Dual keyboard? Portrait/landscape switch??? - Nexus One Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Is there any possible way to have two different keyboards depending on orientation without having to set it? I would love Swype in portrait and Smart Keyboard or HTC_IME in landscape and not have to change it manually. I'm sure there are others who would agree >;] I'm guessing it would have to be a frankenstein mashup of two keyboards or if there is a way to add it into the OS.

This is relevant to my interests.

I think the best approach would be a customizable one so people can choose different keyboards because I won't want the same two as the next person. Just an idea to throw around if any devs are looking for new cool things to work on. >;]

I have really been wracking my brain as to how to make this work. I'm with you--Swype in portrait, stock in landscape. A mashup keyboard would be possible, if you could get the source from both. But that would be very difficult. The most feasible (and useful) way would be to have an app automatically change your settings for you based on orientation. There's no way to do this without root, though--no app has permission to change your keyboard settings. This would open a huuuuge security hole for spyware. So, we need root to directly access the configuration files and forcibly change from one keyboard to another. This is a huge can of worms to open, but it might just be doable. Any thoughts?

+1
I would like to see this as well! Though the stock keyboard for landscape is my preference. HTC_IME is a little too cramped for my tastes and the vibration lags a bit more.

YES SIR! I would love to see this happen. I use Smartkeyboard in Landscape and Swype in portrait. this would be SO helpful.

Man, I hate shameless bumps, but this would be a huge deal. I just want to get someone with some more skill to take a notice, so...
*shameless bump*

BUMP
10chars

BUMPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!
swype in portrait...HTC in landscape....is it possible to delete stock android kb?

Someone make a app that lets you configure the keyboard for both based on your installed ones and sell it at $.99 and you'll make some good money.
(If you can do any of that)

+1 on willing to pay for my idea brought to life ^__^

good idea. would pay to see it. i love swype but hate the space bar placement when in landscape.

+1 i want this so badly!

Yeah this would be great... Normal swype method and landscape better keyboard or the default one.

Since apps are made to work together on android, would it be possible to make an app that basically would consider itself a keyboard and it would just choose one keyboard to run while in portrait and another to run while in landscape? Don't know programming too well, just wanna throw ideas out there..

+1 for this functionality
(Swype in portrait, stock in landscape)

great idea dev needed
+1 we need a dev to make an app that has settings for what keyboard launches in what orientation i dont think it would be that hard if we get someone who knows what their doing to make it id pay for it swype in portrait and htc ime in landscape for me just have the app let you choose from whatever keyboards you have installed for the orientation so everyone will be happy and be able to choose

+1
I would use this feature as well. I hope someone gets on this

i know
yourtravelboy said:
I would use this feature as well. I hope someone gets on this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats why im putting it all over twitter asking everybody if they think its a good idea so hopefully someone will pick up on it and dev it up

Guys...
By now, the fact that no one has done this or looked into it, it should be pretty clear that this is not possible to do.

Related

So after a month of using TF3D...

I decided to disable it and use ilauncher, ill never go back to TF3D in the near future.
The device is so much easier to use and is far more responsive.
Just thought i'd share incase you wanted to see for yourself!
any screen shots?
milky wallpaper
i tried the same but when i wanted to place a wallpaper on the today screen it went all milky.that and the loss of the tf music player made me go back again. how did you solve these issues?
It's not very difficult to create an ui which is faster, easier to use and has more options to customize than tf3d. Whats cool about tf3d - the wather app? I'am wondering, what kind of benefit people see in this peace of software.
I am using MS2 and it beats tf3d in all regards. You can get with a few clicks to anywhere. If there is a menu you miss, you create it, or you delete an existing one. You can use the complete MS2 only with your thumb. (hardware+softkeys). You have shortcuts to your last used programs within the today-screen - if you wan't to keep a shortcut, it's possible to stick them.
MS2 throws you not so early back to WM6 as tf3d. (contacts,notes...) I even find it is optical more apealing on the long run and more unified in look and feel.
That there are many ui's better than tf3d is more because of the bad design of it than good design from the others, I have the impression, the makers of tf3d are only interested in smashing some eye-catchers together for nice screen-shots, instead of getting the user fast and easy to the point where he wants to.
The only reason I'm keeping TF3D is without it some system functions don't work. For example, volume buttons stop working during calls etc. etc.
pwoyorkie said:
I decided to disable it and use ilauncher, ill never go back to TF3D in the near future.
The device is so much easier to use and is far more responsive.
Just thought i'd share incase you wanted to see for yourself!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here it is if anyone is intrested
http://www.sbsh.net/product.php?id=29

