Better Text Prediction for an Android?

[David Weaver]

I have an old android phone. In the original OS release (sorry, I don't remember the different names for the android OS's), when you were using the keyboard, it was pretty good at auto-completing words.

About 6 months or so ago, I let the phone update its OS and the new texting software in it is terrible and it hasn't gotten better. If I were typing a string of words, the old one would guess the next word or guess the likely word after a character or two, and the current one does a terrible idea of it, often coming up with the word only when you're typing the last letter.

Is there a way to fix that? I see text apps for android in the google play store, but I can't tell what they're supposed to be called - if it's predictive text, or auto complete, etc. I would be hoping for something that was active all the time (as in used any time you're using the keyboard) to get back to what the text predictor was like before.

Anyone know?

[Chris Padilla]

I recently moved over to the "SWYPE" type of typing on my phone. I will never go back.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S2. A relative dinosaur these days. Go to your "Settings" gear icon button and then scroll to the bottom of all the selections to "About phone" and you can read off your Android version. I'm on 2.3.6 and it is getting old. The newest version of my ESPN fantasy football ap won't even work with this version of Android. You should also see under Build number the name of the software. Mine is Gingerbread.

Anyway, back under the Settings list you should also find Language and keyboard. Tap that. This is where you can see what options are available to you for your keyboard settings. Mine shows two: Swype and Samsung keypad. Whatever one you select, you can further tap into it to customize it to your taste. See if this helps you. You may just need to readjust the keyboard settings.

[Rick Moyer]

Another vote for SWYPE. Hopefully you can use it. I have a Galaxy SIII.

[Don Morris]

Yep, SWYPE on my S3 is a winner.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Is this a case of the keyboard "learning" from you over time, and the software update making it forget everything it learned?

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I don't like swype, I'm just too old of a dog for a new trick. Swiftkey is an app that does what you want. The stock android software is pretty lame, especially on the earlier releases of os. Just search the play store for predictive text if you want other options.

[David Weaver]

Is this a case of the keyboard "learning" from you over time, and the software update making it forget everything it learned?

I don't think it is with this one, as I've been using it for a few months and it's not getting any better. The other OS version was fantastically good at guessing words right away. Maybe some people thought it was too quick and they backed it off.

My phone in this case is a motorola razr M, and the android version is 4.4.2. I went through the text options in settings last night and it's probably a little different than the samsungs, but I have it "turned up" all the way in terms of predictive word stuff.

I see that swype and swiftkey are both available free on the play store, so I'll try those.

[Myk Rian]

I use Swiftkey on my phone.

[Myk Rian]

I have a Samsung Galaxy S2. A relative dinosaur these days. Go to your "Settings" gear icon button and then scroll to the bottom of all the selections to "About phone" and you can read off your Android version. I'm on 2.3.6 and it is getting old.
Yeah. That's a dinosaur. Most apps have been re-written for Android 4.x.x

[Kevin Groenke]

+1 for swiftkey. prediction/autocorrect is good (though you do have to learn to integrate it). LOVE the number row!

[David Weaver]

I downloaded swiftkey and installed it. It's so much better than what android has that it's not even funny. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the help!

[Steve Rozmiarek]

One useful tip for SwiftKey, to get it to quit predicting some abnoxious word, it kept messing up my bankers name, is to long press the word on the prediction bar, and select the never predict again.

[David Weaver]

Thanks for the heads up. I noticed it has a propensity to switch words on you more than androids text does, too, but if you click on the "funny" word instead of just continuing to type, it will leave it alone.

It seriously makes me wonder why android peddles such an awful text program as part of the OS. Even the keyboard itself on swiftkey is far better - i must get a tenth of the mistyped letters now, wheres the android keyboard picked up the wrong letter all the time.

I'm sure swiftkey keylogs information and sends it somewhere to sell, but that's how all of the apps are, I guess. Who knows if android does that, anyway.

[Chris Padilla]

Yeah. That's a dinosaur. Most apps have been re-written for Android 4.x.x

Well there you go, I just updated my firmware to 4.1.2! COOL!

[Myk Rian]

I'm sure swiftkey keylogs information and sends it somewhere to sell,
In Swiftkey settings, you can turn the cloud save off.

It's not always a Google Android keyboard. Samsung sticks their own on their phones. The user interface is called "Touchwiz".

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I have noticed a difference between my wife and my phones, both S4's using swiftkey. We use radically different vocabulary when we type, I use all full words spelled out, and more variety, she abbreviates. Swiftkey has a much easier time predicting the next word with her style, which makes sense. If you allow it to use everything as a learning tool, it helps in theory, but if you think about it, we all type differently on different venues, so if it has too much to learn from it will probably actually make it worse at prediction.