Database Users

Very compact PocketCM skin (3 rows): miniPhone v0.1 (screenshots added)

One problem that I have with most keyboard skins is that it becomes too tall and I find myself typing blindly because the keyboard covers the area that I am typing. SPB Fullscreen keyboard gets around but is buggy and not a "true" SIP keyboard (if you have used this you will know what I mean. The only way around this is to create a not so tall skin. Default WM6 kb is not so tall but is not finger friendly.
Thus I have modified a skin for PocketCM that I thought I would share. The original skin is based on a skin called 2manyiClone, which I believe is from 2manyphones, so many thanks goes to him.
The main features are:
1. Only 3 rows high, but the buttons are still finger friendly (most skins are 4 rows).
2. Most letters, symbols and numbers needed can be accessed through the main layout screen(I hate switching layout screen for one symbol or number and having to change back).
3. What is sacrificed to make this happen: space, return, and backspace are only 1 box wide. No shift button.
4. In place of shift, all capital letters can be accessed by holding down a letter until the "symbol pad" for that letter pops up revealing its capital letter. If you really need the shift key (ie capitalizing whole words) you can find it in the "symbol pad" of the space key (hold space key down).
5. All digits can be accessed on the main page by holding down the letters of the top row (qwertyuiop) for 0-9 revealing its symbol pad. All of the letters in the top row have the corresponding digits in their top right corner to show its digit function.
6. Symbols and punctuations can be accessed either through the default symbol pad of the .!123 key (hold it down) or the "m" key (which has a (') character to designate it is also a symbol key.
7. .com can be accessed through the "c" symbol pad and www. can be accessed through the "w" symbol pad (hold down the respective letter).
If someone finds a use for this, then great. If not, then sorry to waste your time.
Just download and unzip into your PocketCM keyboard folder. It should have two files miniPhone.layout and miniPhone.skin. Under PocketCm options, it is important to select both the miniPhone layout and the miniPhone skin for it to work right.
I am also taking suggestions for improvement. If it suits me I will make the change and post revisions. If it doesn't suit my purpose, then i will just show you how to change it yourself.
Here is also an alternate layout by jomo25:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2105928&postcount=14
Here are my screenshots:

Nice job
This is a nice adaptation of my iClone keyboard. The small numbers on the top row of keys is a nice idea. I'm sure some people will like this smaller footprint. You may want to take a look at the layout file in my "Best of" version (link in my signture). Considering the numbers can be accessed from "qwerty...." keys, I think you could add more symbols or shortcuts to the .!# key. Also the symbol pad goes to 4 lines. You may want to try having two 3 line symbol pads to keep the same foot print, but still allow for access to many symbols.
It is nice to see people taking my (and others) ideas and coming up with their own style.
Keep it up!

works great on my HTC Touch, thanks!

Nice screenshoot...I'll try...Thanks....

Spanish layout
Hi,
How can I add accented vowels support?
I mean á, é, ...
Thanks

longj49 said:
works great on my HTC Touch, thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wait...it's not suppose to look like that. It's suppose to have only 3 rows not 4. Are you sure you selected miniPhone under skin and layout? I think you forgot to select miniPhone layout.

2manyphones said:
This is a nice adaptation of my iClone keyboard. The small numbers on the top row of keys is a nice idea. I'm sure some people will like this smaller footprint. You may want to take a look at the layout file in my "Best of" version (link in my signture). Considering the numbers can be accessed from "qwerty...." keys, I think you could add more symbols or shortcuts to the .!# key. Also the symbol pad goes to 4 lines. You may want to try having two 3 line symbol pads to keep the same foot print, but still allow for access to many symbols.
It is nice to see people taking my (and others) ideas and coming up with their own style.
Keep it up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So i see my thanks needs to go to you for the skin. It is the most "authenetic" *phone skin out there.
Funny that I never looked at that thread before when I came up with my ideas, especially having caps for each letter symbol pad. I am quite surprise more layouts don't have this. i guess great minds think alike..lol. I got the idead for that from using default wm6 kb with gestures in which if you upward gesture any letter you get its cap.
Again, thanks a bunch.
Aslo, perhaps you can link this thread to your original thread?