Lucid REM's keyboard

I searched but couldn't find anything about this app here so I thought I'd start a thread. If I missed it, please redirect me.
http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.lucid.qwerty
Has anyone else bought and installed this? When I saw it I didn't hesitate, just bought it because of all of Lucid's other work. No it's not a finished product -- as he says in the product listing, it's a work in progress and he's quite open to suggestions, revising it pretty much daily since it appeared.
The way it works is this: most keys have two letters on them and this lets him make each key larger than the keys on the standard keyboards. To get the 1st character, press once, to get the 2nd character, quick press the key twice. You may notice there's no left or right parenthesis - in the current version (1.51.06), while there's no hint on the keyfaces, you can long-press quite a few of the keys and you'll get alternate text. For instance, long-pressing the "jk" key will give you "(" and "l" will give you ")". I bought it and am keeping it because
1) I like to support active developers
2) I like to help shape an app -- Lucid responds quickly and well to suggestions and bug reports
Do I have it set as my default input method? No. But I use it regularly cuz, well, my fingers are big and it's easier to work with two letters per key than 3
I'll post some screenshots when I get a chance (unless someone else beats me to it).
short/y said:
I searched but couldn't find anything about this app here so I thought I'd start a thread. If I missed it, please redirect me.
http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.lucid.qwerty
Has anyone else bought and installed this? When I saw it I didn't hesitate, just bought it because of all of Lucid's other work. No it's not a finished product -- as he says in the product listing, it's a work in progress and he's quite open to suggestions, revising it pretty much daily since it appeared.
The way it works is this: most keys have two letters on them and this lets him make each key larger than the keys on the standard keyboards. To get the 1st character, press once, to get the 2nd character, quick press the key twice. You may notice there's no left or right parenthesis - in the current version (1.51.06), while there's no hint on the keyfaces, you can long-press quite a few of the keys and you'll get alternate text. For instance, long-pressing the "jk" key will give you "(" and "l" will give you ")". I bought it and am keeping it because
1) I like to support active developers
2) I like to help shape an app -- Lucid responds quickly and well to suggestions and bug reports
Do I have it set as my default input method? No. But I use it regularly cuz, well, my fingers are big and it's easier to work with two letters per key than 3
I'll post some screenshots when I get a chance (unless someone else beats me to it).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude htc ime has that option, its compact qwerty instead of qwerty, works real well, its free, and its probably just as good as the iPhone keyboard when it come to correction and all that.. but hey if you want to support the dev cool but it looks like his idea is a little to expensive in a market where that already exist, to little to late.. also the new touchpal keyboard has the same option and i believe theres a free beta..
not cool to be cheap!
turboyo said:
Dude htc ime has that option, its compact qwerty instead of qwerty, works real well, its free, and its probably just as good as the iPhone keyboard when it come to correction and all that.. but hey if you want to support the dev cool but it looks like his idea is a little to expensive in a market where that already exist, to little to late.. also the new touchpal keyboard has the same option and i believe theres a free beta..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wholeheartedly agree with short/y's post. I really can contribute much to the community in yearned of developing so when I c a fellow xda members app in the market I buy. Sometimes I use it some times I dnt. I do it as a way of giving back to my fellow members of xda!
turboyo said:
Dude htc ime has that option, its compact qwerty instead of qwerty, works real well, its free, and its probably just as good as the iPhone keyboard when it come to correction and all that.. but hey if you want to support the dev cool but it looks like his idea is a little to expensive in a market where that already exist, to little to late.. also the new touchpal keyboard has the same option and i believe theres a free beta..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, the developers of HTC's IME aren't reading XDA nor is there any meaningful way to influence their development on a daily basis. The CooTek offering is a different story -- I was a beta tester before they released and I've used their keyboard on Windows Mobile every since -- they're good and they listen.
BUT, Lucid's HERE and listens on a daily basis. You can directly influence how it looks and how it works today. If you're not interested, that's OK. But Lucid's demonstrated time and again that he's interested in furthering Android and the community in general so I'm supporting it and him. That doesn't mean I can't support other methods, too.

