Keyboards

[WheelieBoot]

I was looking at keyboards in the Google Play store hoping to find something different.

I use Google Voice whenever I can to speed my typing because I have hand mobility issues.

I saw a few keyboards that might interest other people.

Besides Gboard, Microsoft SwiftKey, Ginger keyboard, I found Technical Keyboard by NextApp, Inc and A.I.type Tablet Keyboard Free by a.i.type

Technical keyboard doesn't have voice to text but it has great editing functions like on a computer keyboard. Home, End, navigation keys of various sorts that move the cursor to the beginning of the line, the end of the line, or to the beginning of a previous word or to the next word. Page up, page down, etc.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...utmethod.latin

A.I.type makes a variety of cellphone keyboards with navigation keys but also has voice to text. The one I downloaded was the tablet keyboard which is supposed to be used on tablets not cell phones. It did work on my cell phone up to a point. On a tablet it shows a split keyboard that allows a numerical keypad or navigation keypad in between the two sides of the split. That doesn't appear on my cell phone. But it's interesting and I may try it for a while.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...android.tablet

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[WheelieBoot]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...type.android.f

This is the AI keyboard I'm using right now. It's designed for cell phones and has some really good navigation features as well as voice to text. There are a number of different keypad styles to choose from. The toolbar allows numerals, symbols, special characters, and editing features. I haven't explored all of the features yet but it seems pretty good so far.

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[WheelieBoot]

This is a screenshot of how the AI keypad looks on my LG Fiesta LGL64VL that runs Android OS 7.0.

It's a pretty useful interface. The particular keypad I chose is very visible because of the dark background making everything stand out. It has cursor control in the form of arrows on the toolbar or access to a little track pad near the space bar.

I've included a screen shot of the trackpad to show what it looks like.



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[zapjb]

Can you add a row of numbers?

[WheelieBoot]

Can you add a row of numbers?

Yes, you can have a number row.

My number row shows numerals, symbols, some special characters, as well as the editing options with the arrows but I can go into settings and eliminate any of that and just have it as a number row if I want.

I can even customize the keypad to change the colors on whichever of the keys I would like to.

You can always try the keypad to see what customizable options you would like to have and if you don't like it you can always uninstall it.


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[WheelieBoot]

I have AI keyboards installed on two LG Fiestas and it works fine. Then I installed it on a third Fiesta which is the same model as one of the others and it works fine on there except that I cannot get voice to text to work on that one.

I checked permissions and settings that I thought might be affecting it but it still doesn't work. I updated applications that I thought might be affecting it and those didn't cause voice to text to work either.

I uninstalled the application and reinstalled it more than once and I also restarted the phone. Voice to text still does not work on that phone.

On that same phone, voice to text works on the other keypads I have installed. Ginger Keyboard, SwiftKey, and Gboard.

I installed two different versions of the AI keypad, one a 2020 "Lite" version that has fewer settings but basically has the same layout. The newer one is 2022 and has far more settings to deal with but it looks the same as the Lite version. Voice to text does not work on the Lite one either on that phone.

So, the AI keyboard may not work on all phones.

It's strange because all of my LG Fiestas have the same operating system.

I want to note that I'm trying out the keyboards on phones that are being used on Wi-Fi and they aren't activated. I'm doing it that way because the phones that I use most often for writing aren't used for anything critical like banking. It's the best way to try out new applications just in case they may end up snooping things I don't like them seeing.

I assume most applications have keystroke loggers that watch what's being typed on the keypad.

I use Gboard on the active phones that I use for my accounts. I'm aware that Google watches what I keystroke as well but I just hope that they are a little bit more circumspect about what they do with my information.




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[WheelieBoot]

Okay I was able to fix the problem with the other Fiesta phone. Which is the one I'm using right now.

I uninstalled the application then reinstalled it.

When I was selecting that keyboard from the list of keyboards I have on my phone, I noticed that the text to voice option lower down the list had not been checked. When I checked it and set up the keyboard, Voice to Text worked.

It's strange because voice to text was working on my other keyboards that I have on this phone, it just didn't work on the ai keypad on the one phone.

It makes me feel good that I figured out the problem!

:-)

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[WheelieBoot]

Other keyboards that I would recommend that I've used before are as follows:

Microsoft Swiftkey

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...htype.swiftkey

Ginger Keyboard

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...droid.keyboard

Yandex Keyboard

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ndroidkeyboard

I haven't used the current Yandex keyboard but I did use the older version. I'm trying the new one right now.

Another keyboard that I saw listed in Google Play looks interesting but I haven't tried to install or use it because I'm not sure I have any use for it. It looks like it turns a cell phone into a Bluetooth keyboard or mouse pad to control another device.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...appground.blek

If anyone recommends a keyboard application feel free to post it here and why you like it. That way other people can learn about keypads that they may not have seen before. Thanks!

:-)

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[WheelieBoot]

Here is what the Yandex keyboard looks like as I have it set up on my phone. I've included a screenshot of it.

There are a variety of keypads available in different colors and the user can customize the colors. It's easier for me to see light colors or white against black.

I've chosen to add the editing toolbar at the top with the arrows because I like to use those but it can be eliminated in settings if the user doesn't want to see it.

It can have a dedicated numerals row but I usually don't have that to save space on the keypad so I can have the tools instead.

There's a tool on the space bar for moving the cursor around with a finger but the arrow keys on the toolbar work better for me. The symbol for the tool looks like a capital I.

I think one of the things that people choose Yandex for is because it includes a translator. I haven't used that so I can't say how well it works.

｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆

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[WheelieBoot]

I've included a screenshot of the Ginger keyboard as it is set up on my phone. It has many other designs to choose from but I prefer darker colors and contrast because it's easier to see. The navigation arrows are at the top of the keyboard.

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[WheelieBoot]

The keypad I am using right now is the SwiftKey keyboard. I've included a screenshot of it in Spotlight purple. The navigation arrows are at the bottom of the keyboard.

There are many really nice keyboard options for SwiftKey. They come in many different configurations and colors. A person would have to see all of the different types of configurations. The user can even create their own keyboard.

I've customized the toolbar at the top of the keyboard for changing the keyboard quickly without going into settings. I can resize it up and down, and right to left as for one finger typing.

The screenshot is taken while writing on Simple Notepad app and the toolbar at the top of the screenshot is from the notepad, not the keyboard.



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[WheelieBoot]

I was working on a text document today using Google Docs and the 2022 ai.type keyboard. It has been working pretty flawlessly for a few days on several phones so I thought I could risk something more lengthy.

I was about three pages into creating a doc when an email popped on my notification panel. I went up to see what it was and to delete it. While I was doing that, the document that I was working on just suddenly disappeared. The text editor was still open but the page was blank.

I've had failures occur before on Google docs where I lost some of the material. Sometimes it's the Wi-Fi connection cutting and then it can't automatically save to Google Drive while I'm working. I usually deal with it by taking one of my other cell phones and opening the document on Drive and trying to refresh to see if the material is there still before closing the document on the phone that glitched.

This time I thought I lost the whole document because I opened it on two other cell phones and it was gone on those too.

I went back to the phone I was working on and switched the keyboard to Google gboard. As a last resort I chose the paste option to see if any part of the document was saved that way. The entire document reappeared. I was able to save it.

I don't know what caused the fluke, it may possibly have been phone related rather than keyboard related but I've never had that happen before while using AI keyboard or the Google gboard.

Google Docs supposedly saves automatically as writing progresses but I've learned the hard way that it can't always save. WiFi can cut and Save fails.

Sometimes while I'm working on a document I save the whole thing to the clipboard and continue on. I also save the document to PDF on multiple phones while I'm working on it to make sure I don't lose it. Unfortunately sometimes I take too long to do that and that just so happened to be the case today.

I wanted to mention what happened because I recommended the AI keyboard. It has been working pretty well and I like it. But just in case the fluke was related to that keyboard, I decided to post.

If anything else happens while using one of the recommended keyboards I'll post about it.

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[CAL7]

Interesting discussion. I'm STILL using Swype. Every time I try something more modern, I an disappointed. I like that Swype: 1) let's me negate the autospace between words, 2) has easy keyboard shortcuts to copy, paste and cut the clipboard.

Question: Which keyboards use "swiping" ?

[WheelieBoot]

Interesting discussion. I'm STILL using Swype. Every time I try something more modern, I an disappointed. I like that Swype: 1) let's me negate the autospace between words, 2) has easy keyboard shortcuts to copy, paste and cut the clipboard.

Question: Which keyboards use "swiping" ?

I've never tried the Swype keyboard but it's interesting to check out new ones.

If you mean by swiping, swiping a finger key to key to type there are a number of keyboards that allow glide typing. Is that much different than swipe typing?

ai keyboard mentioned swiping in its description on the Google Play store page.

Quote paste:
Swipe - Write faster by swiping your finger from key to key.
★ Personalize - Select your keyboard's look & feel, functionality and create your own custom keys & shortcuts. Set ANY image as your background image
Dynamically resize your keyboard size according to your needs.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...type.android.f

I've tried glide typing but it's slower for me than voice to text. It produces words I didn't intend. So does voice to text but it's right more often than wrong.

In settings on some of the keyboards I use, they allow me to choose whether I want to do an automatic space after I input a period or a comma.

However I don't know of any way to avoid inputting a space between words as I write if I'm using voice to text. It usually automatically puts a space between words.

The only way to avoid spaces where I don't want them is to manually type using my finger without autocorrect activated.

I like to receive suggestions on the top row for spelling and I like when the application underlines a potentially misspelled word so I can fix it. But I don't like auto-correct because when I write I don't always spell the words the way the dictionary would want me to and I would have to keep going back and correcting them.

By deselecting autocorrect, it's less likely that a space will be automatically input after I write a word. However I noticed that sometimes that does happen even without autocorrect. The space seems to be automatically added because the dictionary recognizes the word.

That may have something to do with the fact that I've selected to automatically add a space after putting a comma or a period.

There was a keyboard I was using that didn't add spaces after words but that was quite a while back. I think it was my Samsung J3 Luna Pro using the native keyboard. I would have to space the words myself while typing with my finger.

If by swiping you mean swiping the screen left right or up down to perform functions within the application while writing, while I was looking at keypads I did find one that seemed like it did that but I didn't like it because I was afraid I might accidentally do something I didn't want. I can't remember which one that was.

I did come across a keyboard that allowed customization of key functions. It didn't have voice to text but it had really good editing functions something like a computer keyboard. I believe some key functions are programmable. I don't know if it has glide typing but I have it installed on one of my phones and I can look at it to see what it has in settings.

NextApp Technical keyboard.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...utmethod.latin



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[Jane B.]

I SO prefer a full size computer keyboard that I make a real effort to NOT write on my cell phone. I know this really does not help solve the problems but I could not resist mentioning this difference in personal preference.