Database Users

Who misses the old Android keyboard?

I am trying my best to like this new keyboard but can't get used to it. I used to be able to quickly type on the old one but this new one is giving me issues. Is there a learning curve or something?

Yeah, it's called Smart Keyboard Pro
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

what google did was copy the keyboard from the droid x and just made the keys much smaller, which was their single biggest mistake and which explains some inaccuracy problems that people have been having, especially those with bigger/fatter fingers.
i use keyboard pro instead because i can adjust the size of the keys through the height adjustment feature. (yeah i have big hands/fingers). you can also adjust the multitouch sensitivity on it as well.
you can also download swype as an alternative from swype's website.

They need to make the space bar longer, and remove the period key. Pressing the space bar twice takes care of the period anyway.

I actually love the new android keyboard. I find it much more accurate than the froyo one. idk maybe its just me.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

I agree with the spacebar being too small so i switched to swiftkey pro. If the spacebar was bigger i would switch back

ryan562 said:
what google did was copy the keyboard from the droid x and just made the keys much smaller
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Really? I always thought they copied the iPhone keyboard.
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But I see the hint of Droid X in it. And some iPhone too. Only slight button changes along the bottom.

c_licious said:
Yeah, it's called Smart Keyboard Pro
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
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Ya I downloaded and that is a whole lot better!

jaker.the.skater said:
I actually love the new android keyboard. I find it much more accurate than the froyo one. idk maybe its just me.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
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Ditto. Gingerbread keyboard is the best one yet, imo.

brianbrain said:
Ditto. Gingerbread keyboard is the best one yet, imo.
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I agree. I don't have as much errors on this one and it's the closest one to the iPhone keyboard (which was my favorite). On that 3.5" screen I was able to type out long text messages in portrait mode.

I think the oversensitivity of the Nexus S screen contributes to a lot of typoes and errors as well. Ever try holding your finger just above the screen, but not actually touching it? It'll register as a press. I'm sure when fast thumbs are glazing over the keyboard while typing, it causes mis-hits and repeated hits (like tthis or thiss - something that always happens to me). Oddly enough, sometimes the complete opposite will happen, when it doesn't register hits despite knowing I've hit the key (it'll have the popup preview). This happens especially with the keyboard (resulting in ths or tis, or things likethis). All annoying.
I've always been very critical of the Android typing experience. It's one of the few sore spots of the Android experience in general. Gingerbread stock is without question better than previous iterations, but it still pales in comparison to typing on an iPhone (or even an iPod touch). Anyone who has typed extensively on one would know the difference. I'm sure it's a combination of both hardware and software that makes it so successful; I can type with utter confidence on an iPhone/iPod Touch.
I wish I could say the same for Android. I'm hoping Blindtype will be implemented soon and change all this. I'm also hoping they'll grow a brain and depart from Apple by including features like Custom Auto-Correction. Until then, alternatives help. The new "optimized for Gingerbread" Better Keyboard 8 is quite good. Smart Keyboard Pro is good too (love the Custom Auto-Correction feature).

Menace II Society said:
Really? I always thought they copied the iPhone keyboard.
But I see the hint of Droid X in it. And some iPhone too. Only slight button changes along the bottom.
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yeah moreso the droid x then the apple one, check the pic out. i always used the droid x apk on my older android devices and i thought this new one would be the same or an improvement. i guess i thought wrong but hey that's just my opinion.

The 2.3 keyboard is just too small. Measure it to smart keyboard or swift key and you will see what I mean.

I'm using swype and love it.

I use it, I have to admit... I am still learning how to hit the keys just right. However, it is an amazing keyboard, love it.
Sent from my Nexus S

Menace II Society said:
I agree. I don't have as much errors on this one and it's the closest one to the iPhone keyboard (which was my favorite). On that 3.5" screen I was able to type out long text messages in portrait mode.
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Adding a vote for the Gingerbread keyboard too. Everytime I have to go back to the Froyo keyboard on friends' devices or my work phone, I find it much harder to type on than my Nexus S. I used to always need the haptic feedback turned on with the Froyo keyboard too, but I haven't bothered turning it on with this keyboard.

I like the gingerbread keyboard. I type a wee bit faster than I did with the froyo KB.
Sent from my Nexus S

jaker.the.skater said:
I actually love the new android keyboard. I find it much more accurate than the froyo one. idk maybe its just me.
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I'm also in love with the new Android keyboard. It may be smaller but it is more accurate than froyo. I don't have the biggest hands in the world but my hands are not small either.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

What keyboard is for YOU?

