Five keyboards for Android

    Greetings to you, Habralyudi! We at Meizu believe that if a smartphone has any weaknesses, you need to talk about them openly and offer adequate solutions to problems, rather than hide behind the template phrases "our solution satisfies most users." So today I want to talk about one of the weaknesses of Flyme OS - the on-screen keyboard. Unfortunately, it has a minimum of settings and is hardly suitable for use if you are used to typing on your smartphone often, texting via SMS, WhatsApp, imo, im and so on. Fortunately, Android allows you to change almost any menu item or interface, as well as replace most standard programs with more convenient counterparts. This article will be devoted to five high-quality and convenient (in my subjective opinion) third-party keyboards for Android,




    Material structure


    Before starting the comparison, I suggest choosing some objective criteria for assessing the convenience of a particular keyboard, which we will guide in the evaluation.

    • Method and convenience of language switching
    • Ability to enter additional characters with a long press
    • Gesture settings
    • Dictionary relevance
    • Availability of themes
    • Unique features

    Swype


    This keyboard is one of the most famous on Android, its name is on everyone’s lips, and the word “swipe” has already become a household word. The main feature of Swype is the ability to enter text using strokes. You sequentially move the word with your finger from letter to letter, without releasing it, the system processes your stroke and displays the entered word on the screen.

    This method is faster and less energy-consuming for the fingers (instead of a few taps - one stroke). Swype also has disadvantages: in comparison with traditional keyboards, errors and errors are more common.



    Switching the language is carried out in two ways: by a stroke from the "S" key to a space or by long holding the space. It’s good - that there is a choice, it’s bad - that there is no classical language switching with a short touch of one key. The keyboard supports gestures, for example, to quickly enter a capital letter, you need to go beyond the keyboard during a stroke, and then continue to enter. If you want to enter one of the punctuation marks, just swipe your finger from the space to the desired character. For quick access to the numeric keypad, just hold the character call button. If an incorrect word is selected during input, then when backspace is pressed, it is deleted completely.



    However, strokes alone are no longer enough to be a good keyboard, so Swype added the ability to backup the dictionary to the cloud, support for themes and its own update system.



    Another feature of Swype is the installation: you can’t download the keyboard from the Play Market, to install it you need to go to the program page from your smartphone and download the installer apk file, which after determining your device will start downloading the version suitable for you.

    Pros:
    • Convenient stroke input
    • Dictionary backup in the cloud
    • Support for themes
    • Convenient gestures for quick access to punctuation marks
    • Free

    Minuses:
    • Inconvenient language switching system
    • Lack of program on Google Play
    • Braking during normal input (not strokes)


    Smart keyboard


    For proponents of the traditional input method, I can recommend the Smart Keyboard application.

    Let's start switching the language. Smart Keyboard adheres to a standard approach when a separate button is responsible for switching. If you wish, you can turn it off and assign a change of languages ​​to swipe right or left. In the lower right corner there is a key with a smiley, while holding it, you can choose one of several options for smiles. Since we are talking about additional keys, it’s worth noting the detailed setting of the “.com” contextual button, you can reassign it to “.ru” for example



    The second interesting point is the possibility of choosing from two Russian layouts, one of them is three-line, the other is four-line. Additional characters are present in both the first and second. As for the appearance, here you are completely expanse - there is support for many topics, setting the height of the keys, the inclusion of navigation arrows and even changing the transparency of the keyboard.



    I would rate the dictionary “four”, but some words are missing. If you wish, you can backup a user dictionary and save it on a memory card (there is no cloud backup like in Swype, alas). Fans of sound and vibration will also be satisfied - in the Smart Keyboard you can adjust the duration of the vibration and the volume of the sound. You can even choose sounds like on the iPhone or a proprietary “pop” from Windows Phone.

    The last feature of Smart Keyboard is connected with prediction: if you clicked on a suggested word, then you will immediately be prompted to quickly click on a point, comma or other sign.

    Pros:
    • Theme Support
    • Separate language switch button
    • Ability to enter additional characters with a long press
    • Ability to customize sound and vibration
    • Configure gesture actions
    • Extra characters on buttons

    Minuses
    • Cost

    Fans of traditional input should definitely try the Trial version of the Smart Keyboard to evaluate it for yourself, personally I do not regret the 150 rubles given for this keyboard.

    Trial version of the Smart Keyboard on Google Play
    Pro version of the Smart Keyboard on Google Play

    SlideIT Keyboard


    The popularity of Swype haunts many developers, and they release their own analogues of this application, SlideIT Keyboard is one of them. Let's start with the look: I think you immediately noticed the top row of the keyboard with two switches - the left one is responsible for the height of the keys, and the right one switches between the stroke input method and traditional input.



    When you hold down the "S" key, a number of buttons appear in front of you, including: quick access to the camera or SMS, copying and pasting text, and also calling up keyboard settings.



