Keypurr Feedback

[nightfishing]

After a couple of weeks using Keypurr extensively, here are a few hiccups I have encountered:



1. having the key to switch to the symbol/numeric keyboard the same as the enter/send key is problematic. If I don't quite get the "flick" right, I end up sending an unfinished text. Very annoying and easy to fix by moving the function to a less "dangerous" key.


2. for some reason (may be phone related - i run an inc) I have issues consistently hitting the space key.


3. (feature request) it would be great if when editing that the word prediction would recognize when the user is editing a word vs. typing a "new" word. i.e after typing typrng, I backspace to typ and the predication would know I am mid word and not starting a new word.

 

[Susido]

Susido,

Have you noticed the problem with voice input in any particular apps?

Ikanos makes a good point. It's true that you can always select the word from the left of the strip, effectively disabling the autotext temporarily. It's just a matter of remembering to select the word you want when it's not the default candidate. We find users get used to the method pretty quickly.

The only program where I've noticed the voice input problem (the keyboard remaining on the screen at the same time as voice input) happening more than once was entering a checkbox list in Mobisle Notes.

The problem I have with autotext is that I tend to be looking at the letters being entered on screen rather than on the strip. And of course those letters and the number of letters might not be close to what I'm wanting to type, coupled with my not-infrequent failure to properly swipe letters, confusion thinking I must have mistyped something or forgotten how to spell it and then having an HTC phone with presumably no way to remove certain dictionary words ... well sometimes I just wish I could turn the thing off and not have to concentrate on the strip.

Here's an example that maybe helps show some of the confusion: Type the (non)word "happyworth": If I'm lazy I'm going to just type the "happy" part the way I usually would and let the autotext enter it for me. "happy" appears on the screen so I think I can just continue typing. Wrong. When I add the "worth" part, I type it using the swiped characters because I know it isn't a real word that I'm typing. The end result is "hsoouworrh".

And then there's the unexpected things that can occur if you backspace to correct or continue a word. You can be backspacing and yet the letters could remain on the screen because it is apparently predicting you didn't want to erase those letters. The strip may then contain nothing close to what you've entered. Or I've failed to swipe a letter correctly (happens way too often even though by now I should really be better at it...), then I backspace to correct it ... but autotext has already added 1 or 2 additional letters ... so I need to backspace an additional 1 or 2 spaces.

Like I said, sometimes I just wish I could TURN AUTOTEXT OFF. Still like your keyboard though!

 

[dbalch]

Susidio is definitely right. I've gotten a little frustrated when auto text get's confused about what I'm doing. Most of the time, though, if I just slow down and think a bit, I work my way out of it.

It might speed things up to have a button there to turn off autotext for a second. But I guess that button real estate is real hard to come by. Not sure if it's worth it.

Then again, I don't type a lot, so it might be bigger problem for frequent typers.

 

[bthomforde]

how can I type "arpin"?
i touch "a" then if i flick the "r" the "t" always comes up.
I've tried unchecking "use suggested word" but now when i touch "a" the "r' shows up.

what am I doing wrong?

 

[bthomforde]

Thanks for the reply, the suggested word is "arpingstone" but the first word in the list is "sroin", there's got to be a way.

@bthomforde - This is how I type arpin (with all settings at installation defaults - prediction & suggestion on):

Flick up on the "a/s" key - we get "a"

Tap "r/t" key - now "ar" (suggested word is "at", but ignore it & keep typing)

Flick up on the "o/p" key - "arp" (ignore suggested word "atpase")

Tap "i" key - "arpi" (ignore suggested word "arpingstone")

Tap "n" key - "arpin" (again ignore suggested word)

Tap "arpin" which is first word on word list in black, to the left of the red corrected/predicted word - then that uncorrected word is inserted in the document followed by a space.

If we want to save "arpin" so we don't have to flick at all the next time we type it, long-press that word on the word list (instead of tap) and it will insert the word + space and save it into the dictionary at the same time.

I saved it so now I just tap to type "arpin" here, no flicks needed.


Hope these explanations help.

 

[bthomforde]

been flicking this thing for about 30 minutes and can get it to say "arlington" and "arpingstone" but not "arpin"

Ditto what Ikanos said.

Because the desired word is not known to the dictionary, the prediction engine will not differentiate between primary and secondary letters - the user must do so manually, by flicking.

