Thursday, May 30, 2013

Top Android keyboards



The best thing about Andorid is its customisability. Today I will be testing 3 keyboards and I will tell you which one is the best. Before I start, I must tell you that all these keyboards are absolutely free, not like Swift Key which has a 28 day free trial or like Smart keyboard which in 14 days you loose some functionalities. Also, I am not referring to the pro or paid versions of these keyboards if they have one. Also, please note that these tests have been conducted on a phone, not a tablet. So, let's jump into it.


First up, GO Keyboard. This keyboard has tons of options for themes, sounds, settings etc. This keyboard too has the Swype functionality without the need to switch, just like the previous keyboard.
However, I didn't find the Swype experience enjoyable and I couldn't justify its autocorrect function. The landscape mode however was really nice, but I must say that this keyboard looses to the previous keyboard because of its sloppy autocorrect function.


Next, Touchpal Keyboard. This keyboard is feature packed. It starts off with a friendly tutorial and teaches you the cool stuff this keyboard can do. Let me give you a few examples, to delete the previous word in one go, you just slide left from the back space button. To get emoticons, long press the symbol button on the main screen. This keyboard comes with Swype built in. Swype is a form of typing where you don't lift you finger from the screen, instead you just trace a path from letter to letter. You don't even have to switch between normal typing and Swype, you can use them both on the go! However, during fast typing, this keyboard just can't catch up, unless you are using landscape mood where this keyboard performs really well.

Lastly, we have the Jelly Bean Keyboard. It is the stock Android jelly Bean keyboard and is also available for download from the Play Store. This keyboard isn't the worst in the world, but at the same time it is not the best. It can keep up with fast typing in the portrait mode, but fairs better in the landscape mode compared to the Go Keyboard.

So these are the final results. If you want a highly customisable keyboard, choose the GO Keyboard. If you want an all-round keyboard, choose the Touchpal keyboard. However, if you like simplicity better over features, the jelly Bean Keyboard is your best bet. I am now going to switch over to the Touchpal keyboard. So see you next time!