    Continuing the theme of appearance, it is worth noting a separate language switching key and additional symbols on the buttons.
    Like other keyboards, SlideIT supports many themes, most users will find something to their taste. An interesting setting in SlideIT is the abbreviation mode. You can specify a combination of letters upon entering which it will be transformed into the phrase you have chosen, for example, assign the phrase “Habr, hello!” To the combination “hp”.



    The creators of SlideIT have not forgotten about the sound and vibration settings, you have the opportunity to change the volume of sounds when you press the keys, as well as the duration of the vibration.

    A key feature of SlideIT is stroke input. At first glance, it works fine, but using the keyboard for a longer time, you begin to notice that it makes so many mistakes. It is unclear whether this is due to a meager dictionary or to the system for processing strokes, but the fact remains that there are a lot of typos in SlideIT.

    Pros:
    • Input with strokes
    • Detailed appearance settings
    • Theme Support
    • Abbreviation Mode
    • Quick jump to settings
    • Sound and key vibration settings

    Minuses:
    • A large number of typos

    The cost of SlideIT is 122 rubles, there is a free trial. I would recommend that you independently check this keyboard and give it a chance, it is quite possible that you are more lucky with recognition than me.

    Trial version of SlideIT on Google Play
    Pro version of SlideIT on Google Play

    SwiftKey Keyboard


    The main feature of SwiftKey is prediction. You “feed” your correspondence from Gmail, Twitter and Facebook to the keyboard, and on their basis it predicts the next word. The idea is unusual and quite interesting, but its effectiveness directly depends on the details of the “fed” sources.



    Let's start traditionally with appearance. As you can see, the keyboard has additional characters caused by a long press. Switching the language is carried out by sliding along the space, you cannot assign a separate button to this action. The Enter key is combined with calling emoticons, and a long press on a point causes the remaining punctuation marks. As for the smart key "S", then with its help you can quickly call up the settings, help or enable voice input.



    The keyboard supports themes, by default there are several predefined ones. Also, if you wish, you can add navigation arrows one more row and change the height of the letters. There is a setting for sound volume and duration of vibration during input (if it is turned on). Support for strokes was not spared, but in my opinion, it works worse than in the same Swype or even SlideIT.

    Pros:
    • Unique prediction system
    • Theme Support
    • Convenient smart key
    • Sound and vibration settings

    Minuses:
    • Lack of a separate key for switching languages
    • Few settings compared to competitors

    As I already said, the effectiveness of SwiftKey directly depends on the details of the sources "fed" to it. If you rarely correspond in the same Gmail, Facebook or Twitter, then SwiftKey is unlikely to suit you.

    Trial version of SwiftKey Keyboard on Google Play
    Pro version of SwiftKey Keyboard on Google Play

    Go keyboard


    The beginning of last year can be called the “finest hour” of the Go Dev Team, all of their products (launcher, dialer, SMS client, keyboard) were very popular, stronger competitors appeared over time, but even now the solutions from Go Dev look quite worthy.

    When you first open Go Keyboard, you immediately notice the panel above the keyboard. With it, you can quickly switch to emoticons, navigation mode, change the language, open the digital block or character. In addition, you can switch the language in the usual way, fortunately Go Keyboard has a separate key for such purposes.



    There are two sections of settings devoted to appearance - one is responsible for themes (there are a huge number of them for Go Keyboard) and for the appearance of the keyboard - you can change the height of the keys, font size and enable navigation arrows.



    Go Keyboard supports stroke input, but it doesn't work as well as Swype.
    The settings for sound and vibration power have not gone away.

    Pros:
    • A huge number of topics
    • Availability of navigation arrows
    • Separate language change key
    • An interesting solution with an arc of settings

    Minuses:
    • Mediocre translation of settings into Russian
    • Lean vocabulary
    • Annoying advertising

    Go Keyboard tried to “cram” more settings than any, but did not bother to adapt them, so the end result is not as good as it could be.

    Go Keyboard on Google Play

    Conclusion


    Personally, I prefer Swype, since with the relatively compact dimensions Meizu MX2 it is convenient to enter text with strokes, holding the phone with one hand. For lovers of traditional input, Smart Keyboard is perfect, but for those who want to try something new, you should pay attention to SlideITI and SwiftKey.


    Information on the Meizu MX2 can be found on our website mymeizu.ru , the forum has a topic for helping beginners, owners of MX2, as well as a discussion thread on the model .

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    Dear% username% with Android-smartphone, what keyboard do you use?

    • 2.6% AItype keyboard 73
    • 0.6% AnySoftKeyboard 19
    • 4.4% Go keyboard 122
    • 1.1% Jbak keyboard 31
    • 2.3% Russian keyboard 64
    • 0.7% SlideIT 22
    • 8.4% Smart keyboard 233
    • 11.3% SwiftKey keyboard 312
    • 18.2% Swype 502
    • 1.2% Thumb Keyboard 35
    • 33.6% Standard Smartphone Keyboard 927
    • 15% Other keyboard 414

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