Today's Free Amazon App: Thumb Keyboard - 10/03/2011 - Captivate Themes and Apps

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004X71YY2?ie=UTF8&ref=mas_faad
You may need to adjust your subwoofer to watch this video lol
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mAYXV13T4Z9BY/ref=ent_fb_link
Reg. $2.46
So far, I like this as much as Swift Key. This has more levels of customizing, and while it's predictions might not be as good as Swift Key, it is certainly worth a look...esp. for free.

Related

[REVIEW] Choice Dialer - BT Dial/Command Entry

I recently purchased Choice Dialer, and thought I'd start a thread with somewhat af a review, and hopefully learn from others too about how to make it work well for us.
Ever since moving to Android, I have sorely missed Microsoft Voice Command. Choice Dialer is a start toward that direction. Of course, some will think of Vlingo, which in fact may be better now than when I last used it. Seems there is not one voice app that does everything.
Among features that it has are;
Of course, Dial by name, or number
Play/pause music; Next/Previous song; Play by artist; Play from album; Play songs by title
Send email
Send text
Set Facebook status
Create contact
Open App
Schedule an event on calendar
Enable/Disable WiFi, Blue Tooth, GPS and some more
Tell you the time
Add to calendar
I have only had the app for a few days, and this review will not be comprehensive.
Does it understand?
I am struggleing a bit having it understand me. I frequently have it say "Try again". Sometimes it does something completely different from what I asked.
I am finding that it has a learning curve for speaking so it understands, as it is getting a little better. Interestingly, it understands better if I speak faster. When talking to a voice recognition, I think people have a tendency to speak slow and enunciate clearly. Interestingly, i find that makes it worse...at least, speaking slow does, for me.
I also think the app needs to mature some. For example I had this conversation with it yesterday:
Me: Enable Blue Tooth
CD: Did you say Disable Blue Tooth?
Me: No
CD; Disabling Blue Tooth.
Uh...it should have understood NO.
Another thing, as all voice dialers need, it needs a fairly quite environment. Background noise, radios, etc. will really throw it off.
Playing Music
First off, the only music player it plays through at the moment is the native android music app. I use MixZing, so prefer that.
It is nice that it will play by Artist, Album, or Song. But a glaring omission is it will not play by Genre. I asked them about playing genres, and got this response:
As to your suggestion for genres, for now perhaps you can approximate the effect through playlists? I steer clear of genres, as Android does not support the concept in its data model (I cannot ask the phone to tell me which songs are "pop").
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dialng
I find it to do fairly well at dialing when the person is in the contacts. Occasionally need to retry. I really like that it has voice confirmation.
Send Email
When I go to dictate an email, it uses Google Voice to hear the message. And often I get "Server problem Speak again" message in the Google App. I suppose it is a problem for the Google App, not Choice Dialer. But in the end, not too great. I attempted an email 7 times, and it worked twice. When it works, there is no way that I know of to have it use punctuation.
Open App
I can say Open <program name> and it works fairly well.
An interesting challenge for it is this one: "Open GPS Test". It never gets that. I presume because GPS is not a word.
Enable/Disable Functions
It works pretty good to enable Blue Tooth, and WiFi. Again, I sometimes need to repeat.
But, interestingly, enabling GPS is not what you expect. It launches the settings for you to click it, rather than just turning it on. I contacted them about it, and this is their response:
That is because that is all it CAN do.. nothing more direct is permitted a non-Google app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That one perplexes me. If you can directly enable Wifi, and Blue Tooth, I wonder why you couldn't do GPS. Certainly, there are apps that you can toggle it with.
Support
I find them VERY responsive. This is a good sign, and hopefully the app will mature and improve.
Wish List
If only this, or some app somewhere, could be as solid and capable as I found Microsoft Voice Command to be.
Would like to be able to : Play music by genre; Of course, have improved understanding and accuracy; tell me what is on my schedule today, and tomorrow. I'm sure there are others, but I'm running out of time for now on this post.
Conclusion
I may continue to use this for basic stuff, including dialing, and turning on BT when in car, opening apps etc. But for now, its too much effort repeating and so forth for the other features to be of much value to me.