I am considering adding punctuations and symbols onto the qwertyuiop keys, with each letter getting a symbol on the upper left hand corner to go with the digits on the right hand corner. The problem with this design is that things may start to look cluttered.
What do you guys think?

screenshots added to first post!

very nice work! works great on my cruise but there's a small bug. sometimes when i press space, it would go to the symbols pad itself. weird but it's not a big deal. also, all the buttons seem overlapped on landscape mode. visible especially on the top row and the space, return, symbols and backspace buttons. thanks for the great skin!

raggastani said:
very nice work! works great on my cruise but there's a small bug. sometimes when i press space, it would go to the symbols pad itself. weird but it's not a big deal. also, all the buttons seem overlapped on landscape mode. visible especially on the top row and the space, return, symbols and backspace buttons. thanks for the great skin!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry but I designed this for use on Portrait only, never really use Landscape myself.
On the spacebar bug, which symbols pad are you referring too? Spacebar has its own "symbols pad" which include the Shift key, period and comma, as well as the space bar.

SuperFly, this is awesome...You inspired me to use this one which takes up much less space...I've modded yours to this:
Code:
keyboard_layout_1=qwertyuiop\nasdfghjkl\N\n\Mzxc vbnm\2
keyboard_layout_2=QWERTYUIOP\nASDFGHJKL\N\n\MZXC VBNM\1
keyboard_layout_3=&@[1\]$*789+?\n.':/!456-\B\n\M[1http://www.]()0123=\N
symbol_pad=\M,0123456789
symbol_pad=z,-Z?!_&@$"'
symbol_pad=w,W2[3http://www.][2.com][2.net]
symbol_pad= ,[2LoginID2][3LoginID1][2Password1][3Password2]
symbol_pad=),[2;)][2:)][2:p][2:D][2:*]
symbol_pad=(,[2:S][2:(][2:|][2:o][2:/]
symbol_pad=/,[1\]
symbol_pad=-,_
symbol_pad=:,;
symbol_pad=http://www.,[2.com][2.net][3https://www.]
symbol_pad=a,A
symbol_pad=b,B
symbol_pad=c,C
symbol_pad=d,D
symbol_pad=e,E3
symbol_pad=f,F
symbol_pad=g,G
symbol_pad=h,H
symbol_pad=i,8I
symbol_pad=j,J
symbol_pad=k,K
symbol_pad=l,L
symbol_pad=m,\E\T\H\F\DM
symbol_pad=n,N
symbol_pad=o,9O
symbol_pad=p,0P
symbol_pad=q,Q1
symbol_pad=r,R4
symbol_pad=s,S
symbol_pad=t,5T
symbol_pad=u,7U
symbol_pad=v,V
symbol_pad=x,X
symbol_pad=y,6Y
This way it's always 3 rows, and has access to lots of symbols, smileys, and ID/PWs as I like to set mine up...Hope this is useful to some others!
Great idea, SFSC!

jomo25,
glad I inspired you. maybe you can post a zip of your layout so we can try it out without going through a text editor.

superflysocal said:
jomo25,
glad I inspired you. maybe you can post a zip of your layout so we can try it out without going through a text editor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Attached. The skin file is unchanged. The layout file is as in last post.
If you want to customize it of course, you should use a text editor to use your IDs and/or PWs...
Thanks!

Additional shots

Anyone working on a portrait VGA version of this?

soft keyboard

I like to carry my Advantage on the leather cover without the keyboard, what help to keep it protected without making too much bulk on my pocket. I have tried many of the soft keyboards available and like very much Resco, Zoomboard and PocketCM. However I think the best layout is the one which have the keys on the 'smile' orientation which apparently none of them offer. I'm using SPB full keyboard because of that but don't like the fact it covers the all screen, it's more oriented for small screen than to the Advantage. Does anyone knows about a VGA skin on this shape? What everybody is using for soft keyboard?

