Android predictive text - How does it work?

[Deleted User] · 05/03/13 - 22:05

I have a Nexus 4 running 4.2.2, my first Android handset.

I'm rather bowled over by the suggestions that come up when typing a text using the stock keyboard, for example I just typed "San" and as soon as I typed the letter "M" it suggested "Miguel".

I can't believe that the phone has all this stored locally so I'm wondering whether there's some sort of Google lookup going on a bit like Google's smart search where it predicts the rest of your search?

Mark in Essex · 05/03/13 - 22:09

I've been wondering this with SwiftKey as well as I typed in a few letters the other day (think I miss typed a word) and it came up with some small village in Hertfordshire I had never heard of (and I know know a lot of the names of places around Anglia).

Ultraman1966 · 06/03/13 - 00:03

It's black magic. Kidding aside, I know that Swiftkey will ask for permission to analyse your emails, facebook etc to see how you write and what words you use.

whoever,hey · 06/03/13 - 00:10

It uses phrases you use often as well. Its very clever!

Mark in Essex · 06/03/13 - 02:39

I know there is a list of normal words of that people use and then it also tailor's itself to your typing patterns, but what about the small village (very small) I had never heard of in Hertfordshire?

Surly that would not have been in the Data on the phone?

I had to do a Google search to find out what the word was (thought it would have been a village as it had a capital letter to it.

pi r squared · 06/03/13 - 10:43

Mark in Essex wrote: »

I know there is a list of normal words of that people use and then it also tailor's itself to your typing patterns, but what about the small village (very small) I had never heard of in Hertfordshire?

Surly that would not have been in the Data on the phone?

I can't imagine it does a search everytime you start typing as this would be data-heavy, and you'd probably have finished typing the word before the suggestions came back. (Although having said that, Google Suggestions on the desktop are extraordinarily quick so I guess it's possible from a speed point of view).

Without knowing the name of the village it's impossible to check if it's comes up on my phone or not, but most of the little villages surrounding me do not appear. Is it possible that this little village in Herts also corresponds to, say, a much bigger town in the USA, or perhaps the name of a company somewhere (eg. words like Skype, Facebook, Fedex are preprogrammed).

BrianWescombe · 06/03/13 - 14:29

Samsung predictive text (Galaxy S3, 4.1.2) is VERY clever I think!

flagpole · 06/03/13 - 14:38

the swype/swiftkey function is built in to android 4.2

[Deleted User] · 06/03/13 - 14:50

Its basically a dictionary lookup - the clever bit is incorporating user preferences via a weighting algorithm e.g what words are used together, how often do you use certain words, context of usage. The more sophisticated the dataset it has access to, the closer it can match your usage.

If you have a larger vocabulary predictive text requires a bit of training, but for most of us it will just work (i.e. based on an average of 600-700 words per day).

Magic Cottage · 06/03/13 - 15:30

Mark in Essex wrote: »

I've been wondering this with SwiftKey as well as I typed in a few letters the other day (think I miss typed a word) and it came up with some small village in Hertfordshire I had never heard of (and I know know a lot of the names of places around Anglia).

What was the small village? Curious now.

whoever,hey · 06/03/13 - 18:46

Mark in Essex wrote: »

I know there is a list of normal words of that people use and then it also tailor's itself to your typing patterns, but what about the small village (very small) I had never heard of in Hertfordshire?

Surly that would not have been in the Data on the phone?

I had to do a Google search to find out what the word was (thought it would have been a village as it had a capital letter to it.

it might go off cached map data.

Mark in Essex · 06/03/13 - 22:34

Just had a look in my previous texts and it was Yarpole.

I remember I was typing yarp (mucking about word for yes in a Cornish accent).

[Deleted User] · 06/03/13 - 23:04

Not sure if Perfect Keyboard Pro has this .. But it has T9 in portrait mode, so I'm happy

Magic Cottage · 06/03/13 - 23:08

Mark in Essex wrote: »

Just had a look in my previous texts and it was Yarpole.

I remember I was typing yarp (mucking about word for yes in a Cornish accent).

Aha! Predictive text must be at it again. Yarpole is in Herefordshire, not Hertfordshire.

Mark in Essex · 06/03/13 - 23:19

Sorry I did say Hertfordshire in my post (it was just that I must have misheard my mate when I got him to search for it on Google on his computer as I was driving).

Hey there!

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Android predictive text - How does it work?

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