Getting the Asus Android keyboard on the Nexus 7?

[Guillaume Labrecque]

Hello,

I just bought my first tablet on Friday, the Nexus 7 2013 32GB wi-fi only (on sale at the local Best Buy here in Canada at $249). I'm loving it so far. Great screen quality, great for multitasking.
The only thing that bugs me a bit is that I don't understand why we can't get the Asus keyboard on it if the tablet is not rooted. I recently bought the Asus Memo Pad HD 7 as a gift for my wife for Christmas (I played with it quite a bit, very nice tablet as well, especially for $128) and I love the Asus keyboard, which has the numbers row over the set of letters, so no need to always switch when typing. As the Nexus 7 is made by Asus, I thought we could have that keyboard as well, but from what I read, it's not possible except if the tablet is rooted. I tried to find other keyboards with the numbers row, but it,s hard to find one as nice as the Asus one. I'm trying Hackers keyboard now, but in Portrait mode, the keys are really small when we have that numbers row...

Anyone knows if there is a chance that the Asus keyboard could be available for non-rooted devices soon?

Thanks.

 

[warthog293]

You could always try downloading thumb keyboard. It is a good keyboard that I have been using for years

Posted via Android Central App

 

[patruns]

Traditionally, manufacturers do not offer their tweaked apps outside of their own sandbox. Your best bet would be to find a similar app in the Play Store. Even if you could find the .apk file somewhere compatibility issues abound as the app may be looking for hardware or other software that is not on your device.

 

[Guillaume Labrecque]

I'll take a look at that Thumb keyboard. Thanks.

 

[Guillaume Labrecque]

Traditionally, manufacturers do not offer their tweaked apps outside of their own sandbox. Your best bet would be to find a similar app in the Play Store. Even if you could find the .apk file somewhere compatibility issues abound as the app may be looking for hardware or other software that is not on your device.

Looks to be no similar app available at Google Play, which is kinda weird. I must not be the only one who doesn't like to always switch when typing numbers...

 

[tflash]

Hello,

I just bought my first tablet on Friday, the Nexus 7 2013 32GB wi-fi only (on sale at the local Best Buy here in Canada at $249). I'm loving it so far. Great screen quality, great for multitasking.
The only thing that bugs me a bit is that I don't understand why we can't get the Asus keyboard on it if the tablet is not rooted. I recently bought the Asus Memo Pad HD 7 as a gift for my wife for Christmas (I played with it quite a bit, very nice tablet as well, especially for $128) and I love the Asus keyboard, which has the numbers row over the set of letters, so no need to always switch when typing. As the Nexus 7 is made by Asus, I thought we could have that keyboard as well, but from what I read, it's not possible except if the tablet is rooted. I tried to find other keyboards with the numbers row, but it,s hard to find one as nice as the Asus one. I'm trying Hackers keyboard now, but in Portrait mode, the keys are really small when we have that numbers row...

Anyone knows if there is a chance that the Asus keyboard could be available for non-rooted devices soon?

Thanks.

I love Hackers keyboard. It has a numbers row and arrow keys for full screen editing without touching the screen.
If you think the keys are too small in portrait mode, the key sizes are adjustable in the settings.

 

[Guillaume Labrecque]

I love Hackers keyboard. It has a numbers row and arrow keys for full screen editing without touching the screen.
If you think the keys are too small in portrait mode, the key sizes are adjustable in the settings.

I'll check out the setting more then. Thanks!

 

[cybernutte]

I have the SwiftKey keyboard, and I love it! I've chosen a layout where the numbers are on the same screen as the letters, and in fact I can also access almost all the foreign characters (e.g., ?, ?, ?, etc.) without having to change the screen. SwiftKey can also handle up to three languages at once, and it provides great suggestions to me in both English and Spanish (and when I was traveling in China, it quickly learned that if I began a word with a capital S, one of its suggestions should be Shanghai, and the same thing held true for B for Beijing and X for Xi'an). I can sometimes write whole sentences without having to type any words, just by clicking on one of the suggestions). Oh, it also has arrow keys, which I find very useful, but if I didn't, I could get rid of them easily--they're simply one of many options.

EDIT: SwiftKey just came out with version 4.3, which removed the arrow keys from the main keyboard and hid them away on the number keyboard (which you don't even need to type numbers). I'm hoping they come to their senses and go back to letting the arrow keys on the main keyboard be an option. I use those keys a lot, and the last thing I want to do is have to switch to a different screen (i.e., the number keyboard) every time I want to use them.

 

[Guillaume Labrecque]

Just to mention that I installed the Thumb Keyboard yesterday and think it's great. I "programmed" the above row to show numbers so I finally got what I wanted.

Thanks to warthog293 for the tip!

 

[warthog293]

Glad I could help

Posted via Android Central App

 

[dhendriksen]

I love Thumb Keyboard. The 7 inch split keyboard is what I use on the Nexus7. It's the way a tablet keyboard should be.