Developer Yose Widjaja has created a new Swype-style keyboard, and is demoing it in his note-taking app Hipjot. The keyboard allows you to type and utilize swipe gestures with two hands, enabling you to complete words and sentences very quickly.
While the app looks far too busy for my taste, the keyboard is actually very interesting. It’ll obviously take some getting used to, and some practice, but the app promises you’ll hit 70-90 words per minute with ease. Widjaja himself is able to reach 120…
Here’s the app’s description (via MacRumors):
“Hipjot is a slick notes app, featuring a unique slide keyboard that lets you input words SUPER fast, letting you reach 70-90 words per minute with ease. Beats writing on paper for sure.
It’s just like typing normally (especially when using two fingers), except you don’t have to tap the screen everytime you want to type letters that are next to each other. Words like “awesome”, “sweden”, “suppose” and “seriously” become so much faster to type. “
And here’s a video of the swipe keyboard in action:
And finally, for those who doubt Widjaja’s 120wpm:
Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t allow users to install third-party keyboards, so the only place you’ll get to use this is in the Hipjot app. Nuance said that it had talked with the company at one point about Swype, but it obviously never went passed discussions.
Of course there’s still the SDK option—last month we told you about Flesky, a startup that’s offering its swipe-based keyboard to developers to integrate into their apps. Widjaja says he’s interested in this, but third-party app support isn’t usually widespread.
So for now, the 120wpm keyboard remains a novelty of the Hipjot app, which you can download here for $1.99.
Thoughts?