It didn’t have text prediction because THAT would have been counterproductive as once you invest a little time you will be able to text so fast that prediction becomes an unnecessary distraction. After all, who uses prediction on their computer keyboard?

The fact that ME now does have prediction is merely due to the developers caving in to pressure from ‘early days’ users against their better judgement.

So the world record holder for non-predictive texting is slow and ‘counter-productive’? Yeah, right.

For my part, I can text at a comfortable 35 WPM with MessagEase without constantly having to look at the screen to make prediction choices that often end up faulty anyway. Plus I can enter any special characters and numbers in milliseconds. If I could afford a phone with more processing power, I’m sure my speed would increase as I currently have to slow myself down to avoid mistakes from the touchscreen not being able to keep all my gestures distinct. (The world record was done on a quad core device.)

To cut a long story short: Please update the review or just remove it.

And for some of the people who hate word prediction software that fills in the word it thinks you want, this version doesn’t do that; instead it makes what it thinks are the most likely options available as one further tap each, without in any way disturbing or delaying your ability to just keep typing.

As for the first three points, all are a matter of individual variation and personal taste/style. I had no trouble learning to use MessagEase and even prefer it on my tablet – where tiny keys are NOT a problem.

Granted, I’d rather have a proper full-size QWERTY keyboard – not a touch-sensitive picture of one – but that isn’t exactly practical on a tablet let alone a smartphone.

1. A rating of 4.5 stars out of possible 5 stars on the Android Google Play; This is the average of more than 1850 user votes, a very sharp contrast with Antonio’s verdict here!

And

2. The World Record for fastest texting on a touch screen devices: 76 words per minute!

see this link for details:

http://www.exideas.com/ME/meetOurChamp.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX-KRTZQJBc

That’s using two thumbs which I have just mastered.
Using one thumb I can manage around 50 but will be slightly more tiring.

i think a lot of the reasons listed here in the original review for the speed of other keypads– word prediction, voice input, word entry by key swiping with a visible trail over the keys, those are all strategies for getting around the unsuitability of the qwerty keyboard for use as an on-screen keypad on the tiny screens of current smartphones.

For me the ME keypad just seems to be a more basic solution. i’m typing. not looking at lists of possible words, not speaking and then choosing from a list, not drawing and sometimes redrawing a line over tiny keys. It has fewer and bigger keys for one, and also lets me double up the keypad so i have one under each thumb, speeding up entry.

Granted the ergonomics suck and i’m always going to be much faster on a regular keyboard with tactile feedback and individual keys, but the ME keypad does work for me in long text entry. i’m left able to think abt what i want to write.

i think a lot of the reasons listed here in the original review for the speed of other keypads– word prediction, voice input, word entry by key swiping with a visible trail over the keys, those are all strategies for getting around the unsuitability of the qwerty keyboard for use as an on-screen keypad on the tiny screens of current smartphones.

For me the ME keypad just seems to be a more basic solution. i’m typing. not looking at lists of possible words, not speaking and then choosing from a list, not drawing and sometimes redrawing a line o

And then, of course, the bonus features – above all, the ability to move the cursor word by word, the same as you do with Ctrl+Arrow on a keyboard, or delete a word at a time, like Ctrl+backspace. And the other perks like resizing the keyboard, customizing the color scheme, voice input, and the instant special character thing — the app just gives you the sense that every detail has been extensively thought out, if you’re willing to invest the time on the front end.

Your rating of TWO stars is in sharp contrast with the average rating of 4.2 stars that almost 1400 people have given it

You: 2 stars?
1347 people: 4.2 stars

This is a sharp discrepancy!

Could it you who is wrong on this? And not the rest of world?!

Let’s be honest here, realistically, how often do you really need special characters in typical written text on a smartphone since this sadly seems to be the best feature? If you ever used Swype you would know know special characters are one tap away or if you long press for one second, they are right there on the main keyboard.

We should compare this app to another more suitable of its class because comparing it to Swype is like saying Steve Kerr was a greater basketball player than Michael Jordan.

It seems that your review of more than a year ago could not suppress the reaction of more 120,000 people with an average rating of 4.2 (and rising) over 5 now.

I appreciate your candor in admitting that you may have been wrong on this. But how about some alacrity in making this wrong right?

Read the comments of thousands of MessagEase users on and Android Market who rave about it. That would give you at least some clue as to why MessagEase is so popular.

Either tens of thousands of people enjoying MessagEase are smoking something, or Mr. Antonio is wrong!