I've tried many software keyboard. I always go back to Tengo 2.1. If you're not using 192dpi, it's good to also have Resco Keyboard in addition to Tengo 2.1.
At the moment I'm back to using my device in 192dpi again, after using it in 96dpi for many months. At this dpi, I like to completely do without the stylus. So I've redone my iLauncher to use the Thumb tab and have big icons throughout. Tengo 2.1 works very well for Thumb typing. There are only six big keys (or rather six areas of keys) to touch most of the time, so its really easy. Tengo's keyboard size is the same under all dpi. It does not invade your screen like some other soft keyboard, despite having one of the largest sized keys (or areas of keys).
One other important consideration is weather or not you need to input in other languages too. If you need to input in East Asian language, then your choices may be different again, just as example.

Thank you Eaglesteve, I will try Tengo. I'm using 192dpi also because on the move I need something that I can easy 'shot' the right key due to the large icons instead of 'aiming' perfectly on the bullseye. Many times walking and working with the Advantage, what a great machine!!

rcf2 said:
Thank you Eaglesteve, I will try Tengo. I'm using 192dpi also because on the move I need something that I can easy 'shot' the right key due to the large icons instead of 'aiming' perfectly on the bullseye. Many times walking and working with the Advantage, what a great machine!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be sure to go through the tutorial first.
If you're using it in 192 dpi, forget about Resco, because Tengo 2.1 has three different layout, one of which is the big sized standard keyboard, which is good for typing in software serial number, etc. The other two layouts are not suitable for such job.
The thing that you will like about this keyboard is that it is not necessary to type the specific key precisely although that would also work. The idea is to allow you to be very very imprecise and yet give you the correct words to choose from. Your finger need not travel all over the place when you type. Just touch the TYGHBN area.
If you need special and unique words, then go for the key precisely. What you type will appear on top right corner. Just choose that word instead of the proposed ones. Once you have used that unique word once, it automatically gets added to the dictionary so that you can use that word by typing imprecisely at the six area later on.
Enjoy.

How do you change resoloution?
Forgive me for my stupid question, but how do you change the screen resolution on your athena?
Would like to do that myself!

branko.savic said:
Forgive me for my stupid question, but how do you change the screen resolution on your athena?
Would like to do that myself!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if I understand what you're asking. If your question is what I think it is, then the answer is to use realVGA. Am I missing something?

I think that's what he's asking.
RealVGA: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=327830

techntrek said:
I think that's what he's asking.
RealVGA: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=327830
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
Thats exactly what I meant!

Best Keyboard for the HD?

Hi I'm currently using PocketCM Keyboard which is better than the default but a bit frustrating when having to use !&- etc as you have to switch to numbers then to exclamations...
I was wondering if anyone have found a better keyboard (perhaps like the iphone with everything on the one screen) but still takes advantage of the screen size?

JetMouse, you know you can easily customise the layout of PocketCM Keyboard to suit your needs? It's as easy as editing a text file to control which symbols appear on which buttons. Since I did that it's easily become my favourite software on my Touch.

SiliconS said:
JetMouse, you know you can easily customise the layout of PocketCM Keyboard to suit your needs? It's as easy as editing a text file to control which symbols appear on which buttons. Since I did that it's easily become my favourite software on my Touch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I didn't know this - can you run me through how to do it?

JetMouse said:
Hi I'm currently using PocketCM Keyboard which is better than the default but a bit frustrating when having to use !&- etc as you have to switch to numbers then to exclamations...
I was wondering if anyone have found a better keyboard (perhaps like the iphone with everything on the one screen) but still takes advantage of the screen size?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use SPB Keyboard (the new one, version 4.0) with fullscreen mode. The non-fullscreen mode is pretty much iphone-like. Don't know if it's "better" - to my taste the stock one is just perfect in all respects except for lack of support for Russian, which I need. Unlike most other keyboards, it has arrows which compensate the absense of the dpad on the device.

