Android Keyboard Review

My first Android based phone was the HTC Incredible. I liked the keyboard on it and never desired to change it. As soon as I got my Samsung Droid Charge, I wanted to change the keyboard. The stock keyboard was annoyingly slow for regular use. Of course it has the option to speech to text, but nobody uses speech to text all of the time. The main issue is the alternative keys when you press and hold a key to enter a number, you still have to release then select the number. On top of that, the Samsung keyboard doesn't do next word prediction like my old Windows based Samsung Omnia. So I have tried other keyboards and will share what I like and dislike about each of them here.

Go Keyboard EX
I had tried the Go Keyboard after using the Go Launcher EX on my Samsung Droid Charge. The Go Keyboard is one of the best available on the Android Market. Best of all it is free. The Go Keyboard keys are a little larger than other on screen keyboards which makes it nice for older people who like to be precise. It also has the ability of Swype, although it is more frustrating trying to use it than other Swype keyboards. I certainly would not install it if you were looking to try a Swype keyboard because it just isn't accurate.

The Go Keyboard does have a speech to text button on it which is what you would expect from an Android keyboard. There are a number of free skins you can apply to the keyboard to change up the look.

Cons: When it is running, you see it running in the notification bar. This is not that big of a deal as all keyboards are running in the background. I just don't know why I need to see it in the notification bar at the top of the screen. The worst part can be fixed quickly... that is when you install the Go Keyboard, the default settings will look up your contacts for word predictions and those predictions come up first. Rarely do you actually type of number of people's names in text, so I don't want to see them in the word predictions. You can disable it, but you need to disable it before using it or your contacts will be stuck in the word predictions.

Swift X

The Swift X is the first keyboard I paid for and I only paid for it after loving the trial version for about a month. This is my favorite keyboard and is probably the smartest keyboard as it can learn how you write from your Gmail, Facebook and Twitter accounts. Why this is important because it is the only keyboard I have found that will predict the next word or punctuation without hitting a key. When you are finished with a word, it will guess at the next word and give you 3 choices.

Swift X is the first keyboard that I have tried that allows you to swipe across from right to left to delete the last word you typed or started to type. It is so fast that I tend to use the keyboard over using the speech to text option which brings me to the cons.

Cons: To use speech to text, you must press and hold the Swift logo or hit the Swift logo and then select speech input from a pop up small window. This is annoying and slow, but the keyboard is fast and just has me using the speech to text much less. The other knock on Swift is it will mess up your Google Docs word processing document as it will enter and delete a number of things automatically as soon as you open your document. When I use Google Docs, I press the input box to change input keyboards to another installed keyboard.

Better Keyboard

That other installed keyboard was Better Keyboard. This was the second keyboard that I have purchased on the market. Today I reset my phone and it was gone from the market although the skins were still on the market. I love the look of the Red Avatar skin, but it is useless if you cannot get the keyboard anymore.

Cons: It is not available anymore even though it has been paid for. That could happen to any app you pay for on the market as I have found with Need For Speed. The other knock is the lack of guessing on the next word you are going to enter like the Swift X. As I mentioned it is only a function of the Swift X, but it is so fast and good, you just remain disappointed that no other keyboard has it.

Smart Keyboard

I have only used the trial of this keyboard. It appears to be very similar to the Better Keyboard. Like the Better Keyboard, it has the microphone button displayed on it for quick access to speech to text. Also like the Better Keyboard, you can use it's speech to text engine which is faster than the alternative using the Google Voice engine.

Cons: Not sure I want to pay for another keyboard that may not be there in the future. No next word prediction although it will predict the word you are working on after 2 letters like the Better Keyboard.

Conclusion
If you have a Samsung phone, this blog is probably more important to you than if you have an HTC phone. I know you will like the Swift X keyboard and won't have any issues with it. If you use Google Docs, know how to change to another keyboard on the fly for when you would like to access a document.