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Android predictive text - How does it work? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 52
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Android predictive text - How does it work?
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? |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,644
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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).
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 263
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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.
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 30,072
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It uses phrases you use often as well. Its very clever!
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#5 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,644
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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. |
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 4,185
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Quote:
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? 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). |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 969
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Samsung predictive text (Galaxy S3, 4.1.2) is VERY clever I think!
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#8 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 43,524
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the swype/swiftkey function is built in to android 4.2
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,058
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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). |
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#10 |
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Guest
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 2,663
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Quote:
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).
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 30,072
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Quote:
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. |
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,644
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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). |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 165
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Not sure if Perfect Keyboard Pro has this .. But it has T9 in portrait mode, so I'm happy
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#14 |
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Guest
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 2,663
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Quote:
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). |
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,644
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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).
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