What keyboard do you like best? The one that looks the best? The one you can type fastest from with ease?
I just tried the themed android keyboard from miui and damnnn am I typing fast.
If I was to be using I hand though Swype "hands down"
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Do other OS keyboards count. If so, then I choose Windows Phone 7. Perfect response time and key sizes.
On Android, then yes, the miui keyboard is best for me.

swiftkey for me.

I agree I type faster on the android keyboard, but swype is more convenient for me.

I use the gingerbread keyboard, so much better since I used the original Android keyboard for a couple years

xFugitive said:
I agree I type faster on the android keyboard, but swype is more convenient for me.
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I agree that swype is convenient but it started getting so many of my words wrong for whatever reason I gave up on it

xrider, will that work on 2.2 roms? i've been wanting to use the stock android keyboard.
GB keyboard sucks :/
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

ababypanda said:
I agree that swype is convenient but it started getting so many of my words wrong for whatever reason I gave up on it
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Yea that frustrates me sometimes. x_x

xriderx66 said:
If I was to be using I hand though Swype "hands down"
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I bet you do a lot of that one handed typing don't you.
UltraKeyboard is my keyboard of choice. Worth the couple bucks. Can fully theme it how you want it, including key size and spacing, has a ton, a ton, of features, and a swype like function that you can train and set pause parameters on. I highly recommend it.
Swiftkey is good too, if I could theme it I would probably use that all the time.

I'm using swiftkey, the only thing that I don't like that's it's bright, I would rather have a darker keyboard.

Smartkeyboard why? Because it's smart duhh

smart keyboard pro for me. ridiculous customization
+ custom smileys xD

Those are all my keyboards...

Swype for me. I hope they keep letting us beta test on all these custom ROMs.

Br1cK'd said:
I bet you do a lot of that one handed typing don't you.
UltraKeyboard is my keyboard of choice. Worth the couple bucks. Can fully theme it how you want it, including key size and spacing, has a ton, a ton, of features, and a swype like function that you can train and set pause parameters on. I highly recommend it.
Swiftkey is good too, if I could theme it I would probably use that all the time.
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Bricked!
STOP TRYING TO FIT IN! YOUR NOT ONE OF US.
GOD.
go develop something....
Pleawse!

iynfynity said:
xrider, will that work on 2.2 roms? i've been wanting to use the stock android keyboard.
GB keyboard sucks :/
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Ill see if I can extract, probably won't work. Ill update this post if it works or doesn't
Nope didn't work for me.
Extracted it from my phone and gave to my brother... he got like so many fcs after he chose the KB... he's odining I think loo

damn,I really need the stock android keyboard. thanks for trying!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

iynfynity said:
damn,I really need the stock android keyboard. thanks for trying!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
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Hmm... I may have got it working... I need to fix a few more things... but need a computer might do it tomorrow... getting new wifi router tomorrow

deadpass said:
swiftkey for me.
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This says it all.
You can even see how many keystrokes you saved by using it's predictions.

swype>all
started using on my g1 when they first started releasing betas and i stopped using the hardware keyboard except for passwords and the terminal. then i got the vibrant and with the extra screen size it was perfect.

Will there be future flagship phones with physical keyboards?

We're about halfway into 2011. These days, it seems like all the new phones have no physical keyboards. At least, among the flagship devices. The Epic was the closest thing to a flagship keyboard phone recently, which was one of the biggest reasons I bought mine off ebay.
Do you think that the Epic and the Desire Z may represent some of the last high end phones with keyboards?
A few of the midrange devices still have them, but even then, the keyboard slider seems to be in decline. After trying swipe, better keyboard and a bunch of others, I found that SwiftKey was my favorite, but not a substitute for a physical keyboard.
Your thoughts?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

Yea there will always be devices with keyboards ... companies can't just overlook those consumers who prefer a physical keyboard they will most likely put something out for them

I'm sure there will be another top end phone with a keyboard. With all the different manufacturers and models of phones that come out on a regular basis, a few have to have features that differentiate it from another model. In other words, there will be always a market for some people who do PREFER a physical keyboard.

Hold on, let me check my crystal ball...

I hate the trend that Apple started. A smartphone without a keyboard is not a smart one. Its like typing on an old flip phone. Now all the new phones have to look thin and all so the engineers cut the keyboard.
When I see a new phone comeout without a keyboard...its "nneeeexxxtttt" for me.

