Develop Bugs

[Q] HELP! looking for keyboard with arrows

is there another keyboard that has arrows like the one on the bottom of the stock 2.2 keyboard? i like the stock keyboard in all but its not like the multitouch droid keyboard. i wish someone could put those arrows on that keyboard

Swype has a special editing keyboard, by swyping from the Swype key to the SYM key.
Alternatively, there's a keyboard called Full Keyboard in the market. It's not great for day-to-day typing, and doesn't have a horizontal mode, but it has all of the editing keys you could want (arrows, del, insert, etc.) as well as Ctrl+*letter* keys, making it great for SSH sessions in ConnectBot.

I've been using the demo of Smart Keyboard, available in the Market. You tap the number key twice and it brings up a screen with arrows, a delete key, Tab and and Enter key. Then you switch back by hitting the ABC key. The skin I'm using is the iPhone skin. It has small spaces between the keys. It works for me.
I really like SwiftKey the best. It not only guesses the words you're typing, but also the next word. Works really well, but no arrows.
I also found a useful little app that allows you to have a virtual trackball, called Virtual Trackball. It's useful for moving around when you're trying to edit text. It also allows for a virtual d-pad. It's in the Market and costs .99 Euro. I think it's worth it. The developer is very responsive and is adding more features. I used to have trouble with it going away when running a lot of apps, but the new update seems to have made it persist better. If it disappears, you just hold on the home key to bring up recent apps and turn it on again.

Possibilities with the soft key UI

Does anyone think that there could be great potential in the Galaxy Nexus' soft key area at the bottom of the screen? As soon as they announced that the GN would have on-screen buttons, customization came to mind right away.
We've already seen Paul O'Brien's begin with his UI patches here, but I feel like we are only scratching the surface of what can be done.
For example, with my limited pondering, I was hoping that a dev or maybe CM could soon allow us to put shortcuts on that bottom bar for quick access to the certain apps that you always use. For me, I would love for Google Talk to have a permanent shortcut on that bar that I can access from anywhere as I use it almost religiously. Also, a shortcut that emulates the power button would be highly convenient as well so that I don't have to reach up to the side button as often. I can also foresee some themeing or button rearrangement and so forth.
Do you guys have any other ideas? As I'm not a dev of any sort, maybe I'm out of line in thinking that the bottom bar is flexible enough to customize. However, if it could be done (and Paul O'Brien already has demonstrated that maybe it could), the possibilities could be endless.

As a webOS user, I'd love some swipe gestures implemented for 'back' and a swipe up to open the app drawer

a swipe up for the drawer would really nice

Damn, I didn't even think of swipe gestures at all. Now my mind is really running wild.

bump for more ideas!

swype gestures are already available on go launcher

subxero123 said:
swype gestures are already available on go launcher
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Click to collapse
But we're not talking about the launcher. Didn't read the post huh?

I wish we could swipe down to make the thing disappear, which allows us to take advantage of the full 4.65 inch screen.
Swipe down - disappear
Swipe up - appear again

I think would be awesome if we could swipe the regular buttons to the side, showing new options (like we do with dock bar in almost every popular launcher). There, we could use app shortcuts, power widgets and other stuff, like the search and the option buttons.

I agree, I hope this is just a tip of the iceberg, it seems pointless to have all this potential and not utilize it.

how about instead of the soft keys have it scroll:
"wwwwwaaaaaasssssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuuppppppppppppp!!!!!!!!" w/ flashing text.
seriously though, being able to make them appear/disappear anytime would be a big plus in my book.
or say if you're playing a game/watching a movie, and someone calls you... rather then having the call notification pop up & take over, have the notification just appear in the soft key area.(i guess same for texts)

I think instead of putting toggles with the notification bar, a scrolling dock with these would be even better.
Like you guys said, swipe on the dock to the left or right to reveal Wifi/BT/GPS/etc. This seems easier than swiping down on the notification bar to bring it down.

On honeycomb we could hide them and theme them. Change animations and icons.
They didn't figure out how to add more or change up the order or add functionality because honeycomb wasn't open source like gingerbread and ICS.
So yea. Expect lots of cool stuff.
-Galaxy Nexus
-Asus Transformer

Since Android came out, I was hoping we would switch to soft-keys. Now we can fully customize the buttons, select preferred positions, preferred icon style, and which icons you actually have...

