Is there a true spell checker?

[AbeFrohman]

When they announced the Droid Pro with its keyboard, I was intrigued. (I'm a BlackBerry convert)

Then, reading further, they said it had a spell check built in - the first for Android. Now I was really intrigued. I use my phone for business and love to be able to send out emails quickly on the go, yet need them to be fairly accurate. In my BlackBerry days, you could enable a setting to check the spelling of your message before it was sent out.

I expected that was what the Android spell check would be like.

Now that the Pro is out, I've been to 3 different Verizon corporate stores to check it out. Nobody there can seem to figure out if it has a spell check or not. One rep printed out their 30-ish page launch package and sure enough, in the comparison charts, the Pro is listed as having spell check.

But nobody could figure out how it worked or how to actually check anything.

For example, if you type the word "built" but mistype and type "bilt" the auto correct changes it to "bolt." Nice and a correctly spelled word, but not what was intended. What I assumed a spell check means is that you could type away, even with errors and then check the entire body of the message to correct errors before sending, thus catching "bilt" and giving you a chance to change it to what you intended - "built." What the Pro appears to do is highlight in red words that it says are spelled incorrectly. As far as a find/replace/correct feature... can't find it.

Since the reps couldn't figure it out, I called 611. Talked to a really nice guy in customer service that was stumped. Got transferred to technical support. They had no better answers. Connected to Motorola - no definitive answer. Got switched to "level 2" support at Motorola. Still got quotes from whatever materials they all were looking at. "Yes, it has spell check. It will correct mistyped words." That's not what I'm after. An hour on the phone with them and I'm no closer to the answer.

So... my long-winded question is:

What is the spell check in the Droid Pro? Can you check the body of an email message before sending out? Or is it auto correct and they're calling it spell check?

Thanks for any insight you may have. I'm considering switching to the Pro, but have the X, so I'd be paying full retail and it doesn't do what I think it should, I may just wait to see what the next releases (either phone or OS) are and what they bring.

 

[jscher2000]

I played with the Droid Pro at the VZW store today and also did not see a spell-check feature in the menus. What I did see is a bar that displays various spelling suggestions as you type. You can tap any word on the bar to insert it. The word Android thinks is correct is highlighted and your spelling will be autocorrected to that word if you don't choose a different one before pressing the space bar. Hence my text message to myself says I was typing it on the Druid Pro. (I always turn off AutoCorrect whenever possible.)

 

[Supermanwoot]

ok so the difference between a spell check and autocorrect is huge. Autocorrect SUCKS. It changes words that are correct until you add them all, which could take forever.

I'm also a blackberry convert and their spellcheck is awesome, similar to the microsoft word one. It simply underlines the word in red and then you click it if you want to change it and it gives you options on what it could be so YOU pick it, not the autocorrect.

So, onto the droid pro. You have to disable 2 different settings to turn off the autocorrect, which is really annoying. The spellcheck works pretty well. It highlights the word that is wrong in RED and then if you tap on the work it gives you options at the bottom of the screen. It also displays options of different spellings/completions at the bottom of the screen WHILE you are typing, which is stupid AND there is no way to disable this without disabling correction options being given if you misspell a word.

It is kinda hard to explain but if you turn off "suggestions" but keep on the option to highlight a misspelled word it will STILL highlight words in red, but if you click on them it wont give you suggestions on what to replace with, which basically defeats the whole purpose of highlighting it.

What I wish it had: a way to NOT give me suggestions while I'm typing, but show a list ONLY if I select a misspelled word, much like a computer spellcheck would do... why didn't they think of that?

I've looked through market for a possible fix for this, but because the spellchecker on the droid pro is global (I think it works with all apps) and any spellechecker app is just an app that can send texts but doesn't work with the native SMS/email, it doesnt solve the problem.

edit: and now that I've turned off the autocorrect, it doesnt fix ANYTHING, even capitalizing "i" and making im to "I'm." These are things that I'm so used to from blackberry and microsoft word... very embarrassing for motorola. I don't see a way to tweak the way the autocorrect works.

There is a function called auto capitalize, but it only works for the first letter of a sentence, not the letter "i". very sad.

 

[AbeFrohman]

@Supermanwoot - Thanks. I saw that it highlighted incorrect words in red - didn't figure out the tap and suggestion thing, I guess.

Back to a VZW store to see if the spell check is all hype or is workable. I agree with the disconnect between having to choose autocorrect (which more often than not gives you a correctly spelled, but wrong, word) and spell check with the capitalization issue.

Hmm...

 

[Lyric#AC]

This auto-correct also annoys me to no end....if you are going to compete with BB you must produce a phone that does what BB does but better. And yet again BB holds its own with texting with the greatest ease. I do enjoy my Droid Pro but I'm missing the spell check.

 

[peternorth226]

I'm a former BB user...and I'm going nuts with my spelling in PRO