So, are you using Choice Dialer? Better luck with it? Suggestions for use?
ewingr said:
I recently purchased Choice Dialer, and thought I'd start a thread with somewhat af a review, and hopefully learn from others too about how to make it work well for us.
...
Conclusion
I may continue to use this for basic stuff, including dialing, and turning on BT when in car, opening apps etc. But for now, its too much effort repeating and so forth for the other features to be of much value to me.
So, are you using Choice Dialer? Better luck with it? Suggestions for use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the free version and really found it to be barely on par with the VoiceDailer.apk. Additionally, though there were lots of settings, it seemed overly complicated to me (I am a huge Voicedial fan from MS6.5).
I really only want the dial bit with confirmation (I never got that to work with the free version), and maybe reading/sending texts via voice.
I am not ready to step up and buy the app, and a 1 day trial is sort of silly. Give me 3-4 days. I did not realized there was a 1 day trial when I got the free version from the market, so I did not have an opportunity to test the paid version.
It is good to hear that their support is responsive. Let me know how you progress with this. I will let you know if I purchase the product.
I'll post back in a while.
I am still finding it a bit frustrating. I love the confirmation. But, I find it has a LOT of trouble understanding me. I think it is due to background noise.
Last night I tried it a bit driving home. I drive a Lexus, so road noise is not that bad, but with my Motorola T505 speaker phone unit, I had to scream at it for it to hear me.
Well, I'm about to give up on Choice Dialer. It just has way too high a percentage of not understanding.
I'm very disappointed. This is the only app I've found that has verification by voice.
I find Vlingo and Google Voice to have its share of misunderstanding, but not near as bad as Choice Dialer, but then they require hands on methods for verifications.
The major omission I found when switching from Windows Mobile to Android Eclair was voice dialling thru bluetooth. When I updated to Froyo I immediately tested the Voice Dialler with my Jawbone II - disappointed is an understatement. Recognition of contact names was abysmal, half the time it would dial the wrong contact without any confirmation. Other times I'd have to select an option on the screen - hardly hands free!
I tried Vlingo, but soon found it would only listen and speak thru the phone, not the bluetooth. Apparently a headset with A2DP profile is required.
So I tried Choice Dialer free, and found it better than the stock voice dialer because it offers voice confirmations thru bluetooth. That alone makes it worth using.
Recognition is good using the Jawbone, I haven't tried a built-in bluetooth or separate speaker phone yet. I'll report back when I've done so.
Anyway, I was impressed enough to purchase the Choice Dialer Plus. Can't say I've used the text and email capabilites for real yet, because although you can dictate a message thru bluetooth, you can't send it without pressing a button on the screen. Apparently the developer is working on making texting fully hands-free. He seems pretty active, judging by the change log on the site.
So I would recommend that those who are disappointed with stock Voice Dialler give Choice Dialer a try and see how the voice recognition works for you. Or if you have an A2DP headset, try Vlingo.

Does anyone "write" on their Note?

Just thought I would ask the question.
Do people use their Note to draw or write?
If you write do you use a specific software or the samsung installed keypad?
Just curious to hear some input.
I use an application called graffiti pro.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA
yep..... once in a while
Yup....been writing on it since i bought it to replace my notepad/business diary.
i use it to jot down meeting key points and ideas.
why wasting paper...Go Green!
BayuDroidz said:
Yup....been writing on it since i bought it to replace my notepad/business diary.
i use it to jot down meeting key points and ideas.
why wasting paper...Go Green!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1..I do the same during meetings..at least its not too obvious that I am playing with the phone instead of concentrating in the meeting
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
i find it difficult and disappointing to take notes in classes or in meetings using S-memo app as touching the menu and/or back button happens almost everytime unless im extra carefull and focusing not to touch them , which in one way or another , counters the idea note taking freely...
dont get me wrong , this device is awesome , and i love it , but software wise its.......meh . it only lacks a few simple points and touches on the main apps it was promoted with... (simple palm rejection!? , or rejection of finger touches with the S-pen is active in the screen!? ,2 way automatic syncing or backup!? )
i know there r some market apps that can do that , but why Samsung just couldn't just do it with the bundled s-memo app ??? its not only about sketching and pressure sensitive points , those worth nothing as a "Note" taking device in my opinion.
