Fleksy - Awesome new predictive text input method • Hacker News Board

Re: Fleksy - Awesome new predictive text input method

#51

Post by agscala » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 4:18 PM UTC

mtrimpe wrote: post #49

agscala wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> for my mobile phone the typing speed will just never be great regardless of the input method. Actually, way back when PalmOS and PocketPC were all the rage, there was a company that released something called the Fitaly keyboard. I don't know what you qualify as "great" typing speed, but with this keyboard they advertise 50wpm with a stylus, I was able to achieve 60wpm after some practice. The point is, it is defini…

I agree that a stylus changes everything; I should have been more specific. I never got up to 60wpm with Fitaly but I do remember not really feeling hampered by my typing speed. In general you don't get a stylus with your phone anymore these days though...

Agreed.

Also it seems like it's finally coming full circle around back to styli again. It seems like they're now being advertised as a new feature, which I think is kind of funny. Granted, they aren't using resistive screens anymore, so it is sort of new.

I'm waiting for a good stylus-enabled device before I purchase anything new. The fact that you can't draw on most of these tablets is silly.

Re: Fleksy - Awesome new predictive text input method

#52

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 4:31 PM UTC

Cyranix wrote: post #31

Maybe I missed it, but I don't think I saw any demonstration of correcting words that were typed with one fewer or one more letter than the intended word. The absence of tactile feedback when typing makes this a fairly common error -- anyone know if their algorithm is capable of handling it?

[deleted]

Re: Fleksy - Awesome new predictive text input method

#53

Post by jere » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 4:31 PM UTC

jeremyarussell wrote: post #42

jenius wrote: post #36

Can anyone explain how this works? Seems like total black magic to me... the dude is typing random gibberish and it still figures out the word? Then he's just tapping randomly on the screen, gibberish comes out, then turns into the word he wanted? Don't mean this to sound unintelligent, the video was just crazy. What kind of key proximity algorithms are behind this?

Patent pending kind? I doubt they are sharing it quite yet but the one beauty of patents is we'll get the entire answer once the patent isn't pending anymore. If I had to imagine though, the algorithm is just accounting for the most likely word to follow the previous wording, that could have been formed by hitting keys that were next to the ones you really hit wrong. I'd like to see how it handles my wanton throwing…

>that could have been formed by hitting keys that were next to the ones you really hit wrong.

Google does this already and I would assume they aren't the only ones.

I once accidentally typed "cinnabd oatterb" into Google, yet it knew I wanted "Command Pattern". Still works today.

Re: Fleksy - Awesome new predictive text input method

#54

Post by pulplobster » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 4:40 PM UTC

jenius wrote: post #36

Can anyone explain how this works? Seems like total black magic to me... the dude is typing random gibberish and it still figures out the word? Then he's just tapping randomly on the screen, gibberish comes out, then turns into the word he wanted? Don't mean this to sound unintelligent, the video was just crazy. What kind of key proximity algorithms are behind this?

My guess is that they use a probabilistic model that, for every tap, incorporates the probability distributions P('a'| X), ..., P('z' | X), X=(x,y) probably a normal distribution. Then assuming they have data on how likely a specific word is, you'd estimate the posterior probability distribution over all the possible words with that many characters. Pick the top most probable words as auto correct options.

I'm sure there's more to it than that, but I assume that's the basic idea.

Re: Fleksy - Awesome new predictive text input method

#55

Post by chapel » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 4:53 PM UTC

hbz wrote: post #26

I remember this product back when it was called BlindType. If you combined no look input with swype, I think would be a pretty robust product.

BlindType was purchased by Google and as far as I can tell implemented into the stock keyboard as you can touch type without looking and it will successfully correct the words.

Re: Fleksy - Awesome new predictive text input method

#56

Post by lhorie » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 4:55 PM UTC

The main problem I have with input auto-completion is that the majority of times I'm using my phone to type, I'm using non-dictionary-but-meaningful-words (e.g. street names, foreign language terms) and the autocompletion usually just gets in the way. I've yet to see a system that addresses these kinds of usability issues.

Re: Fleksy - Awesome new predictive text input method

#57

Post by fleksy » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 4:58 PM UTC

lhorie wrote: post #56

The main problem I have with input auto-completion is that the majority of times I'm using my phone to type, I'm using non-dictionary-but-meaningful-words (e.g. street names, foreign language terms) and the autocompletion usually just gets in the way. I've yet to see a system that addresses these kinds of usability issues.

Getting the exact text as you typed it is just an upward flick away with Fleksy.

Re: Fleksy - Awesome new predictive text input method

#58

Post by fleksy » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 5:03 PM UTC

andrewmunsell wrote: post #28

fleksy wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, touch typing on Fleksy is faster than on the standard keyboard. We reduced the lag time required to input letters from .5 seconds to .35. Plus, you only need to input those terms once.

The thing he mentioned was startup time, though, not the actual input lag.

Was responding to the second issue: "The second issue is the inefficiency of entering custom words". On that front Fleksy is the same or faster than the standard iOS keyboard.

Re: Fleksy - Awesome new predictive text input method

#59

Post by fleksy » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 5:04 PM UTC

jareds wrote: post #12

joshstrange wrote: post #4

Ok, maybe I am extremely daft but how do you turn off the voice reading out each word you type? I turned my device on vibrate/silent mode - no dice, then I tried turning the system volume down to nothing - no dice. What am I missing here?

There is no way to turn off the voice. This app is primarily designed for visually impaired people who need that feedback.

The option to turn voice feedback off will be coming in the next update.

Re: Fleksy - Awesome new predictive text input method

#60

Post by munaf » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 5:06 PM UTC

AndrewDucker wrote: post #13

But you still have to type! I'll take Swype every time.

Yep. I easily Swype without looking. There are occasional mistakes, but it requires very little concentration. Anyway, I think there's too much magic in Fleksy and requires a lot of faith/buy-in on the part of the user to trust it.