Database Users

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...
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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...
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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
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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...
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is it compatible with the TOUCH HD

Touchpal
I think Touchpal is the best.

iznee said:
is it compatible with the TOUCH HD
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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.
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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.

Best Keyboard?

I'm using TouchPal at the moment, but it doesn't change when you switch to landscape. Can anyone recommend a decent keyboard which makes use of all that space in landscape?

Heh, I wish I could get TouchPal to work on my HD, but it refuses to install correctly.
I honestly thought TouchPal was the best keyboard out there. SPB Keyboard 4.0 has a landscape-fullscreen keyboard, which occupies the whole screen, with one line of text input. The HTC landscape keyboard isn't that bad either.

is there any KB out there as good as the iphone KB, including predictability?
HD KB isnt bad, but can drive me crazy sometimes as it isnt smart. T9 is prone to errors that place words in the middle of the sentance.

ekerbuddyeker said:
is there any KB out there as good as the iphone KB, including predictability?
HD KB isnt bad, but can drive me crazy sometimes as it isnt smart. T9 is prone to errors that place words in the middle of the sentance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a very personal choice so you should try out all of them. What I like most is Tengo, but not necessarily what you like. Iphone keyboard does not appeal to me at all.

ekerbuddyeker said:
is there any KB out there as good as the iphone KB, including predictability?
HD KB isnt bad, but can drive me crazy sometimes as it isnt smart. T9 is prone to errors that place words in the middle of the sentance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, what's so great about the iPhone keyboard? Its predictability is rather average especially for a full QWERTY, and it is not nearly as thought-through as TouchPal (my favourite, if you can't tell ). TouchPal is so easy to use as it is a breeze to switch between all the possible modes, there is no soft keyboard for me that types faster than its SureType (2 characters per key) mode, in fact I don't have much difference in typing speed between this and my Blackberry's suretype board, which I loved, as I can type blindly and a lot faster on suretype than on qwerty. Best of all: activate word prediction, and it is a SureType, deactivate prediction and it is a QWERTY, without changing views. Nice feat if you want to throw in a URL or a custom word in between...
The ONLY drawback as far as I am concerned is the lack of a landscape mode, and it doesn't even feel like a drawback to me since I hate keyboards that completely change layout when the screen rotates. All fine and dandy that there is more space available for a KB in landscape mode but the fact that I need to change typing style along with the screen orientation every time gets old really fast.
Just my $0.02.

IceEyz said:
Heh, I wish I could get TouchPal to work on my HD, but it refuses to install correctly.
I honestly thought TouchPal was the best keyboard out there. SPB Keyboard 4.0 has a landscape-fullscreen keyboard, which occupies the whole screen, with one line of text input. The HTC landscape keyboard isn't that bad either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TouchPal wouldn't install for me either.
Tried several times.
​

I use the Teksoft Fingertouch. After installing Gyrator2, it does both landscape and portrait, has 5 different keyboards, and the QWERTY full keyboard in landscape is what I use for SMS messages. The keys are just big enough to hit with your thumbs and I have Snailslug Touchresponse to give me haptic feedback whenever the screen is touched. I tried TouchPal, but the keys were just too small and it used the portrait keyboard even in landscape.

I really love the www.pocketcm.com keyboard, customizable and skinnable

@sebbes: Do you have a skin for pcm keyboard that fit in the HD in landscape mode (with a french layout ) ?

Anyone else got suggestions for good keyboard for "thumbboarding"? (ie with both thumbs). I think if done properly that's the best solution for text entry with the device, because you have a solid grip of the device with both hands, and the size of the screen makes the buttons big enough for thumb hits.

i just wish my old workinghorse TENGO THUMB would work
tryed it and it did end up realy weird on the sccreen.... i have used manny onscreen keyboards... but nothing beats tengo thumb when it comes to writing fast!
tengo.net

tkalli said:
TouchPal wouldn't install for me either.
Tried several times.
​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm...that's strange. I installed Touchpal on my HD without any problems.
Are you sure you downloaded the Windows Mobile 6.1 version of Touchpal (not the 6.0 one)?
The only 2 issues I've had are:
- it doesn't stay as default after a soft-reset (though this is usually very quick to overcome as you can pop up the SIP menu and Touchpal is right there on the menu)
- as someone mentioned before, the landscape version isn't being displayed when the HD is on it's side...maybe a detection issue. The normal keyboard is displayed but it's still quite usable.
Ben

New version of TouchPal will support landscape mode. It should be out still ion this year.

In my opinion, the best keyboard on Touch HD is Tengo Thumb. Not the regular Tengo, but the Thumb version.
The QWERTY keys are zoned into 6 areas. As long as you press the correct area, it is unnecessary to accurate touch the precise location of the key. It is similar to the T9 version of the Compact QWERTY except you have fewer areas to worry about, therefore affording bigger hitting areas and requiring even less precision.
I had previously used the regular version, which gives a good regions size on my Athena, but that proves too small for HD. The aspect ratio of HD, being taller, also makes this keyboard a perfect input tool in portrait mode. On landscape it occupies just a little too much of the real estate though.

gnagis said:
i just wish my old workinghorse TENGO THUMB would work
tryed it and it did end up realy weird on the sccreen.... i have used manny onscreen keyboards... but nothing beats tengo thumb when it comes to writing fast!
tengo.net
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tengo Thumb works perfectly for me. No wierd behaviours noted yet.

resco keyboard suits me quite well. the only thing that lacks is push and hold function for scandic letters.

tkalli said:
TouchPal wouldn't install for me either.
Tried several times.
​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is strange, I just download the latest V3.5 Touchpal install successful and it works very good in my HD

Some advice, please.
nin2thevoid said:
Hmm, what's so great about the iPhone keyboard? ...........
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Click to collapse
I'm not an iphone fan (see my signature) but i have to recognise that, as much as I hated errors while fingertyping (no stylus allowed, and I've BIG fingers) at least, when you push the keyboard, you see the intended hit character in a "bubble" that is slighly offset of the key, so you actually SEE the letter close to your finger, not the corners of a grey square UNDER your finger, where in fact you can not read what is inside.
Has any of the proposed keboards have this feature?
I've read all the posts in this thread without much info on specific features.
Thanks for help.

