Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Installing WP7.1 Mango

Go an invite to participate and update my dev phone to WP7.1 Mango.

Guess what!!! I am installing it as we speak :) another couple of minutes and i should have my HTC Mozart running Mango

:) I am supposed to be a good boy and not start putting stuff on the net... guess what... who has the time :)

Deutsch Slydr 1.0 now in WP7 Marketplace

Just got a notification of Deutsch Slydr app's publication on marketplace.

Finally :)

We next due for marketplace submission
* French Slydr (hopefully in the next few hours)
* v1.4 for English Slydr (or sliding keyboard) will change logo to Slydr
* v1.1 for German Slydr (mainly bug fixes)

Hermit

WP7 Deutsch Slydr 1.0

Hello All,

German Slydr 1.0 which is based on Sliding Keyboard 1.3 is currently undergoing testing in WP7 Marketplace. The app contains German dictionary.
The 1.3 features include:
* Auto insert of first match when sliding is complete (when you lift your finger)
* Ability to correct the entry.
* Manual Edit of entered text (using microsoft keyboard)
* Copy to Clipboard for sharing with other apps.

The app should be out later on today.

Others in pipeline include French Slydr, Spanish Slydr and Italian Slyder.

WP7 sliding keyboard v1.2 Published

Hello All,

Sliding Keyboard v1.2 has been published to marketplace finally.

It contains a better word matching algorithm that should fine better results for tracing.
Default tracing speed is Normal. It you have issues with word matches please try changing the speed to Slow or to fast and that should change the results you get substantially.

I will try to put 1.4 out to marketplace today. It contains various fixes and the ability to remember previous usage. There is also an option for broad search which allows for non precise swipe start (though it becomes slower as it searches 4 / 6 times more data).

Please remember Sliding Keyboard only contains English (American / British Dictionary).

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

WP7 sliding keyboard

Hello All,
I am the person who has been working on the standalone Sliding Keyboard app available on WP7 marketplace.

I agree that v1.0 was pretty awful. It was a proof of concept on my part. I did not force any one of pay for it and trial mode was enabled. If however you did pay, thank you - I dont have a single penny / cent out of it yet.

Being called Swype ripoff hurts though it certainly is true. I first used swype on WinMo 6.5 and it was brilliant. Unfortunately nothing like that is available on WP7 Marketplace. In current iteration, 3rd party keyboards are not allowed. I wanted to write something that worked like Swype.

I am however improving the app as much as i can.
v1.1 changed to algorithm to provide better matches. v1.1 also provided ability to auto insert on comma, fullstop or space.

v1.2 has been in testing since last Friday and it includes a much better algorithm for work matching. That update also contains the ability to automatically insert the first match. The user can then change it by selecting correct entry from list or can cancel the last entry by pressing X.
v1.2 also added updated dictionary (both British and American)

Since then i have further improved the app but since v1.2 has not gone live, i cannot submit v1.3/v1.4 for testing.
v1.3 / v1.4 stores existing matches so it builds a list as you use it and next time it detects same input, it uses existing match. It also provides ability to allow for broad match (uses neighbouring characters to ensure a broad search is executed, this allows for a non precise slide action). The broad search does make it slower as it searches for matches in at least 4 times more data. when broad search is off, the start of swipe determines that search range and is therefore faster.

In v1.5 (which will happen in next version not current v1.3 / v1.4), i will add ability to add user additions to list.

I would like to thank many of you who have provided me with useful pointers.
1) v1.0 dictionary was limited.
2) Auto insert / auto space.

Any suggestions are most welcome.

Regards,

Hermit