keyboards instead if people want this.

Posted via the Android CrackBerry App!

Originally Posted by darkehawke

Why would you want to ruin the already great keyboard. Don't add this to the blackberry keyboard. Just allow third party keyboards instead if people want this.

Posted via the Android CrackBerry App!

I don't think third party keyboards are really an option on physical keyboard phones. I don't think there would be any third party developers who would make such a niche within a niche app as gesture control on the passport keyboard.

Passport for life.

Posted via CB10

I just had the same idea, searched CB and found this thread. I think it would be totally terrific. I am not sure the precision of the capacitive keyboard would be enough though. Only BlackBerry can know. I'm not too sure either how easy it would be to use it with a keyboard in this [referring to the Passport here of course] form factor (very wide and rectangular). If they decided it's physically and haptively possible, they could easily add it as a software update anytime with an option to disable it for those that don't want to use it.
As for 3rd party keyboards on BlackBerry World for that feature: forget it, it would be a security issue as it could easily be used as a keylogger.

Posted via CB10

Keyboard is the way to go for me.

Originally Posted by thymaster

Keyboard is the way to go for me.

What do you mean exactly? The question is whether we can Swype or not over the capacitive keyboard of the Passport and if yes how to deploy the software capability.

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by ubizmo

Swype is the thing I miss most about Android. I enjoy typing this way, I'm much faster, and very accurate. To be sure, there's the occasional wrong word, but it's not so frequent that it presents an obstacle to the flow of ideas. It forces me to read over what I've written before hitting "send" or "post", but that's generally a good idea anyway.

The way Swype figures out what you're trying to type is exactly the same way the BB10 virtual keyboard does it, but for whatever reason I find Swype more satisfying to use.

Looks like my experience is completely different. On my wife's Android, when using Swype, I find it extremely hard to concentrate on which letters to aim for and stop, turn around and aim for more etc. ... I get stuck, or mess it up, forget what I wanted to type. Very disruptive for the word flow and train of thought. After a few lines I find myself pretty much mentally exhausted...

Your mileage varies, by a long shot. Just doesn't seem be my thing.

Typing (and swiping!) on the Passport or Z is much more relaxed, almost effortless, at least for me... :-)

("it's that BlackBerry typing experience, ... " http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jlP5GFV9Tew ;-) )

�   "Oh Classic, you are the fairest here so true. But Passport is a thousand times more powerful than you..." (no offense, Classic is a great device, when it's charged)   �

Originally Posted by Prem WatsApp

Looks like my experience is completely different. On my wife's Android, when using Swype, I find it extremely hard to concentrate on which letters to aim for and stop, turn around and aim for more etc. ... I get stuck, or mess it up, forget what I wanted to type. Very disruptive for the word flow and train of thought. After a few lines I find myself pretty much mentally exhausted...

Your mileage varies, by a long shot. Just doesn't seem be my thing.

Typing (and swiping!) on the Passport or Z is much more relaxed, almost effortless, at least for me... :-)

("it's that BlackBerry typing experience, ... " http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jlP5GFV9Tew ;-) )

�   "Oh Classic, you are the fairest here so true. But Passport is a thousand times more powerful than you..." (no offense, Classic is a great device, when it's charged)   �

I agree. I've used SwiftKey and Swype, along with other VKBs, on many Android phones. I hated it. It wasn't in any way superior to typing on my Curve. After 5 years using Android phones the minute I saw Passport with the PKB I knew I was going back to BlackBerry. Typing on the Passport keyboard is more satisfying and accurate than touch screen typing. I too would get lost trying to swype long words, it was like negotiating a maze. Very frustrating. I'll stay with physical keyboards.

Sent from my BlackBerry Passport

Originally Posted by Prem WatsApp

Looks like my experience is completely different. On my wife's Android, when using Swype, I find it extremely hard to concentrate on which letters to aim for and stop, turn around and aim for more etc. ... I get stuck, or mess it up, forget what I wanted to type.

I'm not sure, but this sounds similar to what people first experience with the BB10 virtual keyboard. They try to hard to be accurate, which slows them way down and exhausts them. It's like that until they relax, stop trying to be accurate, and let the keyboard AI do its thing.

But...needless to say, it's not for everyone. I do fine with the Passport's physical keyboard, turbocharged with hundreds of Word Sub abbreviations. Even so, text entry that way is slower than Swype for me, having clocked myself using both on several occasions, and that's allowing for the occasional inaccuracies that creep in using either method.