Sure thing:
Connect your PocketPC to your computer so you can browse the contents of the device.
Browse to \Program Files\PCMKeyboard
Copy English.layout (or whichever one you're using) to your computer's desktop
Make a backup of the file, just in case
Open the live file with Notepad
You can see four lines labelled keyboard_layout_#=
Edit the characters in those lines to change the symbols on the keys in PocketCM Keyboard
Each of the four lines contains a complete template for the keyboard. Rows are separated by the \n (newline) combination
There are some shortcuts to create special-purpose keys:
\2 seems to be uppercase
\1 seems to be lowercase
\b is backspace
\M is the symbol/text toggle button
\N is the enter key
There is a way of including smilies or combinations of characters on single keys, but I can't remember how. I also can't remember how to edit the row of quick symbols you see if you hold down the '123#?' button
Once you've made your changes, save the file on your computer and copy it back over to the PocketPC.
You'll need to choose a different softinput thing and then go back to PCM Keyboard to see the changes.
Don't forget to save the file somewhere in case you upgrade to a newer version of PCM Keyboard.

My favourite keyboard is Tengo. Allows very fast and forgiving typing. You might like to try it. I hope it works on Touch HD cos I have not got one to try on yet.
They have a free version, a commercial regular version, and a commercial thumb version.

the best keyboard for me is touchpal from http://www.cootek.com/
so many improvements

prospects said:
the best keyboard for me is touchpal from http://www.cootek.com/
so many improvements
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is it compatible with the TOUCH HD

Touchpal
I think Touchpal is the best.

iznee said:
is it compatible with the TOUCH HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tested it, yes it is 100% compatible.
I love this keyboard, but I am trying to get it to run using the Dutch language. It is so blazing fast and accurate in English using the suretype layout, it's not even funny. I SWEAR I cannot type faster using a hardware keyboard, simply because of the fact that it is just as accurate, has big enough keys to type blind, and you don't actually have to depress a button so... works for me
Still stuck with the trial version though...
Only thing that I still gotta get used to is switching keyboards using a finger slide, I just keep pressing buttons instead of triggering the slide really cool function though as it saves button space and basically is just cool to show people
Thanks for the tip people!
EDIT:
Got my own language it in it now, easy... Also really easy to switch languages... Just pull down the ABC key and pick one. This does reveal some non-skinned ugly winmo buttons though, even while the rest of the keyboard is Diamond skinned.

wfhowell said:
I think Touchpal is the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Completely Agree, it is very usefull, Fast and easy to use Keyboard

TouchPal
I would at least try the demo of this. I personally prefer TouchPal to a Blackberry hardware keyboard. I am serious. The seplling correction and word prediction is simply amazing. Completely altered my view of software keyboards.
BTW- I am 6' 2" and weigh 220 with BIG hands, and Have been happy with TouchPal since the first Touch.

What keyboard software do you use?

Hi, is there a keyboard with 5 rows (numbers visible) that you can still accuratly press keys with your fingers? Because my passwords contain both numbers and letters and i have to enter them a lot :-( Thanks.

mdalacu said:
Hi, is there a keyboard with 5 rows (numbers visible) that you can still accuratly press keys with your fingers? Because my passwords contain both numbers and letters and i have to enter them a lot :-( Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend Fingerkeyboard. It is free, highly customizable and does a great job. See my signature for the link. You can create your own layout if you want. I think other users have already made a layout with 5 rows, but if not, you can make your own. It is pretty easy. You can also see my signature for a basic tutorial on editing layouts. You decide what keys you wnat, where you want them, and what characters you want each key to type. If you have questions, you can post them in the Fingerkeyboard 2.1 thread here.
Another good keyboard if you prefer sliding instead of typing is SlideIT by Dasur. It costs $15 and does a great job. You can type (i.e. slide) really fast with it. It also supports many languages. You can view their homepage here.

