Database Users

Better Keyboard?

is there a better keyboard for the HD2? I tried using swype, but it's not the same as the android version I had on my G1, and I tried using the stock keyboard, but I must have fat fingers because I can't type too fast without tons of errors. Are there alternative keyboards (not swype) that I could use?

Just to know, have you tried the version of Swype from the 2.13 ROM?
It's a pretty substantial update and performs much better than the previous release from the 2.10 ROM.

resco keyboard pro
I think you get a 7 day trial period before it ask you to register it. The keyboards skins are available for download online off their site.

TouchPal 4.0. I love it.

I was actually surprised to see how bad HTC keyboard is on WinMo compared to Android (Hero, specifially).
I tried swype, but it's got a learning curve.
The problems I have with HTC keyboard are not so much due to the keyboard itself, but the language filter sometimes makes some strange suggestions or sometimes it won't suggest words even though you missed your keypress by one key, which is odd since the Hero was very good at word suggestions.
I notice the problem is with the English dictionary because, when I switch to Spanish or Italian, it works perfectly.
My other problem is more hardware based. Since the HD2 has no trackpad, HTC keyboard has those horrible arrow keys, and they couldn't have worse placement. Very often I'll miss hitting the spacebar and hit either the arrow keys or the "v" (most often the "v").
Typing in landscape mode is again akward because of the arrow keys, they're on the thicker side of the device (more bezel at the bottom), so you have to stretch your hand to type, and very often too, I'll hit the t9 button on/off trying to hit "A", same goes for typing "l" trying to hit "enter".
You'd think that on a device with such a vast screen real estate, missed presses would be a non-issue.

Cursor Madness...

I have a question on how to make this phone better... I've never used the iPhone really, other than to jailbreak it for my fiancee. Now that I have the Vibrant, I noticed ridiculously difficult it is to place your cursor in a particular spot. You can't use a stylus, there's no "magnifying glass" like the iPhone has, and there are no arrow buttons on the on-screen keyboard (as there was on my HTC Touch Pro 2). Basically, it'll take me 5-6 taps (or more) to get the cursor where I want it.
Is there any app or hack that can fix this?

If you are using samsung keyboard, then keep pressing the "123" button until more controls shows up, theres cursor control.

You can flash or wait for froyo release it comes with a cursor

Thanks to both of you. The 123 option is a PITA, but it's something. Good to know that Froyo is gonna have a cursor. Thank goodness....

Flapjack said:
Thanks to both of you. The 123 option is a PITA, but it's something. Good to know that Froyo is gonna have a cursor. Thank goodness....
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I couldn't the 123 option to work. When I press the 123 button, I get four pages of symbols... no directional cursor movements. What am I doing wrong?

If you are using the Swype keyboard, drag your finger from the Swype info button (bottom left corner) to the SYM key (next one to the right). Several cursor control options there, plus a few other handy items.
Also, if you didn't know, dragging from the Swype info button to the "F" key will switch the keyboard into a number keypad.

Flapjack said:
I couldn't the 123 option to work. When I press the 123 button, I get four pages of symbols... no directional cursor movements. What am I doing wrong?
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Click to collapse
You need to hold 123, not just click it.

BronzedDroid said:
You need to hold 123, not just click it.
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Awesome. Thanks for the help. It's exactly what I needed. Will hold me off until Froyo.

Alternativelly you can use the HTC_IME (which is the HTC keyboard) and set the volume buttons to work as up and down. Pretty handy when you want the cursor to skip a few characters. Though indeed the lack of cursor buttons always visible on the keyboard is kind of irritating especially if you come from an HTC.

stormrain said:
Alternativelly you can use the HTC_IME (which is the HTC keyboard) and set the volume buttons to work as up and down. Pretty handy when you want the cursor to skip a few characters. Though indeed the lack of cursor buttons always visible on the keyboard is kind of irritating especially if you come from an HTC.
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I actually went through the process of installing the HTC keyboard, which I loved on my Touch Pro 2. It was laggy as hell and basically unusable. I also did not notice any directional arrows.
I've been meaning to try that keyboard again, since I did the one-touch lag fix. I'll do that right now.
**EDIT**
I can't find the option to use the volume buttons to move the cursor. It's also nowhere near as fast as the Samsung keyboard. Not sure why, but I have to seriously slow down my typing to get it to recognize each key press individually. I was hoping it would be better once I did the lag fix. I guess it's a separate issue...

Flapjack said:
I actually went through the process of installing the HTC keyboard, which I loved on my Touch Pro 2. It was laggy as hell and basically unusable. I also did not notice any directional arrows.
I've been meaning to try that keyboard again, since I did the one-touch lag fix. I'll do that right now.
**EDIT**
I can't find the option to use the volume buttons to move the cursor. It's also nowhere near as fast as the Samsung keyboard. Not sure why, but I have to seriously slow down my typing to get it to recognize each key press individually. I was hoping it would be better once I did the lag fix. I guess it's a separate issue...
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Click to collapse
Hmmm I do not have any lag issues with the keyboard.
Have you tried Calibrating it? That option is in Settings (within the program, activated by long pressing the language toggle key)>Text Input>Calibration tool.
Unfortunatelly, indeed, there are no directional arrows in the layout.
The option to set the volume buttons is in Settings (again, within the keyboard itself)>User Interface>Volume Keys.
EDIT: I don't really have any opinion about the default samsung keyboard as it does not support my language (go figure lol) so I have never used it.

