Which Android keyboard app do I want?
September 16, 2015 2:35 PM Subscribe
After switching to Google keyboard I realized I'm missing two little features I saw in an otherwise terrible keyboard. Can I have my cake and eat it?
My old Android devices came with free Swype, which was good. But Swype isn't free anymore and I don't want to spend money on apps right now, I'm unemployed.
The issues tablet I got last year had a different keyboard app, can't remember which one, and the one I have now came with Samsung keyboard. There were reasons why I couldn't stand either, but I can't remember which was which.
I think one of them didn't have the option of swiping. I prefer swiping.
I regularly type in four different languages. On one or both switching between language layout/autocorrect dictionaries was a very awkward process that required accessing several menus and touching and holding for several seconds. A pain in the neck if you're chatting with two people who speak different languages and at the same time write something in a third.
On the one that allowed swiping, word recognition was really really bad.
It also didn't separate the autocorrect dictionaries despite having one language selected at a time. If you swiped "hair" it would write "air" and suggest "chair" and "aire" (Spanish for "air") but not "hair", forcing you to go back and tap each letter. Usually it was worse than that example.
Now I'm using the Google keyboard app, and it's not bad. However I'm realizing I got used to two things one of these two keyboards had (I think it was the mystery app on the Alcatel tablet). A separate row for numbers and a delete key (to delete text forward and not just backspacing, quite useful if you notice a typo in a block of text and, without zooming in, your fast fingers only get you close enough to the exact spot you need to edit).
Does this app exist? Or some way to add that on top of Google keyboard?
My old Android devices came with free Swype, which was good. But Swype isn't free anymore and I don't want to spend money on apps right now, I'm unemployed.
The issues tablet I got last year had a different keyboard app, can't remember which one, and the one I have now came with Samsung keyboard. There were reasons why I couldn't stand either, but I can't remember which was which.
I think one of them didn't have the option of swiping. I prefer swiping.
I regularly type in four different languages. On one or both switching between language layout/autocorrect dictionaries was a very awkward process that required accessing several menus and touching and holding for several seconds. A pain in the neck if you're chatting with two people who speak different languages and at the same time write something in a third.
On the one that allowed swiping, word recognition was really really bad.
It also didn't separate the autocorrect dictionaries despite having one language selected at a time. If you swiped "hair" it would write "air" and suggest "chair" and "aire" (Spanish for "air") but not "hair", forcing you to go back and tap each letter. Usually it was worse than that example.
Now I'm using the Google keyboard app, and it's not bad. However I'm realizing I got used to two things one of these two keyboards had (I think it was the mystery app on the Alcatel tablet). A separate row for numbers and a delete key (to delete text forward and not just backspacing, quite useful if you notice a typo in a block of text and, without zooming in, your fast fingers only get you close enough to the exact spot you need to edit).
Does this app exist? Or some way to add that on top of Google keyboard?
Swype and SwiftKey are very similar, and I've used both and settled on Swype. That said, Swype is $0.99. If Swype works for you otherwise, I'd say a dollar is a good price for never thinking about it again.
posted by cmoj at 2:51 PM on September 16, 2015
posted by cmoj at 2:51 PM on September 16, 2015
Response by poster: Being unemployed also means no means of making a payment to the Play Store. And they don't sell Play Store gift cards here.
Swiftkey doesn't have the two things why I'm considering switching from Google keyboard: a delete forward key and a separate row for numbers (I mean on top of the letters, without having to tap a separate key to go into number and then again to go back to letters).
I don't recall Swype having that either.
posted by Promethea at 2:58 PM on September 16, 2015
Swiftkey doesn't have the two things why I'm considering switching from Google keyboard: a delete forward key and a separate row for numbers (I mean on top of the letters, without having to tap a separate key to go into number and then again to go back to letters).
I don't recall Swype having that either.
posted by Promethea at 2:58 PM on September 16, 2015
SwiftKey does allow you to customize the keyboard with a number row at the top in the keyboard settings. I'm not sure about the 'delete forward' key though.
posted by dcjd at 3:10 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by dcjd at 3:10 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you for the suggestions so far.
Hacker's Keyboard looks promising, I'll keep an eye on updates but right now it doesn't fit my needs. It doesn't have a dictionary for my other languages, and I appreciate having suggestions/corrections, specially in Portuguese, where my writing is more limited and easy to mix with Spanish.
I just tried SwiftKey, and I think that may be one of the keyboards I had tried. It's limited to three languages (I just remembered that was also a problem I had faced, and I really do use for languages daily) and it looked like it had the three languages enabled at the same time, no indication of which one was selected and while typing a test sentence in Spanish it also suggested Portuguese words.
posted by Promethea at 4:05 PM on September 16, 2015
Hacker's Keyboard looks promising, I'll keep an eye on updates but right now it doesn't fit my needs. It doesn't have a dictionary for my other languages, and I appreciate having suggestions/corrections, specially in Portuguese, where my writing is more limited and easy to mix with Spanish.
