Swiftkey comes up with virtual keyboard for Android tablets

Google took it till version 2.3 to understand that the smartphone-optimized Android would find it hard to survive in a much larger tablet-like form-factor. Many tablets with 2.2 or even 2.3 faced the criticism because of this (read Samsung Galaxy Tab). As Honeycomb becomes the Android version of choice for many tablet makers including LG, Motorola etc., the apps makers are scrambling to make newer and larger version of their apps to utilize the Honeycomb real-estate. Swiftkey is one of those companies.

The Swiftkey virtual keyboard for Honeycomb uses the similar concept from the Goolge OS to give it a holographic look. The blue keys on black background give a brilliant 3D effect – and catchy too. It has the same quick text prediction engine like the smartphone version, but gives you an edge with the cleverly placed characters at both ends of the screen. For example, you have the QWERT keys are on the left side of the display while the YUIOP keys are on the right. This layout makes it easier for you to type quickly as the fingers do not have to stretch till the middle of screen to type a letter – like any other QWERTY keyboard.

As you type, a number of suggestions appear on the top for you to select the right guess. Once the software is sure of the word, it sends it to the sentence with a neat piece of animation.

From the looks of it, the Swiftkey virtual keyboard for Honeycomb looks like a winner, and if the Liliputing guys are to be believed, it feels good and works snappier than conventional virtual keypads as well.

Source(s)