As I’ve said, one of the things I love about Android is the customization. From icons to wallpaper to widgets – there is just so much you can do!
And today, I want to tell you about keyboards. The keyboard you have now on your phone may be great for you, or you may hate it. If you’re the later – there’s good news. You can change it. There are a variety of replacement keyboards out there for Android users.
I’ve never been a fan of the keyboards that come with phones. My first phone came with Swype, and I fell in love! But I’ve also tried some others over the past couple years and found some others I do like as well.
Let’s start with Swype. Some phones come with it. If you have it, you know how great it can be. You just glide your finger over the letters to create the word and BAM, done. It takes a little bit of time for it to understand you but after a while, it’s pretty darn accurate. It’s not available for download in the Play Store, but you can sign up for it online and get it. If you Google Swype, you’ll find their website and can get it there.
Next up – SwiftKey. This is nothing like Swype. This is letter-by-letter typing. But there really nice thing about it, it REALLY learns your typing habits and predicts what you’re going to type. It’s scary good! Once it learns you, you can just type the first letter of the word you want and 90% of the time, it’s already previewing the next word you want. I’ve created entire text messages just by typing one word and then using the suggestions to fill in the rest. It IS in the Play Store, but it is a paid app. There’s a free trial to check out and I suggest you do it. If you like it, it’s not that expensive and is amazing.
And for those of you with a tablet – check out Thumb Keyboard. One of the issues I had with my tablet is when holding it; you can’t really type with the keyboard it comes with unless you use one hand or set it down to use both. Thumb Keyboard slices up the keys to each side of the screen so you can hold the tablet and type with ease. It’s another paid app, but well worth it if you have a tablet that you use a lot.
There are other keyboards out there – take a look in the Play Store. You may find one that suits you better. That’s one of the great things about Android – choice. What keyboard do you use? Which one makes your messages easier? Leave me a comment below or Tweet me! @Doctor_Droid