Why not try FreeNote from Android Market instead of S-Memo? Freenote seems to be a bigger brother of S-Memo and it can easily "share" (which means, export) its notes to any app that can accept graphic files. I hope FreeNote keeps evolving, as it seems to have great potential!
Quite handy when getting a phone number on the fly or anything in that manner. I also write my grocery lists in here. And I'm using it quite often right now because of the Draw Something game.
Skitch + evernote combo works quite well for me
loads
I do a lot now. I also use skitch as I have everything in evernote.
The feel for me is that it is 'natural' to lift the Note and write a note . It looks and feels just like a pocket notepad. My writing is probably not as good as pen & paper, but with some effort it is passable.
The alternatives are tedious and intrusive. I either hold it two-handed and thumb-type, use swype, or have a BT keyboard. All are OK, but for some reason it is harder to concentrate on other people when typing.
In a meeting or conversation, the natural note-taking wins every time, as it is less intrusive and allows you to focus more on the people you are talking to, I find. YMMV.

What I miss the most about my Galaxy S2, and some rants

I just got the Nexus 4. Needless to say, it arrived the day the S4 was announced, but whatever. It's cheap, relative to what I paid for the S2 I had from T-mobile.
I bought it to get away from bloatware. After updating my S2 to ICS I could type faster than the characters showed up on the screen. Reminded me of my days pushing the limits of a 386.
I've had the Nexus 4 for exactly one day. Immediately I notice some nice things:
1. Definitely feel snappier. This is a big plus.
2. The auto-correct is less intrusive. If I hit backspace after auto-correct does something, it will revert the entire correction. That is nice; in the S2 I had to turn it off because it was driving me nuts (texting in different languages; not to mention it insisted on capitalizing Work but not wednesday).
And then the bad:
1. Can't bcc myself on every email. How lame. No, I don't use gmail and I don't want you. And I am used to doing things this way and don't want to change my email handling on umpteen computers to deal with sent folders. So I had to download K9, and the fact that you have to go into a menu to find the compose function is just plain stupid.
2. Wow, I miss the dialer on the S2. I would just start typing in digits. It would search my contacts by digits *or* by the equivalent letters. Just beginning to type someone's name and I could find them. Now I have to hit the magnifying glass and type in the name to find someone.
3. I also miss the toggles on the slider (whatever you call that thing you pull down from the top of the screen). Takes several clicks to turn Bluetooth on and off now.
These things may not seem like a big deal, but for those of us who don't want to spend our days watching laughing pandas, the little things in software can make or break the experience. That is how Apple got ahead (and still is, in many cases).
Generally I think Google (and possibly all smartphones) missed a few things. Or else I'm old and stubborn. One of them is the utter lack of control over what's going on. Not being able to "quit" an app is annoying. And then you get an app to kill apps---but someone works around that. Happened with AirDroid. Had to uninstall it! Couldn't kill it, and couldn't figure out how to not keep this connection "open" all the time. So I feel like I can't use it.
And my biggest pet peeve is keyboard layout. If you know the history, you know where QUERTY came from. Then came Dvorak, which took off only with a handful of nerds, but is a smart concept. Now we take something that looks nothing like a typewriter and shove QUERTY into it. Look, I understand the need to keep things familiar, but from what I understand, it's extremely difficult to customize the keyboard layout. I hope someone can point me to an app that allows me to do that, but I haven't found one. The world's idea of "customizable keyboard" is to have a Japanese schoolgirl dancing behind semi-transparent keys. Sorry, but no. In the English language you should have the apostrophe on the main keyboard and for most languages the comma should be there, too. I don't use the "speak" key or the smiley face one. Hell, take the space bar, which is 5 keys wide and make it 2.
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
There's no angry old man post icon?
***EDIT***
Opera just downloaded 1600 messages by POP. Now, because of something K9 or the Nexus email client did, Opera lost track of which emails were new and I got 1600 duplicates. Am I doing things that wrong or does it just not work?
pelesl said:
I just got the Nexus 4. Needless to say, it arrived the day the S4 was announced, but whatever. It's cheap, relative to what I paid for the S2 I had from T-mobile.
