Kyle
SwiftKey is pretty darn useful, especially for one-handed typing. That said, more than a few people undoubtedly had a hard time justifying the price, which was admittedly high for a third-party keyboard. Starting today, the developers of SwiftKey are addressing that complaint by offering the base experience for free.
The change reflects SwiftKey’s business model going forward, which will focus on the sale of theme packs through the new SwiftKey Store. Members who previously paid for the app can download a “Premiere Pack” – 10 packs in total – at no charge, which is a $4.99 value.
Themes and a price drop are not the only additions to the latest version of SwiftKey. A new theme, Nickel, refines the look of the keyboard’s old Cobalt skin. A toggleable number row is present, along with new language support and improved flow trails. And the prediction engine has been vastly refined, extending even to emoji – SwiftKey can suggest appropriate emoji (from a database of 800) to use with a given word or phrase.
Speaking of emoji, the new SwiftKey also includes an emoji selector. Note that you will need a device running Android version 4.1 or above to use it.
The new SwiftKey is live in Google Play, so grab it while it’s hot!
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