Remember the good old vintage days? Where people were just tapping around with their blackberry keyboards. But today the time has evolved, we are on the generation of using touch-sensitive smartphones. And too, the keyboards alternatives have grown. People aren’t satisfied with the stock offerings. So, if you’re one of those people who like customized things, this post is for you.
Today, we are going to compare the best keyboards in the market. Geeks, so be ready for your new keyboard.
How To Change The Default Keyboard?
So let us first analyse what might be the possible reasons to change your keyboard:
- No proper touch response, sensitivity etc.
- Misplacement of keys or messy/irregular layout.
- User can’t change the keyboard to their likings or no possible tweaking available
Go to Settings > Language and Input > Current Keyboard(the terminology might slightly differ as for of your Android version.)
Fleksy (Free with In-App Purchases)
It’s the keyboard that inspires minimalism and pure simplicity. But it’s not that plain, with tons of impressive features. Well, it starts you with a free trial but just syncing your Google account with the app would unlock the free version fully.
Also, you could get some premium themes for about $1.99-$2.99 including the themes such as Frozen and The Hunger Games. So, if you want a really more creative one you surely need to go with “chameleon” that changes with respect to every app.
Let’s talk about the features. It includes features such as invisible keyboard, keys that can be changed to match user need, it also make good use of the middle key row for various operations such as erasing the text, adding space and much more. Also, its text prediction is pretty stupendous. With its badges and awards, it keeps its users engaged and also encourages the user to use the keyboard.
But the downside is that it’s specially designed for tap-typist so if you are a user who keeps on using the keyboard with an ease of swiping, unfortunately, this isn’t the pick for you.
Google Keyboard (free)
Well, Google has dominated everywhere in the market. And so is the case with Android keyboard. But wait, the Google Keyboard is too a competent keyboard in the market. It has picked up great features from other 3rd party keyboards and have instilled in their very own keyboard.
Not to forget that its has incorporated material design in the keyboard that provides exquisite user-experience. Unlike Fleksy, it supports gesture typing either it be for a word or a whole sentence. Also, it has consolidated text-expansions, killer predictive text, a personalised dictionary that keeps growing with time and speech-to-text feature. Too, 25 dictionaries and international layouts are available.
Swype ($0.99)
Swype was the keyboard from where many gesture typing keyboards were born. If I haven’t included this in the list it would be a deadly sin.
It boasts itself as “the most accurate keyboard on the planet” for as the prevalence and the persistence of this app. Guinness World Record awards Swype for being the fastest to type a Text Message. Also, its user-base is tremendous; calculating about 250 million+ people.
Nuance, its developers have enhanced the app since its release. Some features are: Emoji support in 8 Languages, it lets you enter words from two languages at once, it also makes use of Android’s “Talkback” and “Explore by Touch” accessibility features and much more. Too, it has some crowdsourced user dictionaries and stupendous customization tweaks.
MessagEase (Free)
This keyboard isn’t your regular QWERTY Keyboard that you often use. Well, it merges vintage type keyboard with the modern one. May it come to you as a shock but performs exceptionally well.
Its arrangement is like the most used character are placed on 9 big buttons while other characters can be activated with few swipes of gestures. Cool! Isn’t it?
Google play description about this keyboard app brags that it let you attain the speed of 82 words per minute when typing with it.
ai.type (Free and $3.90 Paid)
This too is a great keyboard with exceptional features. It is one of the most fully featured and creative keyboards presently in the store.
To talk of its unique features, it has the ability to adjust the size of the keyboard by just sliding it up and down to your needs. How irritating it feels when you want to peek the area which the keyboard has covers-ai.type is a perfect solution for this.
It’s extremely fluid and responsive that makes it feel on the top of the world. Well, its exclusive position and layout makes it stand out from other keyboards.
SwiftKey (free)
SwiftKey is also among the best alternatives to stock keyboard. But its features, now, are just as same as the Google Keyboard with minor or negligible difference.
The feature because of which SwiftKey is still popular is —“fluency engine” — its a kind of predictive feature that enables the app to use old messages to learn about your writing habit and hence, help you to correct error.
It’s basically free, but to enjoy more custom themes you need to pay.
Minuum (Free for 30 days, $3.20 Paid)
This apps helps you recreate the retro experience of tiny BlackBerry keyboards. But still with up to mark accuracy.
The whole keyboard is placed in a tiny row which is located at the bottom of the screen. So you can see the real big deal of screen. Although, it can be resized like the most traditional keyboards.
But if you’re a swipe-typist you shouldn’t give it a damn. But as it is still in the process of development, its developers might consider to add the feature. Anyways, it’s still a tempting app.
Final Thoughts
Huh! The list has now come to an end! So geeks and nerds out there, which of these keyboards do you prefer? Or which of the keyboards let your typing quench be fulfilled? Let me know your opinions in the comments below!