I’m looking to replace gboard and I have spent about a decade using gesture based typing. Is there any alternative that is private that gesture based typing actually work on?

  • Snapz@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Nothing can replace the original Swype for me. I want something new, but all alternatives are deficient

    • fievel@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      As a Heliboard enthusiast and pretty happy with it, I would like to ask you what you find wrong with it, what you miss from the original ?

      • Snapz@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        One of the biggest thing is the actual swipe detection success rate - I have tried heli and others and I find that you need to swipe slower and more precisely for words to register. Also, when wrong word is detected, Swype will typically have the right word suggested in bar above keyboard for a one tap correction, not the case for me on others where no word is often the wrong word is suggested to correct. For example, almost like some of them suggest too literally and lack context - this is tough to describe, so bear worth me, so I try to swipe the word “she” let’s say, and the board detects “the” and the suggested words to correct have more of a relationship to “the”, so think “then” “them” “theirs” maybe, but the logic isn’t starting with other derivations of three letter words ending with “he” that have relevant letters near the “T” on a qwerty keyboard (which Swype feels less likely to do in my experience).

        Otherwise, there are customizing options and other UI choices that I prefer with Swype. It’s definitely gotten worse over the years since it stopped being actively supported, but I’m so glad it’s still functional in some capacity. I wish everyone with FOSS skill would really deep to replicate the Swype experience with the APKs still floating around.

        • Linecutter@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          I miss the “swipe to punctuation” from Swype. Typically, “w-e-.-l-l” to prompt “we’ll” instead of “well”. The other thing is the long press option on the main keyboard only has one alternate character. The secondary keyboard has more. I like it, use it as my daily driver & I’d recommend it.