Thank you!

Chris Cross said:
I recommend Fingerkeyboard. It is free, highly customizable and does a great job. See my signature for the link. You can create your own layout if you want. I think other users have already made a layout with 5 rows, but if not, you can make your own. It is pretty easy. You can also see my signature for a basic tutorial on editing layouts. You decide what keys you wnat, where you want them, and what characters you want each key to type. If you have questions, you can post them in the Fingerkeyboard 2.1 thread here.
Another good keyboard if you prefer sliding instead of typing is SlideIT by Dasur. It costs $15 and does a great job. You can type (i.e. slide) really fast with it. It also supports many languages. You can view their homepage here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ready that fingerkeyboard had problems with the HD2, can you confirm that it works well, and what version are u using?

Today i tried TouchPal. it is the BEST keyboard for the HD2 (at least for me).
It is so east to type accurately now.

i agree with Touch Pal i can write extremly fast plus a lower sensitive cab installation is just perfect - at least for me.

Zoomboard from vito

halling said:
I ready that fingerkeyboard had problems with the HD2, can you confirm that it works well, and what version are u using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
one of the reasons that FK had problems with the HD2 is the speed of the capacitive screen. Some people correct that with the lesss sensitive Cab on this site. With FK go to options and delay the two hold times. I've set the left one to 400 instead of 250 and the right one to 250. Now FB works well on the HD2.
Chriss: can you confirm this and also tell us what the left and right one are for???

I installed TouchPal and thought it was pretty naff compared to the standard HTC keyboard, to be honest. I can type faster and mode accurately using the standard keyboard. In fact, this post was written using it!

kuzibri said:
...
Chriss: can you confirm this and also tell us what the left and right one are for???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry guys. I got mixed up. No, I have not tested it on the Leo (I'm still looking into getting one ). I have only read the same reports that you have all mentioned here.
And @kuzibri: what do you mean with "what the left and right one are for"?

Chris Cross said:
Sorry guys. I got mixed up. No, I have not tested it on the Leo (I'm still looking into getting one ). I have only read the same reports that you have all mentioned here.
And @kuzibri: what do you mean with "what the left and right one are for"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in the options tab there are two response time possibilities, eg left and right one.

I've tried a few of the others now, but still easily prefer the HTC supplied keyboard. I just wish it had the same gesture support as the WM default keyboard.

just another suggestion for a good keyboard for HD2: Cliquick. This also rotates the screen to landscape when pressing the .,123 key in whichever program you're in. You can find it here: http://cliquick.com/
edit: you can also set it to be your default SIP in the option settings.

Anyone happen to try SlideIt (http://www.dasur.co.il/Product/SlideIT/SlideIT.php) on the HD2? If not, anyone feel like trying the demo & letting me know how it works?

polstein said:
Anyone happen to try SlideIt (http://www.dasur.co.il/Product/SlideIT/SlideIT.php) on the HD2? If not, anyone feel like trying the demo & letting me know how it works?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, I tried it. Its awesome in terms of speed and ease of use, but cannot switch to landscape mode. When you switch to landscape, e.g. in Opera, the screen gets messed up with this keyboard and a soft reset is needed. If I only was to use portrait mode, this would be the keyboard of choice.
Now that has become Cliquick. This even switches Word Mobile to landscape when you press the ",.123" key without using a third party sensor app like Gyrator or ChangeScreen. It comes with a 60 day trial and, if you do not want to buy it therafter, you can still use it for a max of 100 chars a day.