In the case of the word "arpin" you must flick up on the "a" and the "p" because they are the secondary (raised) raised letters on their respective keys.

 

[bthomforde]

I must be flick challenged, i can't get it to work. first word is "srion" and the suggested word is "arion"

Here's exactly how you would type the word "arpin"
- flick up on the a/s key
- tap the r/t key
- flick up on the o/p key
- tap the i key
- tap the word "arpin" from the far left of the candidate strip (or long press to save to dictionary).

"Flicks" are simply short slides. Touch the key and slide your finger about the distance to the nearest neighbouring key. No need to do the gesture quickly - just make sure you start on the correct key.

 

[RickPJ]

Has anyone else had a problem where the word suggestions don't work? I have this problem occasionly where the word suggestions will not show up. It happens in more than one program. The only way I can get it to work again is to reboot.

I've found one of my apps that always prevents prediction from working. It's SplashMoney, from SplashData (splashdata.com). Maybe Keypurr support could get hold of a copy to test?

To reproduce, add a new transaction, and type into any of the text fields (payee or memo), and there is no prediction! The suggestion bar just remains showing the cursor keys, and only the exact characters typed show in the text field.

Normally Keypurr works OK in another app, but I wonder if something got "stuck" once which caused the symptom to continue in other apps. I can't be sure.

This is the same in 2.0 & 2.1.

HTH, Rick

 

[RickPJ]

I have a suggestion to assist with flicking - how about making the popup keycap change to the flicked character as your finger moves? This would provide visual feedback that your finger motion has been detected.

The flicks for non-character functions would require some kind of icon, but I'm sure creative minds could come up with something!

I've noticed that, although it doesn't have to be a very quick flick, you can't do it too slowly either. If you do it will take the character of the key you slide onto.

The correct timing seems to be to slide until the popup shows the keycap for the adjacent key then immediately release. This is what got me to thinking that it would be better if the keycap changed to the actual flicked character that is going to be input, then it would be obvious what is happening.

I also think it would help if there were no time limit on how slowly you perform this action, I can't see what benefit the time limit brings. I think it would make the whole concept much easier to learn for new users.

Would this be possible?

Rick

 

[RichSz]

I upgraded to the latest trial which was released yesterday / today. On my DroidX it force closes 100% of the time. Completely unusable. Rebooted the phone with no effect.

 

[bthomforde]

I have a Droid X, is there a sensitivity setting for the touch screen?
I've been flicking my fingers off and can't get it work, maybe 1 out of 10 tries am I successfully able to get the letter I want.
I've been trying all the double letter keys along with the space bar, all with the same results.
my wife has tried with the same results.
i like Keypurr but it's getting very frustrating trying to get it to work.

I don't think there's something wrong with your phone... In "arpin" the "i" is the 4th letter, but in scion, it's only the 3rd letter.

To be sure that there's nothing with your phone, try testing flicking one letter accurately, say the letter "a." Once you've verified that, have another go at the word. Keep a close eye on the left side of that candidate strip as you type so you catch any mistakes as soon as they happen.

And just to clarify, if a letter is raised on a key you flick up to access it. If a letter's in the center of the key, you tap to access it.

 

[gdot]

I have a Droid X, is there a sensitivity setting for the touch screen?
I've been flicking my fingers off and can't get it work, maybe 1 out of 10 tries am I successfully able to get the letter I want.
I've been trying all the double letter keys along with the space bar, all with the same results.
my wife has tried with the same results.
i like Keypurr but it's getting very frustrating trying to get it to work.

I have a droid x too and had the same problem for the longest time. I learned that it's less of a flick and more of a slide to the key above/below and now it's pretty easy. Think of it as sliding your finger to the key above/below the one your are trying to press. You get faster with it eventually once you get this concept down.

 

[RickPJ]

You're right about flicking until you see the graphics for the next key... However, there is no time limit on the flick gesture.

I beg to differ - certainly on my device, HTC Desire-Z. If I don't lift my finger the moment the popup graphic changes then the key typed is the one I slide onto. I've spent quite some time playing with this and it's completely consistent.

I wonder how many other devices this appies to? It might explain why some people have more problems than others getting used to the flick gesture.

Rick

 

[nightfishing]

Very good update. The new behavior with word prediction when editing an existing word is a big improvement.



Also, the bug when entering multiple names into the TO field in Handcent/K9 etc is fixed!

