Since its release, iPhone has been considered as the best mobile phone with the best user experience, but many people believe that the good user experience comes from the closeness of the entire ecosystem of Apple itself. Compared with Android, which is known for its openness, Apple not only controls the software and hardware systems of its own devices, but also faces many restrictions for developers to develop applications on this platform.
For a long time, these restrictions have made many applications or functions that can significantly improve the use experience of mobile phones out of the way of iPhone. For Chinese people, the most impressive one must be the mobile phone Pinyin input method. Before the release of the iOS 7 system, if you don't break the prison, you can't use the Jiugongji Pinyin input method on iOS. You can only break the prison and install a third-party input method. Even though iOS7 has its own Jiugongge Pinyin input method, its use experience is far from that of a bunch of excellent Chinese Pinyin input methods on the Android platform, which makes people complain endlessly.
Finally, on this year's WWDC, Apple released iOS8. While introducing a series of new features, Apple finally opened thousands of API interfaces, including the introduction of third-party input methods. This is great news for iPhone users who use Pinyin input. Of course, since Apple has opened the interface, domestic input method manufacturers are not ambiguous. Sogou has recently launched a public beta version of Pinyin input method adapted to iOS 8. Let's experience what features it has.
1. Installation and use
This should not be a part of APP evaluation, but since iOS8 is still in the developer testing stage, Sogou input method loading cannot be installed through APPSTORE for the time being, but should be installed through TestFlight. After successful installation, you can see the icon of Sogou input method added to the desktop.
It also requires some steps to use the installed Sogou input method on iOS 8. After installation, open the keyboard settings in the system settings. You need to manually add a third-party input method to add the installed Sogou input method and start using it.
2. Layout
At this time, we are entering text, and the system can normally call the Sogou input method. Sogou input method is opened by default in a Chinese nine grid layout. The middle part is a common nine grid keyboard, the left side is a common punctuation mark, and below it are punctuation list, input method switch, number key Chinese and English input switch and other buttons.
This input method layout is similar to the Sogou input method in the Android version. It has been proved that this layout has much more functions than the Jiugong Pinyin input method in iOS, which conforms to the usage habits of Chinese input. Compared with the Jiugong Pinyin input method, this layout can significantly improve the input efficiency. Compared with the native input method, the layout of Sogou input method is more convenient in symbol input. You can type directly in the shortcut bar on the left of the Jiugong grid, while the native input method needs to enter the special symbol list for selection. In addition, the Sogou input method has the re-entry key, and it is convenient to press the re-entry key directly instead of pressing the delete key all the time to go back when entering errors.
However, due to the height limitation of the input method in iOS8, the keys are relatively small. As shown in the red line in the figure below, the overall height of the public beta version of Sogou IME is slightly lower than that of the built-in IME, so Sogou IME also compresses the font size of Pinyin. This change does not affect the input, and the size of the entire layout is suitable for authors with small hands, but users with large fingers may feel a little inconvenient.
Some details of Sogou input method in terms of layout are also optimized well. For example, after clicking the symbol button below to enter the symbol selection interface, the return button at the bottom is located at the same position as the symbol button of the original nine grid. Human fingers have operation memory, which improves the comfort of operation and the input efficiency. Of course, there is only a blank in the middle of the toolbar with return and delete keys below, which is quite abrupt. It is not integrated into the whole symbol panel in design, which has some problems.
Of course, it is also mentioned here that the symbols of Sogou input method support Chinese and English symbols, mathematical symbols, and even Russian and Japanese symbols, which are more suitable for funny chat scenes.
3. Basic functions
Sogou input method In the input process, you can select candidate words by sliding left and right. Click the cutting head in the upper right corner to open more candidates, and select candidates by sliding up and down. At the same time, Sogou input method supports searching candidate words through strokes.
In the Sogou input method, press the nine grid in the Chinese input, and you can quickly type English letters (including upper and lower case) and corresponding numbers. In the iOS built-in input method, press the nine grid for a long time, and you can only input three to four English letters corresponding to different directions. This is also a symbolic difference between the built-in system and the third-party system. After pressing and holding the nine grid to pop up the options of letters and numbers, Sogou input method can quickly type numbers directly in the nine grid by sliding up. It does not need to switch to the number keyboard, and you can also select different English letters by sliding left and right, which is also quite convenient.
In addition, click the emoticon button in the upper left corner of Sogou input method to freely select emoji and ordinary symbol input. The native input method needs to switch to the special emoji input method to input emoji, and the operation steps are tedious.
From these aspects, Sogou input method reflects its long-term accumulated advantages in terms of ease of operation and user input experience.
3. Features
Sogou input method supports a variety of third-party skins, and has a built-in skin market. You can also use user-defined pictures as keyboard wallpapers. The hot word search is actually an entrance to Sohu News. After clicking it, you will link to the page of Sohu News to view the latest hot word related news. The public beta version of Sogou input method also supports adding a thesaurus. After adding a thesaurus, the phrase in the thesaurus will be automatically recognized when entering, which is quite convenient.
The public beta version of Sogou input method also has powerful cloud input and long sentence input functions. When typing, the Internet can detect the cloud input thesaurus, and there will be a cloud sign in the upper right corner of the phrase. The recognition rate of long sentence input is relatively high, and there is no problem in dealing with the input of general sentences. Some popular phrases or sentences can be completed automatically.
Sliding input allows the user to recognize the required and typed words directly by sliding on the screen without clicking on the screen. Sliding input has also been a hot feature of input methods in the past two years. This element has also been introduced in the new version of Android input methods, and Sogou input method has also followed this trend by adding sliding input.
In addition to various convenient input methods, the Sogou input method also has an intelligent error correction function. Because the iPhone screen is still relatively small at this stage, if you use the 26 key for input, it is easy to have the phenomenon of false touch. At this time, the intelligent error correction function is particularly important. In the figure, we type "zgi", which is automatically recognized as "zhi", and tick the top right corner of the error correction result for marking. This feature is really a blessing for iPhone users.
The Pinyin input method on the iOS system has always been a pain point for domestic iPhone users. In iOS 7 and previous versions of the iOS system, the official input method is not powerful, nor is it open to third parties. Apple has suffered a lot of stigma, and even many players escaped from prison because they installed third-party input methods. Now we can finally solve this pain point after the advent of iOS 8. Through this experience of the public beta of Sogou input method, we can say that domestic iPhone users have ushered in a really easy-to-use input method.
As for the public beta of Sogou input method in this evaluation, we can see its power from its many functions that should be available for intelligent input, and feel its humanized processing from some details and small functions. Although there are many minor flaws in its design or system optimization, and although these functions may have become commonplace compared with the Android version of Sogou IME, Sogou IME undoubtedly has considerable advantages over the iOS built-in IME. Convenient cloud input thesaurus, long sentence input and intelligent error correction are all functions that can greatly improve the input efficiency, and also let us experience a happier input experience on the iPhone.
It is believed that after Apple announced the opening of the third-party input method for iOS on WWDC, several old Pinyin input methods in China must be working hard to complete the adaptation of iOS 8 first. Now the public beta of Sogou input method shows us the accumulation of Sogou input method and its strength in development. Of course, the current beta version of iOS 8 is not very stable. If Sogou input method really wants to enter the eyes of iPhone users, it still has to wait until the official release of iOS 8.