I bought it to get away from bloatware. After updating my S2 to ICS I could type faster than the characters showed up on the screen. Reminded me of my days pushing the limits of a 386.
I've had the Nexus 4 for exactly one day. Immediately I notice some nice things:
1. Definitely feel snappier. This is a big plus.
2. The auto-correct is less intrusive. If I hit backspace after auto-correct does something, it will revert the entire correction. That is nice; in the S2 I had to turn it off because it was driving me nuts (texting in different languages; not to mention it insisted on capitalizing Work but not wednesday).
And then the bad:
1. Can't bcc myself on every email. How lame. No, I don't use gmail and I don't want you. And I am used to doing things this way and don't want to change my email handling on umpteen computers to deal with sent folders. So I had to download K9, and the fact that you have to go into a menu to find the compose function is just plain stupid.
2. Wow, I miss the dialer on the S2. I would just start typing in digits. It would search my contacts by digits *or* by the equivalent letters. Just beginning to type someone's name and I could find them. Now I have to hit the magnifying glass and type in the name to find someone.
3. I also miss the toggles on the slider (whatever you call that thing you pull down from the top of the screen). Takes several clicks to turn Bluetooth on and off now.
These things may not seem like a big deal, but for those of us who don't want to spend our days watching laughing pandas, the little things in software can make or break the experience. That is how Apple got ahead (and still is, in many cases).
Generally I think Google (and possibly all smartphones) missed a few things. Or else I'm old and stubborn. One of them is the utter lack of control over what's going on. Not being able to "quit" an app is annoying. And then you get an app to kill apps---but someone works around that. Happened with AirDroid. Had to uninstall it! Couldn't kill it, and couldn't figure out how to not keep this connection "open" all the time. So I feel like I can't use it.
And my biggest pet peeve is keyboard layout. If you know the history, you know where QUERTY came from. Then came Dvorak, which took off only with a handful of nerds, but is a smart concept. Now we take something that looks nothing like a typewriter and shove QUERTY into it. Look, I understand the need to keep things familiar, but from what I understand, it's extremely difficult to customize the keyboard layout. I hope someone can point me to an app that allows me to do that, but I haven't found one. The world's idea of "customizable keyboard" is to have a Japanese schoolgirl dancing behind semi-transparent keys. Sorry, but no. In the English language you should have the apostrophe on the main keyboard and for most languages the comma should be there, too. I don't use the "speak" key or the smiley face one. Hell, take the space bar, which is 5 keys wide and make it 2.
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
There's no angry old man post icon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are tons of keyboards, toggle apps and widgets and dialers in Google Play and XDA. Stop wining and start looking mate
Samsung packaged their apps such as dialers, keyboards, email clients and all the other stuff you like into the bloat called touchwiz. The vanilla android is lean without those bells and whistles. Like what the previous post said, explore the playstore. There are better apps there than what samsung packaged in the s2. You just need to explore..
Sent from my Nexus 4
2 and 3 are both 'fixed' in CM 10.1 - might be worth giving it a go...
im assuming your still on stock???
1. Not sure about the BCC...but there's a general email that you can use for non-gmail accounts....
2. can be easily solved with dialer mod....most roms comes with this feature
3. i havent been on stock for a while...but im sure Bluetooth toggle would be under quick pull down in the new 4.2.2. If not you can always flash another rom, which is better in my opinion since there are more toggle options.
Bottom line is...
Welcome to the forum (i see that your a new user)
and minor issues like these that can easily be solved on if you took the time to look on nexus 4 development section
Yes I agree with the post above. Try cm10.1 it's a way better alternative than stock. If you want more customization go with paranoid android or aokp rom. Nexus 4 is meant to be rooted! There's a sticky on how to root and unlock your bootloader. Very easy. Check out the screen shots in the post your screen shot section and see what other nexus 4 users have done with their phones. It's really an open playground
On stock 4.2.2 you can long press on Bluetooth and WiFi to toggle them on and off in the quick settings menu.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
gee2012 said:
There are tons of keyboards, toggle apps and widgets and dialers in Google Play and XDA. Stop wining and start looking mate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congratulations on post number 3,245. Why don't you say something else useless and see if you can hit 3,230 by the end of the day.
