The keys in English
The keys are QWERTY on Flikzi’s honeycomb: hexagons with no gaps between them, in rows of 10, 9 and 7, each row half a key further in. They are the same keys in every Latin-script language.
The three rows
| Row | Keys, and what a flick down types |
|---|---|
| Top | q1w2e3r4t5y6u7i8o9p0 |
| Middle | a@s#d$f_g&h-j+k(l) |
| Bottom | z*x"c'v:b/n!m? |
A tap types the letter. A flick up types its capital, so there is no shift key. A flick down types the digit or mark shown under it. ?123 and ☺ are half keys at the two ends of the middle row. The comma is left of the bottom row; right of it are the full stop and enter. The space bar is below: swipe left on it to delete. Every gesture.
Typing English on Flikzi
- Autocorrect that allows for a neighbouring key, a missed letter, an extra tap and swapped letters
- The word you are typing, and words that finish it, in the strip above the keys
- Next-word predictions after each space
- A flick up for a capital, a flick down for the digit or mark under the letter
- Your own words and phrases, learned on your phone
- Emoji suggestions for the word you just typed
You don’t have to hit each key exactly. Flikzi reads where every tap landed and allows for a neighbouring key, a missed letter, an extra tap or two letters swapped: hwllo becomes hello, teh becomes the and adress becomes address. The word it will put in leads the strip above the keys, and space or a full stop puts it in. If it changes a word you meant, swipe left on the space bar straight away: your own letters come back and are not corrected a second time.
Apostrophes and capitals come with the words: type dont and im and you get don’t and I’m, and monday becomes Monday. For a capital of your own, flick the letter up, anywhere in a word: iPhone, USA. There is no shift key to find.
English has no accents of its own, so a held letter offers the common ones of other languages: hold e for è, é, ê and ë, or n for ñ. That covers café and jalapeño.
Flikzi learns the words you use and which word you type after which, on your phone, so your own names and phrases come up in the strip.
Singlish and Malaysian English words (lah, lor, shiok, makan, paiseh and about 230 in all) can join English with Singlish words in settings, on from the start on phones set to Singapore or Malaysia.
In the address bar and email fields the strip also offers .com, https://, www. and @gmail.com, and nothing you type there is corrected. Web addresses and email.
With Flikzi Pro, the mic at the right end of the strip types by voice in English, when the speech recogniser on your phone has that language. Voice typing.
English with your other languages
A phone already set to English starts with it on. Otherwise pick English in Flikzi’s settings, under Language: the free version types one language, and English can be it. With Flikzi Pro, open Several languages to switch on as many as you use, then flick up on the left of the space bar to move to the next one, or flick up and hold for a picker. The space bar shows English while you type English, and the picker lists it as EN.
Often typed with English: Spanish, French, German. All 23 languages.
Where the words come from
The word list comes from the Android Open Source Project’s LatinIME dictionaries (Apache License 2.0), with word counts and next-word data from the Tatoeba sentence collection (CC BY 2.0 FR). It all ships inside the app and runs on your phone, so nothing you type is sent anywhere. Open-source licences.
Questions
Is Flikzi’s English keyboard free?
Yes, if English is the language you type: the free version of Flikzi types one language of your choice, with every flick on the letters and the space bar. Typing English alongside other languages, and switching between them with a flick, needs Flikzi Pro, a one-time purchase of US$4.99 before tax. Every new install gets 14 days of Pro free.
Does Flikzi’s English autocorrect work offline?
Yes. The word list, the autocorrect and the next-word predictions are all inside the app and run on your phone. Flikzi has no internet permission, so it cannot send what you type anywhere.
What if autocorrect changes a word I meant?
Swipe left on the space bar straight after the word and your own letters come back; Flikzi does not correct them a second time. Before you press space, your own letters are always first or second in the strip, so you can tap them. To stop words being replaced at all, switch Autocorrect off in settings; the suggestions stay.
Where are the shift key and the delete key?
There are none. Flick a letter up for its capital, and swipe left on the space bar to delete. Sentences start with a capital on their own.
Does Flikzi send what I type in English anywhere?
No. The dictionary and the engine are inside the app, and nothing you type leaves your phone. Flikzi has no internet permission, so it cannot send anything. It asks for your contacts or the microphone only if you turn on contacts’ email addresses or voice typing, and it works without them.