 

[Jazziette]

I've got the flicking down pat now I'm happy to say. And loving Keypurr more each day!

Thanks!!!!

 

[MuGGzyX]

I really like the way it works and it took a bit to get the "feel" for getting the alt letters and numbers.

I know this is nit-pickery, but I really like the "pretty" glass looking "themes" you can get for apps like Better Keyboard, if you could make Keypurr pretty I would be happy.

 

[Jazziette]

I find the Keypurr to be attractive myself. And it's functional! I would rather have an innovative and great working keyboard that looks nice than one that is gussied up and doesn't perform nearly as well and has small keys that make it difficult to use.

Personally I really do like the looks of Keypurr! JMHOFWIW!

 

[james_uk]

I have been using keypurr for 3 days, i had only been using version 2.0 for 1 day then it updated to 2.1, i dont think i really seen any difference but maybe because i hadn't used it much yet.

Anyway i must admit i do really like the keyboard compared to htc's own keyboard, i do find it more accurate and i find myself correcting words much less.

One thing i am interested to know, which i dont know if i have missed it in the instructions or if this just cant be done - I am fine with adding words into the dictinary, what my question is though, if i type a word which then i get about 5 predictions for, but another word is always predicted as the first main prediction first and i use this word a lot, is there anyway i can tell the prediction engine that i would rather have another word as the main prediction each time i type it, so i can just always press space rather than having to select it from the list of other predicted words?

Im not sure if this can be done, would be good if i can though, this is something that bugged me with hts's prediction engine, i type the word 'they' a lot found everytime i typed it the first word predicted was always 'view' i was told in time the prediction engine would learn to select that first, this didnt ever happen at all and im not sure if this was just made up or something thought it would do that, not sure if keypurr does this?

James

 

[RickPJ]

Something that seems to be missing from Keypurr is the ability to enter accented characters. The standard keyboards (both soft and hard) allow a long press which then pops up an array of buttons with all possible accented variations. Keypurr doesn't appear to offer any way of doing this.

Does the development plan include adding this feature?

Rick

 

[RickPJ]

Hi Keypurrtech

Maybe conventions in the US/Canada are different, but in the UK we encounter various European words, and it's customary to spell them correctly, including accents. E.g. ros

 

[lunameow]

Thanks for the hare/hate change. Here's another...

I spent a couple of days serving jury duty last week, and my phone saved me from being bored senseless. However, part of what I spent time doing was tweeting about how bored I was at jury duty... or as Keypurr preferred it, "kuru" duty.

Really, most people don't need to use the word "jury" very often. But I'm betting they need to use "kuru" even less.

 

[joey123]

I love Keypurr. I have been using it for a few weeks now it's great. Don't know if it was mentioned already, would be nice to have the option of when after typing a wrong word so when you tap the word to correct it should come up all predicted words for the tapped word. Also please change the flick key which changes the screen to the numeric screen to the left side. I made to many mistakes because it sends the messages if you don't flick good thanks

 

[larrycl]

Keypurr Free (2.1) doesn't work with Copilot Live V8. When I try to use Keypurr to enter text, Copilot Live crashes with a force close.

 

[JAY718]

We hope everybody enjoyed the free trial! If you liked Keypurr Keyboard purchase the full version including all subsequent updates (which there will be lots of) for $3.99 CAD. It's a small price to pay for effortless and accurate onscreen typing.

As always, feel free to post your thoughts/opinions/suggestions here!

Happy Typing!

can i keep it for free with all the bugs and no updates?

 

[RickPJ]

We hope everybody enjoyed the free trial! If you liked Keypurr Keyboard purchase the full version including all subsequent updates (which there will be lots of) for $3.99 CAD. It's a small price to pay for effortless and accurate onscreen typing.

As always, feel free to post your thoughts/opinions/suggestions here!

HELP!

I did just that, but I didn't uninstall the trial first (I think I should have). It still kept telling me that the trial had expired, so I uninstalled the trial version. It then wouldn't offer Keypurr as an input method.

I've subsequently uninstalled and re-installed the full version, and re-booted the phone. Keypurr is installed according to Android's application list, but it still doesn't appear as an available input method when I long-tap an input field. So I'm stuck with the old keyboard.

How do I fix this so I can actually use Keypurr again? (having now paid for it!)

Phone is HTC Desire-Z, Android 2.2.1

Hope you can help - Rick