I’ve found a great resource if you are interested in a ‘quick and dirty’ coded version for Android here.

What is particularly nice is that he has included the source code and links to other useful input resources. However, interesting to note he still prefers using Swype. I wonder if Swype would consider allowing you to redesign the keyboard so you could get a Fitaly and Swype mashup :-)

Link to engadget article about Droid X with Swype here.

I also found this comment by one of the creators of Swype that says that the Swype technology was actually patented before the Shark technology from IBM was created and the two were developed separately in parallel.

In an earlier post I mentioned shapewriter. It seems that 3rd party software will be used to plug the hole initially that is missing with this release of the G1 / Android. ‘Dima70′ also kindly added a comment that points to the following sites:

SlideIT – http://www.mobiletextinput.com/Product/SlideIT/SlideIT.php

Swype – http://www.swypeinc.com/

Which seem to offer alternative touchscreen keyboard inputs.

I’m sure we will see more traditional pop up qwerty keyboards appear and I also hope we’ll see some more ‘whacky’ designs such as the ‘fitaly’ keyboard making an appearance soon.

It seems that the Google Chrome browser which has (at the time of writing) already been downloaded by 14 million people is likely to be part of the base Android platform. I have heard rumours that this will be a cut down version with much of the desktop version’s ‘thread safe’ tab browsing but that early versions may not have Google Gears. Here’s hoping that later versions integrate Gears as it would probably be of more benefit in a mobile environment than anywhere else. One of the benefits of Gears is that it allows the use of the web in offline mode and reduces the number of calls to servers by using a local cache. However, this in turn may raise further security issues as to how that local data is protected (i.e. should it be encrypted).

Chrome itself has also been the subject of attacks by the media for lauching with code based on an insecure version of Webkit. Expect a patch soon.

If you really want to know how it works there is even a paper from one of the co-creators of shapewriter on the technology behind it called SHARK² (or “SHorthand Aided Rapid Keyboarding Squared” !) here .