Let me throw ShapeWriter into the mix also.
Takes some getting used to but unce you've got it, it's much faster than a regular keypad (imo)

richard.ian.brown said:
Let me throw ShapeWriter into the mix also.
Takes some getting used to but unce you've got it, it's much faster than a regular keypad (imo)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a pitty that this is only in English si I canot use it. BTW, it has great resemblance with Dasur's SlideIT. That one is blazing fast and easy to use (and supports several languages), but its main flaw is that it does not support landcsape. In this orientation it messes up the screen and a soft reset is needed. Otherwise this would be my nr 1 keyboard. Now that is Cliquick.

kuzibri said:
yes, I tried it. Its awesome in terms of speed and ease of use, but cannot switch to landscape mode. When you switch to landscape, e.g. in Opera, the screen gets messed up with this keyboard and a soft reset is needed. If I only was to use portrait mode, this would be the keyboard of choice.
Now that has become Cliquick. This even switches Word Mobile to landscape when you press the ",.123" key without using a third party sensor app like Gyrator or ChangeScreen. It comes with a 60 day trial and, if you do not want to buy it therafter, you can still use it for a max of 100 chars a day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like the exact problem I have on my Advantage (the rotation issue). I've been the only one to report it, so I'm forwarding your note here as well.
I'll have to try Cliquick. Is this the one where you have to hit the same key several times to get different letters (like hit ab to get "a" and hit it again to get "b" ? Guess I'll find out.
Glad to hear the SlideIT works well except for the rotation issue, so if they can fix it, I'll be very happy.

I have noticed the latest version of Fingerkeyboard refusing to open when my HD2 (Leo) has come out of standby - can't recall what was running just prior so haven't raised it with the creator yet. I couldn't open another keyboard so had to take the battery out on the two occassions it happened.
A keyboard I have been using of late, as it worked well on my Touch HD is Zoomboard

I have tried both slideit and shapewriter and on the HD2 I much prefer slide it, its mainly due to how it handles the irratic behaviour of the capacitive screen, I mean HTC need to fix up its response, in shapewriter the line drawn with your finger tends to be scribbled everywhere missing letters, to much lesser extent on slidit, the keys are much easier to hit in slideit imo. the finger sliding keyboards are the way to go either way, I can type so much faster with slidit and takes only little parctice to get a real knack of it ... slideIT is fantastic

Tweaking HTC Keyboard. Possible?

Anyone know if it's possible to tweak the qwerty keyboard? I'm coming over from a TP2 and I like the builtin KB that HTC provides, and it should be even nicer on the larger screen, but it's not as handy as it could be. There are extra, blank keys on the 2/2 Numeric pad and I'm wondering if it's possible to add some keys. For instance it would be very handy to have a space key in the numeric pads.

I just upgraded from a TYTN II and i do miss the physical keyboard and i'm not too crazy over the software keyboard mainly because i don't get the tactile feel of pressing the keys.
But have you tried the Swype ? Needs a little getting used to but i'm getting pretty good with Swype and i feel it's a lot faster than typing. Plus it looks pretty cool

Ther are other keyboards. Sorry, I don't recall their name. One was very customizable though. I tired two different ones, but they didn't play nice with predictive text.

I have Resco and I like it well enough, though the version I have doesn't seem to have been built for 800x480 so it doesn't use all of the screen real estate. Therefore the keys are too small.
I like the HTC QWERTY keyboard a lot. It just doesn't seem to be customizable and therefore one has to switch between the screens more than it might otherwise be necessary in order to get the keys you're after. All I really want to do is to be able to enter a space while on the numeric screen. Not move the cursor, but to add an actual space. And to swap a couple of the characters on the 1/2 screen with others on the ABC and 2/2 screens.
Other than that I think it's a great keyboard. The haptic for me provides enough feedback and the keys are plenty big enough. My Leo should be here today or tomorrow and then I can start trying different things. If it turns out Resco's current KB can be made larger then that would probably be just the ticket assuming the HTC KB cannot be customized. I'm not really interested in tryiing Swype, but thanks for the tip.

I would imagine there's an XML keymap somewhere that we could conceivably edit but I'm not sure, i'd like to know the answer as well.

Tref said:
All I really want to do is to be able to enter a space while on the numeric screen. Not move the cursor, but to add an actual space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you dont mean THIS space then?