Apache! Track Ball! Landscape View! (questions)

Any chance there's a way to run Apache Home Server on my CDMA Hero?
Not looking for anyone who wants to convince me not to, I would just like to know if it's possible/doable.
Also, rather than making a seperate topic,
Is there any way we can:
1) Make a pointer for the track ball? Even, at the very least, while using the browser? I mean, really... why has this not been done yet?
2) Make it so our Home Screens turn when the Accelerometer changes to wide view. When sliding the keyboard out on the Droid and (I believe G1) the viewing automatically changes to landscape. I would love this feature as well. Is this doable, possible?
Thanks in advance, any advice given is appreciated!
bump...
>.>
if you compile apache and all the libs and whatever it depends on for android then it should be possible. afaik there is a webserver for android out there, any reason why it needs to be apache? i think it is way to complex for android, a small lightweight webserver should be no problem in theory.
a trackball pointer might be possible, but not trivial. personally i don't see the reason, when using the trackball in the browser the selected link is highlighted green, what do you need a pointer for?
again, theoretically doable is also the rotated homescreen. you "just" need to redesign sense ui for landscape view. which might be really hard, as it is more than just a small app, and it is closed source (because it is part of htc's modifications, not part of the original android). tbh, don't wait for it to happen unless htc does it.
and last but not least: no offense, but give your posts a few hours, not everything is answered directly.
kendong2 said:
if you compile apache and all the libs and whatever it depends on for android then it should be possible. afaik there is a webserver for android out there, any reason why it needs to be apache? i think it is way to complex for android, a small lightweight webserver should be no problem in theory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't need to be Apache, I'm just more familiar with that particular server software. If there are other options I would be glad to explore them. There are a few things I would like to test that I think would be kind of cool depending on the type of webserver I can run.
a trackball pointer might be possible, but not trivial. personally i don't see the reason, when using the trackball in the browser the selected link is highlighted green, what do you need a pointer for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A track ball would help out in a lot of ways. If open to the OS it would let me select programs, etc. while wearing gloves. It would open up the option of navigating without having to actually use the touch screen in case the scenario presents itself (again, gloves).
If just the browser it could help with games and those types of things. One important thing I have noticed is that I can't scroll within a frame on the browser. If I had a pointer I could, at the least, be able to click and drag the inner frame down without moving the main browsing page. This is somewhat vital to me as my College's Blackboard System is completely based on these types of web pages.
again, theoretically doable is also the rotated homescreen. you "just" need to redesign sense ui for landscape view. which might be really hard, as it is more than just a small app, and it is closed source (because it is part of htc's modifications, not part of the original android). tbh, don't wait for it to happen unless htc does it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a shame. The one problem I have is the amount of rotating I have to do. I would prefer to have the home screens locked in landscape rather than how they are now. It's just a little ridiculous to be watching a video on the phone and texting someone... but every time you want to reply/text you have to rotate the phone. It just seems tedious and I'm a man of efficiency if I can help it.
Maybe I can convince HTC.
and last but not least: no offense, but give your posts a few hours, not everything is answered directly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry about that. XDA is very popular and I assumed my post had already become lossed in the fray. I posted on my lunch break and bumped one hour before having to go home so I had hoped I would get one response before then.
Thanks!
And anymore information would be appreciated. Not just from you but anyone else who has any information.
fatkitty420 said:
2) Make it so our Home Screens turn when the Accelerometer changes to wide view. When sliding the keyboard out on the Droid and (I believe G1) the viewing automatically changes to landscape. I would love this feature as well. Is this doable, possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe this is being done in the 2.1 Sense that HTC have promised us...sometime.
But imo its really ugly, nothing seems to be the right proportions (I'm a designer, so it kinda bugged me)
fatkitty420 said:
A track ball would help out in a lot of ways. If open to the OS it would let me select programs, etc. while wearing gloves. It would open up the option of navigating without having to actually use the touch screen in case the scenario presents itself (again, gloves).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that can be solved, press menu on homescreen, from there on you can use the trackball to navigate to all programs and then navigate through the menu.
i got myself some gloves from north face, which have a conducting fabric on the tips of thumb and index finger, so i can use the touchscreen natively with them. works great, actually got them before i had the hero because they are cool anyway
for the rest: i see your point now, but can't help. and tbh i don't think htc will take too much interest in your concerns... but try anyway, at least they should know about it!
For the web server you might want to try PAW server for Android. Although it's still in beta, it has a lot of built-in goodies like call log, send SMS and so on.
And you can serve your own static or dynamic (BeanShell) pages.

