Keyboard app SwiftKey has added support for 9 Indian languages to its adaptive layouts as a free update for Android users. They include Bengali, Punjabi, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Assamese, Oriya, Konkani and Manipuri. The last update in May added 5, namely Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi and Nepali.
SwiftKey also has existing support for all languages which use the Devanagari, Tamil and Gujarati scripts. The app works on technology that adapts to each consumer as they type, a concept which is supposedly reinforced with the improved layouts for these languages.
Along with the pre-existing row of predicted words, SwiftKey has included a set of contextually relevant keys. The layout of the regular keys is now set up in a way that mimics the pattern of how the language was taught in Indian schools, making the typing more natural.
Users can now switch between the primary and secondary screen seamlessly. They can do this by pressing and holding the key in the primary layout, which will prompt the app to go to the secondary window. SwiftKey says this will help the application to better understand the character the user intended to type, which would further improve the quality of predictions and corrections.
Also see: Swiftkey beta for Android now supports 9 more Indian languages
SwiftKey has also improved on its ability to guess what emoticon people are going to enter. Specifically, emoji prediction for Bengali, Punjabi, Kannada, Telugu, Assamese, Oriya, Sinhala and Urdu is now available.
Smartphones are becoming an increasingly common sight across India. A variety of languages are spoken by the people owning them and many of the speakers would prefer to text in their native tongue. Handsets don’t always provide enough options and SwiftKey is stepping in to capture as much of that consumer base as possible.
SwiftKey version 5.3.2 can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store.