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LG is rolling out a handful of new features for the touchscreen “smart keyboard” on its new flagship G3 phone , providing several tools that anticipate a user’s next keystroke.
The technology is part of a general trend by tech companies to guess a person’s next step before they take it, with one of the most-used examples being Google’s search engine offering to complete a user’s query as they start typing.
The focus on “smart keyboard” technology may be a way for Korea-based LG to differentiate in an extremely competitive smartphone market filled with lower-end Chinese manufacturers such as ZTE and Huawei and tech titans Apple and Samsung. Other smartphone makers have attempted a variety features to stand out, such as Amazon last month presenting a 3D-like display in its new Fire Phone .
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LG said Thursday its “smart keyboard” will now predict words a person is about to type in certain cases after learning from someone’s typing habits. For instance, if a user is about to start writing an email and always starts with the word “Dear,” the phone will recommend that word. In other cases, the technology could suggest next words or symbols in a sentence using context clues. Another feature being added will be an emoji suggestion, with the phone offering up, for instance, the image of a heart if a user types the word “love.”
The “smart keyboard” technology was designed to cut down on typos and speed up writing on a smartphone by studying a user’s writing style to better predict what a user meant to type. The touchscreen keyboard can also be adjusted for height to better fit a user’s hands and position of their thumbs. The technology also allows for “path input,” letting users enter text by fluidly tracing a finger across the keyboard in a continuous motion, while the phone predicts what word the user intended.
The 5.5-inch G3 will go on sale shortly in the US, according to the company’s website. T-Mobile already allows for preorders, with its site saying the phones will ship by next week.
