TouchPal keyboard staging a comeback, HTC EVO users interested in beta testing?
If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. This is the approach TouchPal is adopting as it makes an attempt to come back from obscurity. In a market where more and more handsets are shipped with Swype preloaded on them (including our very own HTC EVO 3D), carving out a niche for your input application is getting harder to do. Additionally, recently reviewed alternatives like SwiftKey X have proven to be very popular among users. Knowing that Swype currently sits atop the keyboard food chain (and that Swype v3.0 beta with a host of new features is in the works), TouchPal may have some very compelling new morsels of its own.
The new keyboard, aptly named TouchPal Curve, looks an awful lot like Swype at first glance. Keep looking and you will see that the developer's promotional video promises not only that functionality but also blind typing, smarter word prediction, multilingual support, and more.
TouchPal Input Curve is a ways off a full Android Market release but the developers have extended an open invitation to join the beta testing community. If you would like to get involved in the beta testing and get the beta on your HTC EVO to test drive what looks to be an amazing concept, follow TouchPal on Twitter for more information. TouchPal tweeted this morning that they "will start to send the beta version tomorrow according to your application time." As with most projects in testing, there will surely be a cutoff and no guarantee you'll get in.
Sure would be a lot of fun to see if TouchPal turns out to be what I have been craving: a cross between Swype and SwiftKey X. Throw in the chance to use blind typing and I'm salivating.
[Android and Me]