Flagship=thin,fast,stable,sturdy
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

marcusant said:
Flagship=thin,fast,stable,sturdy
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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Yep ... and something they could market as "new" "innovative" ... Like the Evo Branding ....

holographic slide-out

LunaticWolf said:
holographic slide-out
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This OR
Mind reading phone! Ikr
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

My fone decided to screw up
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

Unfortunately I'll never get to post anything on damnyouautocorrect.com Awwwwww....

Almost upgrade time for me. Unless they release something better than the shift in staying with the epic for a while.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

Sure as much wont be a samsung probably though... if so, maybe like 4-6months after our SGSII release. (within)

HTC high-end phone that doesn't look like every other HTC phone with a keyboard ?
In my dreams.

digiblur said:
I hate the trend that Apple started. A smartphone without a keyboard is not a smart one. Its like typing on an old flip phone. Now all the new phones have to look thin and all so the engineers cut the keyboard.
When I see a new phone comeout without a keyboard...its "nneeeexxxtttt" for me.
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Click to collapse
They seem to have cut the battery too. For just a couple millimetres, you could get perhaps 1,000 more mAh?

sauron0101 said:
They seem to have cut the battery too. For just a couple millimetres, you could get perhaps 1,000 more mAh?
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Adding 1000mah would make the phone a LOT more than "a couple millimeters" thicker. Just look at the Epic with the 2800mah back:
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It nearly doubles the thickness of the phone and probably adds a lot of weight.

Maybe a centimeter? Perhaps a bit less looking at the image. I was thinking a partial redesign where the battery would be thinner, but the surface area bigger.
Either way, it seems these days ultra thin has become the trend, often at the expense of batteries and nowadays, the keyboard.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

Within a decade there prolly won't even have batteries for phones anymore. Scientist have discovered a cell that can create energy through breathing air. No bs if I had more details or a source I would share but I don't.

Droid 3. I'm pretty sure it has a slide out keyboard
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

xopher.hunter said:
Droid 3. I'm pretty sure it has a slide out keyboard
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
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u forget that that phone is ugly as hell and will probaly the same hardware as the droid 1 and droid 2
Honestly was there any changes between 1 and 2?

[DISCUSS] What keyboard do you use?

Hey I was just wondering what keyboard you use.
Post the keyboard you use and screenshots If possible. Also tell us why.
I use SwiftKeyx because it was 10p and its awesome.
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Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

Smart Keyboard Pro, easily the best of the 'normal' keyboards. Gives that almost psychic correction that the iPhone has.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

Smart Keyboard Pro.
Works best with 190 dpi, and has a nice feel to it.
Sent from R800x

Old and great Better Keyboard 8, unfortunately unavailable to get from the market now
Fast, reliable, I just can't use any other keyboard. On my previous phone - X8 it was just perfect.
I hate keyboards like swype or predict-like where you can't switch it off, because I'm very very VERY fast typer and I mistype very rarely so I don't need any help in entering text.

I just use the stock keyboard, i see no reason why it would need replacing

TouchPal. Looks like the iPhone keyboard but has swype and better options.

Swiftkey x. Best keyboard I've ever used on any phone EVER. Better than any other Android keyboard and certainly better than the autocorrect failure on IOS.

I use one of the "Ice Cream Sandwich" Keyboards and love it:
https://market.android.com/details?id=inputmethod.latin.ported
Hold Option Hardware Button for minimize the Keyboard every time...
Gesendet von meinem R800i mit Tapatalk

+1 To swift key ... Used swype and the default keyboard before but they werent as good with tap-to-type for obvious reasons + swiftkeys predictions are much better.

Been using Swype pretty much since day 1 of my Xperia Play.
I got mine themed. And it's looking gooood.

3dawg said:
Swiftkey x. Best keyboard I've ever used on any phone EVER. Better than any other Android keyboard and certainly better than the autocorrect failure on IOS.
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Click to collapse
Assume you don't appreciate how the apple one works then, a lot of people don't.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

Sweet checking out some of the mentioned keyboards. Seems SwiftKeyx is quite popular
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b1g1an said:
Assume you don't appreciate how the apple one works then, a lot of people don't.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk
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There is nothing for me to "appreciate". I have used it for many hours and I struggle to type as accurately and as quickly as I can using the popular android keyboards. The auto correction is absolutely atrocious and the key calibration is garbage. Zero customisability too.

I absolutely love the stock one but it lacks the microphone feature.
So i wanted something that had microphone and swype. I ended up choosing Go Keyboard and I'm pretty satisfied with it except there is a small part at the bottom of the screen which is not reactive, hard sometimes to hit space because of that.

