DS Forums

 
 

Android predictive text - How does it work?


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 05-03-2013, 17:05
hutchingsp
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 52

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?
hutchingsp is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 05-03-2013, 17:09
Mark in Essex
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,644
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).
Mark in Essex is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-03-2013, 19:03
Ultraman1966
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 263
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.
Ultraman1966 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-03-2013, 19:10
whoever,hey
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 30,072
It uses phrases you use often as well. Its very clever!
whoever,hey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-03-2013, 21:39
Mark in Essex
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,644
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.
Mark in Essex is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2013, 05:43
pi r squared
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 4,185
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).
pi r squared is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2013, 09:29
BrianWescombe
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 969
Samsung predictive text (Galaxy S3, 4.1.2) is VERY clever I think!
BrianWescombe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2013, 09:38
flagpole
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 43,524
the swype/swiftkey function is built in to android 4.2
flagpole is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2013, 09:50
rosetech
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,058
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).
rosetech is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2013, 10:30
Magic Cottage
Guest
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 2,663
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.
Magic Cottage is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2013, 13:46
whoever,hey
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 30,072
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.
whoever,hey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2013, 17:34
Mark in Essex
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,644
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).
Mark in Essex is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2013, 18:04
b1ackb1rd
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 165
Not sure if Perfect Keyboard Pro has this .. But it has T9 in portrait mode, so I'm happy
b1ackb1rd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2013, 18:08
Magic Cottage
Guest
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 2,663
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.
Magic Cottage is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2013, 18:19
Mark in Essex
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,644
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).
Mark in Essex is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 05:49.