How do you get ICS voice input when using alternate keyboards?

**Zottig** · 01-05-2012, 02:29 PM

Demos of the ICS enhancements to voice input really impressed me so I was excited to give it a shot. But I am not a fan of the stock on-screen keyboard vs others I've gotten used to so the first thing I did was change the keyboard.

I am used to Thumb Keyboard 4 on my Xoom and loaded it up on the VZW Galaxy Nexus but was disappointed with the voice input. It seemed no better than what I was used to... so I watched the demo videos again and noticed the screens looked different. The TK4 keyboard voice input looked more like GB than the new ICS version. So I thought maybe it was something weird with TK4... having not been updated for ICS or something.

So I installed SwiftkeyX and though as a keyboard it's not as customizable I think I like it might be better overall for use on a phone. But as far as voice goes... the screen looked like the ICS voice dictation screen so I thought all was well, but still no. It still wasn't transcribing as you speak like ICS's does. It also only let you speak a sentence or so and didn't display any text until after you were done speaking.

Is there no way to use alternate keyboards but still be able to use the new ICS voice dictation when you hit the mic button?

I guess I assumed when you pressed the microphone icon on any keyboard that it just called the underlying voice to txt applet of Android so I am a little surprised each keyboard seem to have its own implementation.

Ben

**pool_shark** · 01-05-2012, 02:35 PM

I use better keyboard 8. It has an option to choose the standard voice input or google voice.

I thought they all used what was on the phone too.

**Stang68** · 01-05-2012, 02:40 PM

Yeah, I would like the stock, standard ICS voice input to be utilized in Swiftkey X. I LOVE that keyboard but their voice dictation UI leaves a lot to be desired. I guess it was nice for devices using Gingerbread but now that ICS has much improved voice input, SwiftKey X should be updated to at least let us choose which to use.

**Zottig** · 01-05-2012, 03:13 PM

OK, so it's not me then. I was hoping to hear I was missing a setting that would give me what I was looking for... sadly I feared it was yet another early adopter issue with using a new OS with third party apps that aren't up to speed.

Here's hoping they get updates sooner rather than later.

Thanks

Ben

**thebignewt** · 01-05-2012, 03:38 PM

I used SwiftkeyX on my Incredible and I liked it because it predicted the words really well (I didn't use the rapid type correction setting). Now the native keyboard does that pretty well, so I haven't reinstalled it (yet). I'm just getting into the phone though.

**yosteve** · 01-05-2012, 09:22 PM

Yeah, both Touchpal and Swype use voice dictation but doesn't type as you speak, like the native keyboard does.

**iBowToAndroid** · 01-14-2012, 12:40 AM

Originally Posted by Zottig

Demos of the ICS enhancements to voice input really impressed me so I was excited to give it a shot. But I am not a fan of the stock on-screen keyboard vs others I've gotten used to so the first thing I did was change the keyboard.

I am used to Thumb Keyboard 4 on my Xoom and loaded it up on the VZW Galaxy Nexus but was disappointed with the voice input. It seemed no better than what I was used to... so I watched the demo videos again and noticed the screens looked different. The TK4 keyboard voice input looked more like GB than the new ICS version. So I thought maybe it was something weird with TK4... having not been updated for ICS or something.

So I installed SwiftkeyX and though as a keyboard it's not as customizable I think I like it might be better overall for use on a phone. But as far as voice goes... the screen looked like the ICS voice dictation screen so I thought all was well, but still no. It still wasn't transcribing as you speak like ICS's does. It also only let you speak a sentence or so and didn't display any text until after you were done speaking.

Is there no way to use alternate keyboards but still be able to use the new ICS voice dictation when you hit the mic button?

I guess I assumed when you pressed the microphone icon on any keyboard that it just called the underlying voice to txt applet of Android so I am a little surprised each keyboard seem to have its own implementation.

Ben

Under Settings->Language & input->Keyboard & Input Methods, as long as you have Google Voice Typing checked, it should be enabled as an input method. When you're typing, you should get a little keyboard icon up in your notification bar. Dragging down and tapping on that will let you select your input method