Rotate phone to change keyboards?

Hey, I'm probably about to smell like noob here but; Is there any way to have the phone actually change input method when rotating? For example, when portrait have swype, but when rotating to landscape, have it automatically change to htc_ime keyboard? I've been searching google for a bit now, but came up empty handed. I understand this would probably lag the rotate a bit, but that doesn't bother me much.
That would be ideal... but no way to do it as of yet.
One can only hope, cross his fingers, or learn how to program I guess XD
rickyzone said:
Hey, I'm probably about to smell like noob here but; Is there any way to have the phone actually change input method when rotating? For example, when portrait have swype, but when rotating to landscape, have it automatically change to htc_ime keyboard? I've been searching google for a bit now, but came up empty handed. I understand this would probably lag the rotate a bit, but that doesn't bother me much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was a previous discussion about this possibility. The answer is no, it's not possible.
Are you saying that there's NO way to switch input methods through the Android API?
Pretty sure it's a security issue about not lettins apps change keyboards.
Well that sucks, but I guess they know best. I see the security issue, if an app allowed a change in keyboard, they could easily make a key logger app or something. I am a little sad about this though, but a work around would be a keyboard app that in itself switched methods when rotating... I don't know, it's a possibility.

Anyone else think the stock keyboard is still the best?

I've tried a lot of different keyboards on my phone and for a while I thought the HTC IME was the best and that's what I used as my primary keyboard, but on my last wipe I was feeling lazy and didn't install it and instead used the stock keyboard for a while and I was amazed at how much better it is!
I make way less errors on the stock keyboard, the key layout seems to make more sense, and the keys do a better job of changing based on context (such as changing the return key to a "Next" key in web forms or smile button in gchat). The HTC keyboard still looks the nicest, and I like that you can long press keys to get numbers and symbols, but I found it very annoying that while you can see the alternate symbols on the keyboard, pressing the alt key causes everything to shift over a key or two. I'm always chasing keys around!
I tried out Froyo for a while and the stock keyboard is getting even better! It shows common punctuation in the suggestion bar after completing a word, and it has a much nicer approach to adding new words to the dictionary. I hated how all my typos ended up getting added to the dictionary with the HTC keyboard.
Anyone else feel the same way?
I too have found the stock keyboard very capable. Especially for how accurate voice input is.
My only wish is that Google would allow you to enter a line break with the stock keyboard when composing an SMS.
I agree. Coming from an iPhone, I have no problems with the keyboard, and Froyo's keyboard is really nice!
Yeah the stock keyboard in Froyo is awesome, I still use Better Keyboard just because I like the look of it better and ive gotten used to the key placement, but stock is definitely awesome, once its themed I may switch to it. I dont use predictive text or anything like that though so those features dont really factor in for me.
I never got why the stock keyboard gets such a bad reputation. I wish you could pick different word choices after you move on from a word, but other than that I like it a lot.
JoshHart said:
Yeah the stock keyboard in Froyo is awesome, I still use Better Keyboard just because I like the look of it better and ive gotten used to the key placement, but stock is definitely awesome, once its themed I may switch to it. I dont use predictive text or anything like that though so those features dont really factor in for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you still using Better Keyboard with Froyo? I used it with 2.1, but since upgrading to Froyo, Better Keyboard doesn't seem to auto correct my words and isn't prompting me for alternate words like it used to. I'm uninstalled and reinstalled too and it hasn't made a difference.
I preferred Better Keyboard because of its key placement and the skins, but since I can't get the auto correct to work with Froyo, I haven't been using it.
Also using better keyboard here (on Eclair). Love the long press to get to most symbols. I find it better than the stock 2.1 keyboard.
Here's a good overview of the options out there:
http://www.androidcentral.com/android-centrals-keyboard-roundup
I think the default is some pretty mean beef. I like the customisability of HTC IME, but even a totally stock keyboard seems better. I wish I could extend the space bar so it was massive though, thats the ONLY errors i make.
I don't know if it's the best or not; it's certainly good enough that I haven't had to use any others...
Definetly not as good as the "better keyboard". Multi touch without a delay when using sound and vibration. Something the default keyboard can't do, not even the htc one.
I use the numbered 1-9 keyboard using T9 since its so fast. But I never had a problem with the stock android keyboard. Some say its not good and auto correct doesn't work but I found it works perfectly.
Just fly thru your words, don't even have to hit exact keys, and it gets close to all correct.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
do yourselves a favor, and download swype.
trust me.
krumb said:
do yourselves a favor, and download swype.
trust me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what he said.
honestly, i almost NEVER use stock anymore after using swype. in fact, i don't even use landscape anymore. all one handed, all fast, all the time.
swype is one of the first things i put onto a fresh flash.
and, when i do want a landscape keyboard, i use htc_ime.
krumb said:
do yourselves a favor, and download swype.
trust me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used swype for a while and it's pretty awesome. The best part about it is the fact that you can type quickly one-handed. Unfortunately I like to use voice input sometimes and there is no button for that on swype.
Better keyboard looks promising, but I actually haven't tried it. Maybe I will.
I still think that I can type as fast on the stock keyboard as I can with swipe. I find that I seem to spell out words as I type them, and swype forces me to think about the full spelling much earlier and it slows me down from time to time.
Tried stock, didn't like it. Then, SwiftKey, that was pretty awesome but not as good as Swype!
i really like smart keyboard pro. i really dislike having to do extra presses to get symbols :\ why cant the stock keyboard just let you hold and get a symbol?
PrawnPoBoy said:
I used swype for a while and it's pretty awesome. The best part about it is the fact that you can type quickly one-handed. Unfortunately I like to use voice input sometimes and there is no button for that on swype.
Better keyboard looks promising, but I actually haven't tried it. Maybe I will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you have swype, while a text field is up, hit menu>voice. works in handcent, anyway
PrawnPoBoy said:
Anyone else feel the same way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES
krumb said:
do yourselves a favor, and download swype.
trust me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disagree. Was just talking about Swype over here
I really like Swype, but there is just one thing that really spoils it for me. Entering words and text is just great. Love the way it works and I find it satisfyingly easy to enter text.
BUT when I have to enter logins into dialog boxes or URLs in an address bar on my N1, everything turns to Sh1t for me. I know you can still peck keys, but I keep finding it adds the wrong characters and symbols. It becomes such a PITA that I have temporarily stopped using Skype and have gone back to stock.
What I would like is a simple gesture like 3 taps of the Swype button to toggle swyping on/off. Then I could temporarily have regular keyboard behaviour for these short periods when I am not entering words.
So for now, I am with the OP. I reckon Stock is best.
logger said:
YES
Disagree. Was just talking about Swype over here
I really like Swype, but there is just one thing that really spoils it for me. Entering words and text is just great. Love the way it works and I find it satisfyingly easy to enter text.
BUT when I have to enter logins into dialog boxes or URLs in an address bar on my N1, everything turns to Sh1t for me. I know you can still peck keys, but I keep finding it adds the wrong characters and symbols. It becomes such a PITA that I have temporarily stopped using Skype and have gone back to stock.
What I would like is a simple gesture like 3 taps of the Swype button to toggle swyping on/off. Then I could temporarily have regular keyboard behaviour for these short periods when I am not entering words.
So for now, I am with the OP. I reckon Stock is best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
add your username and/or password to the dictionary. swype it.

Categories

Resources