I'd be pretty content to just Swap the Menu and task manager buttons... I dont need a permanent task manager button that takes as much time to operate as it does to just navigate to the apps icon itself.. the menu button on the other hand I use in just about every app I launch.

sodequis said:
I'd be pretty content to just Swap the Menu and task manager buttons... I dont need a permanent task manager button that takes as much time to operate as it does to just navigate to the apps icon itself.. the menu button on the other hand I use in just about every app I launch.
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I thought this too until I actually got down to using it on the GN.
I never used the task switcher on my other Android devices as it seemed too difficult and took too long for it to be worth it. However, having been using the GN for a couple of days now, I find its implementation (just a single tap) to be much more friendly and useful. I find myself using it all the time now to switch between what I am doing and can't imagine not having it.

player911 said:
On honeycomb we could hide them and theme them. Change animations and icons.
They didn't figure out how to add more or change up the order or add functionality because honeycomb wasn't open source like gingerbread and ICS.
So yea. Expect lots of cool stuff.
-Galaxy Nexus
-Asus Transformer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd just like to know what devs to talk to in order to make it happen

I was hoping for some app specific keys. For instance in the browser have a Forward, Back, Stop/Reload, Home, etc.

id love to see the buttons replaced with like gif animations. so cool

Enhanced said:
I thought this too until I actually got down to using it on the GN.
I never used the task switcher on my other Android devices as it seemed too difficult and took too long for it to be worth it. However, having been using the GN for a couple of days now, I find its implementation (just a single tap) to be much more friendly and useful. I find myself using it all the time now to switch between what I am doing and can't imagine not having it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But, why not just allow the "Home" button to be the task-switching button via long-press like before? Is that extra pause for the long-press what you're referring to when you say it took too long?
Anyway, I, too, would like the Menu button back, but more importantly I want the Search button back. I can't wait for the ability to get rid of the G Search widget, put a dedicated Search button back in the soft touch area, and have the Home button as the task-switcher.
Brandon

[Q] need help changing the smiley button on the keyboard

So I don't know if this is a stupid question or not but I just switched to an ICS rom and it replaced the enter button on the keyboard to a smiley shortcut. is there any way to change it back to the enter button? thanks.

Not without flashing an entire new keyboard.

There are a multitude of different keyboards in the market that you can install.
Each is fairly unique, and some have very nifty features.
Have fun.
~ I'm a fungi

changing input method on the fly

Is there anyway to change inputs methods on the fly so to speak? in my galaxy and galaxy s2 a long press would being up a menu and u would be able 2 change the input method by that but i have noticed that on the gs3 it doesnt give you that option. am i just missing something in the settings? the main reason i ask is b/c i manly use swype but sometimes with longer messages ill use the better keyboard and its kind of a hassle 2 have 2 go into settings and change it back and forth. thank you

I'm on stock S3 and also mainly using swype. I've noticed that while the swype keyboard is open, you can change the input method by pulling down on the notification bar. It's not as convenient as simply holding a button but since you're already texting and the keyboard is open, it's only an extra step to access on the fly.

sewhuy said:
I'm on stock S3 and also mainly using swype. I've noticed that while the swype keyboard is open, you can change the input method by pulling down on the notification bar. It's not as convenient as simply holding a button but since you're already texting and the keyboard is open, it's only an extra step to access on the fly.
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thank you for that info, sewhuy! Adding that it indeed is there in the notification area no matter what your default keyboard is. I'm now doing this to change between SwiftKey and LastPass.....it's things like this that i hope they really focus on and improve in key lime pie .....long press in the text box indeed would be the best solution.

This Rom, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1748818
has the mod that allows you to change input methods on the fly...
The rom is awesome, please check it out!

[Q] Silly Keyboard Question

Ok, I'm new to Android with this Note 10.1 2014, and I have what should be an easy question. On the stock keyboard, is there a faster way to use the alternate functions of the keys? Like, adding a question mark or apostrophe, for instance. Do I actually have to hold the key down until it changes to the 2nd character? I've been searching for a shortcut, but obviously not good enough. Thanks!