I use thumb keyboard
i think they took it off the market tho. have to find the apk somewhere :\
it rocks tho, so easy to use

3dawg said:
There is nothing for me to "appreciate". I have used it for many hours and I struggle to type as accurately and as quickly as I can using the popular android keyboards. The auto correction is absolutely atrocious and the key calibration is garbage. Zero customisability too.
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I was right then!
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

Keep them coming
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

I used to use swiftkey x. but found a better one (at least for me) ULTRA KEYBOARD. it has the option to use swipe or not. you can also use gestures to enter symbols or hide the keyboard or delete words etc. several dictionaries. copy/paste/delete. suggestions (on/off) replacements (if I type tkvm it writes thank you very much (and you can personalize the suggestion)). themes.every one that is in the market. translator,... lots of more things... i recommended it

I use Swype because I'm super fast with it compared to regular touch typing. In certain apps I found the auto correction to be annoying though so it's disabled.
Sent from Silent Earth 3

The official 2.3.4 R800a FW for NA has a extra configuration key that shortens my space bar compared to AT&T 2.3.3 R800at FW. How do I get rid of it or switch back to the one with a bigger space bar? I backed eveything up with Titanium Backup and loaded the keyboard backup but I don't see an option for it.

AutoCorrect not working

I have selected a default language, predictive text on but the default keyboard will not autocorrect anything. It will make suggestions but when I hit space it doesnt change anything. I have to tap the word at the top if I want it to be replaced. Anyone else having this issue? I used swiftkey before on my S3 so I am not sure if this is how the default keyboard should react. I may just go back to swiftkey but I thought this keyboard was developed by them and would work the same way.

Yeah I have noticed this. Love the set up but going to have to use a different one cause of this. Works great when swyping with it though
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

Yea, I have noticed it does very well with swype. I thought this was going to be a legit swiftkey install but i dont see any options for replacing with space.

Is Swype pre-installed also?

hamzer11 said:
Is Swype pre-installed also?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it's some special OEM edition of Swiftkey Flow.

TwistedMexi said:
No, it's some special OEM edition of Swiftkey Flow.
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Click to collapse
That sucks. I could have sworn I saw a screenshot where it said Swype as a input option. Glad I bought swype now that it's in the Play Store
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nuance.swype.dtc

I thought swiftkey flow was just the swype equivalent.

Mine has Swype as an input option. I saw it when I loaded up my Swiftkey.

I dont think auto correct was included for some weird reason...there is no setting to enable or disable auto correct or even to automatically input suggested words...which is annoying since I am not used to the keyboard and make TONS of spelling mistakes (hitting letters instead of space or pressing numbers instead of letters) so I find my self having to manually correct things...lame, really my only complaint on this phone...seriously samsung why the hell would you not put auto correct on a smartphone...its kind of a freaking standard...and I dont really like aftermarket keyboards
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-everything but auto correct
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

Yeah wtf i thought it was just me! There is no setting to turn on auto correct. How could samsung have missed this??

hamzer11 said:
That sucks. I could have sworn I saw a screenshot where it said Swype as a input option. Glad I bought swype now that it's in the Play Store
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nuance.swype.dtc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is...so you should try and refund that
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

jdlorinser said:
Yeah wtf i thought it was just me! There is no setting to turn on auto correct. How could samsung have missed this??
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They seemed to have missed quite a bit with the phone =/. As sad as it is to say.. The S4 doesn't seem like a typical Samsung release compared to the Note 2 and S3. I'm pretty disappointed in the S4 yo be perfectly honest. Maybe if I had bought the international version things would have been different. I live in the US tho so I couldn't afford to send it overseas if there was something wrong with it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium HD app

Samsung was unable to put the option of auto-correcting after "space" because of the many patent lawsuits with Apple.

JaeKay said:
Samsung was unable to put the option of auto-correcting after "space" because of the many patent lawsuits with Apple.
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Lol. That ruins the whole keyboard.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

SkizzMcNizz said:
Lol. That ruins the whole keyboard.
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I couldn't agree more.

Well at least android has the ability to change keyboards!

Lol I never noticed this. But my phone has Swype preinstalled like the other guys screenshot.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

Download The Official Google Android 4.2 Keyboard
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.latin

jdlorinser said:
Yeah wtf i thought it was just me! There is no setting to turn on auto correct. How could samsung have missed this??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Due to the current litigation between Apple and Samsung and the fact that Apple has a patent on auto correct the United States Samsung Galaxy S4 does not have auto correct in the built in Samsung keyboard. However, I believe that Google released the stock android keyboard in the play store yesterday. This keyboard has AutoCorrect built in an gives you the vanilla keyboard experience across all android phones.