[Q] Keyboard shortcuts with apple keyboard

Hey there everyone, I just got an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and I was wandering if there is some kind of list that tells the possible keyboard shortcuts available.
so far, I´ve found that cmd+f4 puts it to sleep or wakes it up, but I cannot "unlock" it. That is the main thing I want to find out how to do, but as much as I try, I cannot find the shortcut.

This might not be the same for you since I have a nook, not a tab, but...
For me the cmd key doesn't seem functional. Cmd-f4 and f4 both toggle the screen on/off and lock it (but not unlock)
The menu button seems to be mapped to to f1. Hitting escape seems to behave like the back button (gg vi from the terminal emulator).
The thing seems to very much map to the soft-keyboard. For example, alt-a makes a # (pound sign). Even more like the soft keyboard, you don't have to hold the alt. Push alt, release. Push a release, and you have #.
Also sometimes when I am just typing away it pops up randomly with a little window with options for random accented characters. I haven't found a pattern with that yet, but it is extremely annoying.
Hitting shift twice turns on caps lock, but the real caps lock doesn't work.
This line up with the Tab's behaviour? Anyone else find any useful shortcuts, or know a good reference? I'm betting a lot of these behaviours are shared between android devices and random bluetooth keyboards.

How much do you use the slide out keyboard?

So I've had mine for a few weeks now, and I can still count the number of times I've used the physical keyboard on one hand lol. I'm not even sure why. It's fine when I use it, but the onscreen one is just -so- fast and responsive. I can type much much faster with the onscreen one.
On the flip side I like that it's there just in case I need it for some reason (needing to type something really specific, etc).
But yeah, how much do you use it?

anything more than a few words and i whip out the physical board. even if the screen view is locked to portrait.

weatherx said:
anything more than a few words and i whip out the physical board. even if the screen view is locked to portrait.
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same here, mainly because for some reason the fact that my phone has a smiley button is hilarious to me. Also, just a little fun fact, the keyboard backlight will turn on when you click on an area to enter text, but otherwise stays off. Nifty, ehhh?

I use my keyboard A LOT. I never entered text using the on screen keyboard, that is, until my screen light decided to start cutting off whenever I slid it out. Now I have to use the on screen.

Me too... I use it almost every day. Just can't seem to get the hang of the soft keyboard.

I use it every day, almost every single time i type something. it is just faster and more accurate.

Anything more than 5 words and I use the keyboard
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk

i use my often as well for sms, sometime use voice to sms too, no cutout

Anyone care to tell me how to type a star (*) with the hard keyboard? I don't seem to find it anywhere....
Thanks

resol341 said:
Anyone care to tell me how to type a star (*) with the hard keyboard? I don't seem to find it anywhere....
Thanks
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You have to use the symbol key and then touch the right arrow key on the onscreen keyboard that pops up to get to it - pretty much the same way you would with the onscreen keyboard (&123 key then right arrow)
By the way, in case some don't know this, you can enter the blue (fn) function characters just by holding the physical key just a bit longer. Saves us from having to fiddle with the fn button everytime.

cmphone said:
You have to use the symbol key and then touch the right arrow key on the onscreen keyboard that pops up to get to it - pretty much the same way you would with the onscreen keyboard (&123 key then right arrow)
By the way, in case some don't know this, you can enter the blue (fn) function characters just by holding the physical key just a bit longer. Saves us from having to fiddle with the fn button everytime.
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Thanks a lot!
Best!

I also found something today. Long pressing the sym can switch input method. In my case, I can switch between English and Chinese. I might just be too retarded to find out earlier ~

Weird problem with the keyboard

Hi,
I have noticed a weird problem with my Iconia A500's keyboard for some time. It seems that I can't hold any key pressed anymore; when I do it looks like the key gets pushed only once. E.g., if I hold the 'g' key, instead of multiple g's appearing only one gets written down. That would't be that much annoying but it seems I can't activate caps lock anymore (when I hold it so it activates it does exactly the same action as when I click it briefly, that is capitalize only te next letter) , the smileys key (it justs inserts ' ' no matter how long I press it instead of displaying te smiley menu) or backspace (now if I want to delete a sentence I have to press backspace once for every letter -- very annoying!!). Also, sometimes, when I'm typing, a certain key remains highlighted.
I am running stock 3.2 Android on the tab but I think the problem's there since 3.1, maybe even before that, I don't think I have noticed it right away and that's the problem, I don't know what really caused this. Maybe it was an Android update, maybe an app update, a virus or a wrong setting.
Thing is it doesn't seem to be a problem with the screen because it's working just fine anywhere else, like games that require multiple touch. Could corrupt keyboard files be a probable cause? Can they be replaced?
I would be really, really grateful if you could give me any advice on this little annoying problem of my tab.
Thanks,
GriGGer

Are you 100% sure that when you long pressed that it would repeat the character (also am I understanding what you wrote correctly?)?
So far every keyboard that I have tried between both my phone and tablet will either do nothing or it will give you some alternate characters like the long pressing the 'e' will give me a '3'.
Do you remember using a different keyboard at some point?

I think your confusing your A500 with another device???

I just tried every keyboard I have installed on my tablet(stock Android, Thumb keyboard, XT9 keyboard, and Swiftkey) and none of them will type multiple letters with a long press on the key. I don't think I've ever seen a keyboard that would do that. Most of them will give a choice of alternate letters/symbols/etc. when you long press.

It seems I have realised what the problem actually was. I didn't think it had any connection with Accesibilty, as the touch and hold delay setting was set to short, but it seems that if I disable Accesibilty completely the problem goes away. Now the alternate characters work as intended. Problem solved!