I just tried SwiftKey, and I think that may be one of the keyboards I had tried. It's limited to three languages (I just remembered that was also a problem I had faced, and I really do use for languages daily) and it looked like it had the three languages enabled at the same time, no indication of which one was selected and while typing a test sentence in Spanish it also suggested Portuguese words.
posted by Promethea at 4:05 PM on September 16, 2015
Get Google opinion rewards. Free Google play credit from surveys, delivered by Google and credited instantly. It shouldn't take more than a week or so before you have enough Google play credit to buy whichever keyboard you want.
posted by gnomicPerfect at 4:05 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by gnomicPerfect at 4:05 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I'll stop threadsitting, but please, don't comment on my situation nor question not getting a paid app. I'm not in the US, Google Opinion Rewards is not available here.
Keep the suggestions of free apps coming.
posted by Promethea at 4:11 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Keep the suggestions of free apps coming.
posted by Promethea at 4:11 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
I use Swiftkey regularly for two languages; switching between languages is very easy (sometimes a bit too easy actually) by swiping on the space bar. The name of the language appears inside the spacebar for my keyboard theme. Each language is its own self-contained keyboard/dictionary, but my two keyboards are two different writing systems so YMMV.
posted by Gordafarin at 1:32 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Gordafarin at 1:32 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
By "delete forward" do you mean Arrow Keys? Cos these can be enabled in swift key settings also.
My version of swiftkey is not limited to 3 languages - i've just downloaded a bunch of languages from the settings page and now i can use 4 if i wanted.
posted by kev23f at 6:05 AM on September 17, 2015
My version of swiftkey is not limited to 3 languages - i've just downloaded a bunch of languages from the settings page and now i can use 4 if i wanted.
posted by kev23f at 6:05 AM on September 17, 2015
Response by poster: I just installed SwiftKey again.
The space bar says SwiftKey, swiping it just adds a space, it's not changing languages. Maybe that's something in the settings that I'm not finding.
As I type this it keeps suggesting words in, English, Spanish and Portuguese. However I don't have Spanish or Portuguese only letters available.
It let's you download more than three languages but you can only enable three. When I try to select a fourth it says it's limited to 3 at a time and asks me to unchecked one of my languages. That means I would have to go to settings every time I need to use the language I don't have selected.
SwiftKey is definitely not what I'm looking for. Writing this post on it was a pain.
By delete forward I mean like the delete key on a physical keyboard, deleting a character from the left side.
posted by Promethea at 7:55 AM on September 17, 2015
The space bar says SwiftKey, swiping it just adds a space, it's not changing languages. Maybe that's something in the settings that I'm not finding.
As I type this it keeps suggesting words in, English, Spanish and Portuguese. However I don't have Spanish or Portuguese only letters available.
It let's you download more than three languages but you can only enable three. When I try to select a fourth it says it's limited to 3 at a time and asks me to unchecked one of my languages. That means I would have to go to settings every time I need to use the language I don't have selected.
SwiftKey is definitely not what I'm looking for. Writing this post on it was a pain.
By delete forward I mean like the delete key on a physical keyboard, deleting a character from the left side.
posted by Promethea at 7:55 AM on September 17, 2015
Best answer: As far as I can tell, what you *really* want isn't available - there doesn't appear to be a way to get forward-delete on google keyboard (or any other keyboard I can find). You *can* get google keyboard to display a number row by default though, at least on my phone.
I got it by going into Google Keyboard Settings->Appearance & Layouts->Custom Input Styles->hit the big plus on the upper right, and add a keyboard of language (I did English (US), I assume it also works for the other languages you need) and layout PC. then go back to the base settings screen, go into Languages, and enable the keyboards. Once they're enabled I could switch between them with long-press on the spacebar and then a quick selection.
Not perfect, but better than what you've got it seems like.
posted by contrarian at 2:38 PM on September 17, 2015
I got it by going into Google Keyboard Settings->Appearance & Layouts->Custom Input Styles->hit the big plus on the upper right, and add a keyboard of language (I did English (US), I assume it also works for the other languages you need) and layout PC. then go back to the base settings screen, go into Languages, and enable the keyboards. Once they're enabled I could switch between them with long-press on the spacebar and then a quick selection.
Not perfect, but better than what you've got it seems like.
posted by contrarian at 2:38 PM on September 17, 2015
Response by poster: Wow, contrarian, I would have never found that setting!
The only custom layouts I had seen there were German and French QWERTY. I assumed it was because French keyboards are not QWERTY (and maybe German isn't either, I don't know). I didn't realize you could add more.
I'm making this as best answer, but I'll keep checking back in case someone knows of a keyboard with forward delete that is not a piece of crap.
Thanks!
posted by Promethea at 6:02 PM on September 17, 2015
The only custom layouts I had seen there were German and French QWERTY. I assumed it was because French keyboards are not QWERTY (and maybe German isn't either, I don't know). I didn't realize you could add more.
I'm making this as best answer, but I'll keep checking back in case someone knows of a keyboard with forward delete that is not a piece of crap.
Thanks!
posted by Promethea at 6:02 PM on September 17, 2015
« Older Best way to get from LaGuardia to Upper West Side... | A Cloud-based system for managing photos of... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by liebchen at 2:50 PM on September 16, 2015 [4 favorites]