Bottom left of the Keyboard there is a button with the lettering "Sym" (Symbol), hopefully this helps, mind you I don't own this tablet but that's my guess from watching video reviews :silly:

Google stock keyboard can also be installed from the play store. I like the stock one pretty well be googles spell correct is much much better
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

haterbait said:
Ok, I'm new to Android with this Note 10.1 2014, and I have what should be an easy question. On the stock keyboard, is there a faster way to use the alternate functions of the keys? Like, adding a question mark or apostrophe, for instance. Do I actually have to hold the key down until it changes to the 2nd character? I've been searching for a shortcut, but obviously not good enough. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, with Samsung stock keyboards there is a key on the bottom left labeled "Sym" touch that and it'll change the keyboards QWERTY keys into symbols. Once you press that, the capitalization key that's right above "Sym" will turn into a key labeled "1/2", pressing that will give you another set of less commonly used symbols.
You'll notice the "Sym" key has turned into an "ABC" key when you switch to symbols. Touching that goes back to your regular keyboard. It's a billion times less complicated then how it sounds with my description, but I wanted to be as detailed as possible.
Also, welcome to Android.

Thanks. I was hoping for something like iphones have where you swipe from the SYM button over to the punctuation then upon releasing the key, the keyboard reverts back to the ABC keyboard. Just a bit quicker, I think. Of course, they've probably copyrighted that function and would viciously defend it against imitators!

haterbait said:
Thanks. I was hoping for something like iphones have where you swipe from the SYM button over to the punctuation then upon releasing the key, the keyboard reverts back to the ABC keyboard. Just a bit quicker, I think. Of course, they've probably copyrighted that function and would viciously defend it against imitators!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know, it can very well have that. It's never occurred to me to try it. These android keyboards do have swype, which is done by gliding your finger across the keys and words and sentences are formed without ever lifting your finger, so give it a try.
The beautiful thing about android keyboards over their iPhone variant, is the freedom you have to choose from tons of different ones on the marketplace. Different keyboards with different key placements, different levels of customizations, pretty much if you can think of it, it exists. So if your not happy with what shipped with your device nobody is forcing you to use it like Apple does. Head over to the Play Store and find something you like better.
One keyboard app called Swiftkey, is a personal favorite of mine, it's lightening quick to use and very customizable. There's a reason why it's the #1 purchased app on the store. So give it a try and remember you have a 15 minute refund policy with Android, so if you don't like it just return it.

On the playstore, try “multiling O keyboard”
You'll get all the customization you desire.
Sent from my GT-p6800 using XDA Premium HD app

My favorite keyboard is "Thumb Keyboard" from Beansoft. I've been using it since my Xoom a few years ago. I like that it's split in half so when you're in landscape, you hold the tablet with 2 hands and use both thumbs without having to let go to get to keys in the middle. I'm not affiliated with the developer or anything, I just think it's a cool keyboard and I thought I'd share. :good:

Thanks Everyone
Another feature that I'm liking is the floating keyboard. It allows me to use the Spen to quickly swipe text with the keyboard in the corner of the screen. It seems like that keyboard lags though, unfortunately. I'll look into other options in the store then. Thanks again.

The new SwiftKey does the "floating" thing. It's fantastic. Plus you can customize the long-press duration.

SomeGuyDude said:
The new SwiftKey does the "floating" thing. It's fantastic. Plus you can customize the long-press duration.
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I just noticed that swiftkey has a free version in the marketplace. I thought it was pay only. Anyways, hater give it a try. It can be highly personalized to match your style of typing. At first it might feel like it's not giving you what you expect, but that's only because it hasn't learned from you yet. After using for short while it'll learn your finger movements, what words you like to use, your style, etc. It's mind boggling how well it gets to know you and if you login with your Google account you can install swift key on any other Android device in the future and it'll carry that knowledge of your tendencies with it.

The free version seems to be a limited trial of 1 month. I am liking it though! The swipe typing seems a bit more accurate for my sloppy typing/swiping.