Keyboard of Androids
- Thread starter LunarMist
- Start date
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
The GOAT of keyboards was Swype with Dragon Naturallyspeaking, which had shortcuts for adding punctuation so that you could type proper sentences without stopping your flow. It also had the ability to back up your personal dictionary online and a very easy tool for adding new words as well as swipe for cut-copy-paste. There was no competition for on-screen keyboards while Swype was functional and I would still use it if I could.
But Microsoft killed it and the APK doesn't install on newer devices. So fuck Microsoft with a knife for that in particular.
The only other keyboard I like is the Google Keyboard, which DOES NOT have online word backup but crucially among all Android keyboards DOES have a system that allows words to be imported. Most Android keyboards do not have this incredibly obvious functionality. For me to add words, I have a plain text file sitting in my Google Drive that I can add words to and then re-import. It's not the same and I will never forgive the loss of punctuation shortcuts, but since most keyboards don't have dictionary import, Google is kind of a winner by default.
I also demand Google Keyboard on every ithing as a prerequisite to me touching it. Apple's on-screen keyboard is an a tasty cheesy bacon and ranch dippin' abortion n' placenta sandwich of being bad at what it's supposed to do, mostly because it puts common punctuation keys on shift-access only.
But Microsoft killed it and the APK doesn't install on newer devices. So fuck Microsoft with a knife for that in particular.
The only other keyboard I like is the Google Keyboard, which DOES NOT have online word backup but crucially among all Android keyboards DOES have a system that allows words to be imported. Most Android keyboards do not have this incredibly obvious functionality. For me to add words, I have a plain text file sitting in my Google Drive that I can add words to and then re-import. It's not the same and I will never forgive the loss of punctuation shortcuts, but since most keyboards don't have dictionary import, Google is kind of a winner by default.
I also demand Google Keyboard on every ithing as a prerequisite to me touching it. Apple's on-screen keyboard is an a tasty cheesy bacon and ranch dippin' abortion n' placenta sandwich of being bad at what it's supposed to do, mostly because it puts common punctuation keys on shift-access only.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
There's Swiftkey, which has nothing in particular to recommend it other than not being Gboard and is the reason Microsoft killed Swype after it acquired it, and dozens of deeply stupid emoji keyboards. I suspect Swiftkey is giving the same telemetry to Microsoft that Gboard gives to Google.
Typewise is supposed to be privacy-respecting, but it costs an eye-watering twenty five dollars and Fossify Keyboard, which is just a keyboard with no internet functionality at all.
I was about to recommend Simple Keyboard as well, but it turns out that the guy who made all the "Simple Mobile" apps sold his soul to an advertising company early this year and now all his applications are garbage. You can get the non-garbage versions from Fdroid but there's zero chance LM will use a third party and entirely open source app store and we all know that.
Absolute aside, but if anyone doesn't know this, [windows key] + . opens the symbols and emoji picker in Windows 8 and newer OSes.
Typewise is supposed to be privacy-respecting, but it costs an eye-watering twenty five dollars and Fossify Keyboard, which is just a keyboard with no internet functionality at all.
I was about to recommend Simple Keyboard as well, but it turns out that the guy who made all the "Simple Mobile" apps sold his soul to an advertising company early this year and now all his applications are garbage. You can get the non-garbage versions from Fdroid but there's zero chance LM will use a third party and entirely open source app store and we all know that.
Absolute aside, but if anyone doesn't know this, [windows key] + . opens the symbols and emoji picker in Windows 8 and newer OSes.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
There are a crap-ton of open-source keyboards out there that I'd be prepared to trust over somebody's $25 Android luxury whale option.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I'm happy with Gboard because most Android keyboards don't offer dictionary import. If I didn't like Gboard, I'd far rather investigate an open source option before paying $25 for something many of the FOSS keyboards also provide by default.
I cannot even get into the playstore to look around without it asking about payment info, some biogometrics. I thought there was a way to get non-paid stuff or at least see what they have. Who owns or manages the data obtained if you get the FOSS keyboard?
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
You can ignore the requests for payment info if you are getting free software. Many people too young to have any sort of payment info do this.
I'm also a fan of the fdroid (FOSS) app store and Amazon also runs a reputable store for Android software. Some application developers, such as Firefox, also provide direct download links for their products. I appreciate this when I run across a device that doesn't have the Play framework. You'll have to decide whether that's worth it to you.
A keyboard is such a personal choice, but it is extremely rewarding to find a best-fit option. You really are just going to have to experiment.
I'm also a fan of the fdroid (FOSS) app store and Amazon also runs a reputable store for Android software. Some application developers, such as Firefox, also provide direct download links for their products. I appreciate this when I run across a device that doesn't have the Play framework. You'll have to decide whether that's worth it to you.
A keyboard is such a personal choice, but it is extremely rewarding to find a best-fit option. You really are just going to have to experiment.