Touchpal 3.5
Ive tried them all but I always come back to touchpal. Works great on my HD. Just wont stay default, but not a big problem. Multiple dictionaries, I Speak English and Spanish and is great with both dictionaries. Resize on the fly if the keyboard is too big. Most programs resize automatically. Easy to use with thumb, perfect for me. All keyboards are personal preference though.

does touchpal have romanian dictionary ? where can i get it from ?
thanks.

Just me or is the keyboard too small ?

Hi Guys,
Got myself a magic a few days ago, love it to bits but really struggling with the OSK.. the keys are just too small to type quickly/easily.
Is it just me and my big hands ? lol
Are there any alternatives for OSK out there ? (maybe like the phonepad style that comes in HTC EZInput for WinMo?)

Not sure how the keyboard could be much bigger than it already is. The screen is 3.2 inches across (diagonal) and that's all you have to work with. All that can be done is to make the buttons on the bottom row bigger (wider) by omitting the Shift and the Del button, but that would make the qwerty layout kinda funky.

Turn it on its side (landscape mode) -- the keyboard will be bigger that way than in portrait mode.

You can install the app "big keys" in the market and see how you like that. Or you can install the htc keyboard found in the Dream forums. HTC_Chime.apk is what you are looking for.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll have a play with the HTC keyboard and see what it's like.

Does the Magic have the option of the T9 Dialpad keyboard? Or is it just a plain full QWERTY keyboard that auto-corrects?

I haven't seen a T9 option, but it's easy to turn the auto-correcting off, although it will still offer you suggestions, but won't mess with what you're writing.

...double post...

That reminds me, I must add "org" and "uk" to my dictionary so I don't keep entering my email address as [email protected]e

I do not know what video i was watching, but I saw that there was a dialer keyboard available on the HTC magic. Now, I do not know if it was a rooted phone (which it probably was) or if it was an application that was added to the phone. If I am correct, they were showing haykuro's work and it showed in the text input a dialer keyboard. If this is true, would one have to root their G2 phone for it to work? The thought of possibly bricking the phone, sort of...well...makes me feel uneasy lol.

Alternate Software Keyboards?

Has anyone here tried alternate software keyboards with the HD2 (other than the ones that come with it)?
For instance, SPB keyboard (giant keys), Fitaly keyboard (different key layout, different kind of prediction), etc.?
Curious to hear your reviews--whether there is any point in getting any of those?
Also, is there any way to get the standard WinMo one back? (I don't mean for all the time, but occasionally it comes in handy. For instance, it has a Ctrl key, which one can use to cut and paste. Touch Ctrl then C, it copies selected text to the clipboard. Ctrl then V pastes them. Etc. I've only seen that Ctrl key on the standard winmo keybd.)

if you have not tried swype yet i would suggest giving it a go.
it works very well on the HD2 and makes inputing text alot easier

try Resco, ive just bought it cos i find it is more accurate and looks alot like the htc original
it has some great features and is only £6.50, theres a 10 day trial on it for testing.
ive found it to be faster to type with less errors, with the same size keys. it also has copy and paste as well as a calculator built in

me said:
Has anyone here tried alternate software keyboards with the HD2 (other than the ones that come with it)?
For instance, SPB keyboard (giant keys), Fitaly keyboard (different key layout, different kind of prediction), etc.?
Curious to hear your reviews--whether there is any point in getting any of those?
Also, is there any way to get the standard WinMo one back? (I don't mean for all the time, but occasionally it comes in handy. For instance, it has a Ctrl key, which one can use to cut and paste. Touch Ctrl then C, it copies selected text to the clipboard. Ctrl then V pastes them. Etc. I've only seen that Ctrl key on the standard winmo keybd.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anyone know of a iPhone looking keyboard?
I hate, Hate, HATE the arrow keys on the HTC keyboard and the alternatives are not what I am used to.
The layout of the iPhone keyboard is absolutely perfect for me and unlike Android, I cant seem to find a keyboard replacement that has the same layout
Please if anyone knows of one let me know

Considering most of us hate the iphone keyboard, I'm guessing that is why no one has made one. I like the arrows on the htc keyboard, about the only reason I use it.
Have you tried swype?
How about fingerkeyboard?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=501434

nrfitchett4 said:
Considering most of us hate the iphone keyboard, I'm guessing that is why no one has made one.
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Click to collapse
I absolute LOVE the iPhone keyboard! I hate how my right hand has to type awkwardly due to the arrow keys taking up space on the right side of the landscape keyboard. I would much rather just have larger letter keys.
nrfitchett4 said:
Have you tried swype?
How about fingerkeyboard?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=501434
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm I tried the SPB keyboard and the Rescoe keyboard so far but didn't like either one. I want something that has the EXACT same layout of the iPhone if possible.
Edit:
- tried out Fingerkeyboard 2.1 and it doesn't work since it still has the same arrow keys which I HATE and dont want on my keyboard taking up space
- tried out swype but it lags when doing regular typing and doesnt show a letter pop up above the letter you type like the iPhone does.
Anyone else know of a iPhone type keyboard?