Android Central's Keyboard Roundup

[TreyDaPrince]

You guys did an awesome job breaking down they keyboards and giving people an idea of what to expect from each. However, the exclusion of Smart Keyboard is a big deal. IMO its the best but that's not what I'm trying to point out. I think you guys should've at least mentioned it to make the public aware of its presence.

They have DAILY updates, multiple skins (inlcuding iphone), auto caps on keys, voice to text, arrow cursors, suretype keyboards, and of course, multi-touch. Most of these features are on other apps but none of them operate as smooth. I definitely recommend this keyboard app.

 

[Jared DiPane]

Excellent feedback.

I'm sure Jerry will read this, and I am sure he didn't exclude it for any particular reason. Keep in mind, when doing these round ups and all those kinds of posts, it's rather difficult to cover every option available, which is why the comments, and posts like these are extremely helpful to us and the rest of the community here.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

LOL. Ya'll are killing me.

I had to whip up a stable 2.1 ROM for my Hero...one that could use live wallpapers (including Nexus One live walls) as well as use Sense 2.1. There was no way I was going to spend time reviewing something that only worked well on a Hero with 1.5, or on a Nexus with a stock ROM . In the end, each keyboard that was reviewed was tested on 1.5, 1.6, 2.0.1, 2.1 AOSP, and 2.1r1 - with and without extra "eye-candy" enabled.

I then downloaded every keyboard I could find. I immediately decided against reviewing any of the hacked keyboards - no fair reviewing something that the developers didn't actually intend to be done. For the record - the hacked versions of the HTC keyboard, and the Stock 2.1 keyboard w/voice input totally suck when compared to the "real" versions. I encourage anyone to try this themselves. Anyone who pays any attention to what rolls out of my piehole knows I'm all for hacking. That's the best part of Android IMO. But don't ever expect hacks to be treated and compared on the same level as legit, officially supported software. This is just common sense, and doing it differently is IMO irresponsible.

Then to decide how many keyboards I had time to actually use (rather than just test for an hour or so) so that I could give a fair review.

Then a trolling through of the forums here (and elsewhere) to determine which keyboards people where talking about.
Based on internet forums postings (my target audience) -
More people are interested in Swype than Shapewriter.
More people are interested in Better Keyboard than Smart Keyboard Pro.

Based on my own deadline (I decided the week after CTIA would lead to the best exposure, there was no pressure to "get it out" quickly), the fact that the functionality of some keyboards was pretty close to some others, and the amount of chatter about the various keyboards available, Shapewriter and Smart Keyboard Pro got culled. There is, was, or never will be any conspiracy. Honest. lol.

Of course as soon as it was finished and published, the support for the omitted keyboards came out. I've got both installed and will submit a part two in a week or so. Anything for our readers

The moral of the whole thing? -
When you find something you like, don't be afraid to be vocal. The more you talk about what YOU like, the better the chance others will too.


Thank god I didn't say anything was crippled LMAO.

 

[TreyDaPrince]

Thanks guys. I really didn't know where to put this since it covered multiple topics but I figured if I put it under general chat you guys could move it if you like. And I really appreciate you listening. Thanks very much.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

No problem Trey, and thank you as well. We DO listen, and try to keep the front page interesting and informative. Posts like this help us all. A lot.