Q4 is a QWERTY version of developer Snapkeys' Si Revolution ABC4 keyboard, which gave the alphabetic keyboard the four-key treatment. Q4 shares a lot of the same function and design with its alphabetic predecessor, but to its credit, has a slightly more polished design.
While Q4 does come with a full keyboard option, the app's raison d'etre is its unique approach to type-input. The app utilizes a beefy predictive functionality to whittle the keyboard down to only four keys—or rather, four keys plus one bonus invisible key, as we'll explain below.
So, how's it work? Q4 separates the keyboard into four quadrants that represents the letters each hand types on. So, the two buttons on the left side represent all the QWERTY letters used by the left hand: QWER is the top row, ASDF is the middle row. On the right side, the buttons are TYUILP and GHJKO (You may have noticed that L and O have traded places, I am not sure why that is).
But how does it work?
You type by spelling out your desired word using each chunk of letters and then allowing the keyboard to predict what words you are trying to spell. And, surprisingly, it's not bad.
For example, when trying to spell the word "hippopotamus," I tapped the GHJKO button for h, followed by three taps of the TYUILP button for i-p-p, followed by GHJKO again for o. By the time I hit TYUILP again for the third p, I was given the suggestion of "hippopotamus" which I tapped. Six taps in total to get a 12-character word.
(For the record, SwiftKey took the same amount of letters before giving me "hippopotamus.")
Source : TechHive
No comments