EddyOS said:
2 and 3 are both 'fixed' in CM 10.1 - might be worth giving it a go...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what CM is, but it strikes me as some third party firmware (or is it just a collection of changes to Android)? Is there a "tutorial" page that explains the layers and what they are called?
ugotproblemz said:
... if you took the time to look on nexus 4 development section
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean on this forum?
3. Just download "widgetsoid" app, which implements quick toggles in your notification bar much like Samsung's touch wiz feature.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
pelesl said:
Congratulations on post number 3,245. Why don't you say something else useless and see if you can hit 3,230 by the end of the day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pelesl said:
I don't know what CM is, but it strikes me as some third party firmware (or is it just a collection of changes to Android)? Is there a "tutorial" page that explains the layers and what they are called?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pelesl said:
You mean on this forum?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Look at what I'm magically doing here. It's called multi-quote. Learn how to use it.
2. You came here essentially asking for advice. When someone gives you some advice (even if it's not what you wanted to hear) you don't start being rude to them with no valid reason.
3. Hey, here's an idea. If you don't know what CM is (seriously? ) then Google it. There is a 'tutorial' page, it's the first Google result for cyanogenmod.
4. Where else would he be talking about other than on this forum? It doesn't take a genius to navigate to the dev section and check out some of the available ROMs.
5. As for the bluetooth toggle, it takes a swipe down then a click. No more than was needed on TouchWiz.
6. There are tonnes of third party dialers available with T9, pick one and install it. You can almost certainly get a Holo theme for whichever one you choose as well. If you're really that desperate and need it to be within the stock app, flash a custom ROM.
The key is that stock Android is about as lean as you can get. Rather than give you every conceivable bell and whistle, you get a blank slate and the ability to customize everything to YOUR desire, and not Samsung's or HTC's.
Everything you're asking about is available through various apps that are easily installed and just as easily reversed if you don't like them.
Ignore the people telling you to flash roms and stuff like that, those are options for the hobbyists. If you decide to start playing around with the Android system you can make a lot of fun changes, but it's not necessary on the Nexus.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
pelesl said:
Congratulations on post number 3,245. Why don't you say something else useless and see if you can hit 3,230 by the end of the day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was useful, you have to try and find answers for your question on your own initialy. This is not kindergarten where people hold your hand and tell you everything you want to know. If after searching well enough you can`t get an answer or solution to your problem, then you post your question in the Q&A thread.
Thank you for wasting my time. And btw it is post 3425 and not 3245.
gee2012, I thought your initial reply was pretty rude too. You seem to have a zillion posts which would indicate you have been here for a while but you must have been a noob once yourself and asked questions. Yes I know the search function is our friend but sometimes just asking a question is the best way to go because it also generates other things. I, for example, didn't know about wigitsoid until I hooked into this thread.
To the original poster, I have the following advice. Read up averything you can on what can be done with this phone. I, like you, came to one from a Galaxy S2. Had it 2 days and sold it. I was disappointed that the so called 4.7 inch screen was in fact smaller than that of my S2 because of the soft buttons. The colour saturation was gash and the camera really was a disappointment. I then went for an S3, Note, Note 2, Lumia 920 and chopped my company Blackberry SIM into an iPhone 4S. I was changing phones faster than most people change underwear....... But all the while I hung out here and read what was going on. Couple of weeks ago I sold the Note 2 and bought another 16GB Nexus 4.
I have flashed the Paranoid Android contrasty kernel and the screen is now 'alive". I installed the Full Screen Toggle app and Button Savior app and now I have the full glory of the 4.7 inch screen. I'm running Launcher8 which gives me and even better live tile system that WP 8.
Got a nice leather flip case which I had to hack and slash to invert as everything seems to open down instead of up like in the old days (think of how the "Beam me up Scotty" communicator flipped open).
Tried most of the enhanced camera apps but sadly the camera still doesn't meet my expectations, but other than that, the Nexus 4 went from a cheap..Meh!!!! phone to being the "Dogs Bolloxs"
Hang in there fella and get flashing
pelesl said:
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you long press the full stop (period) key, a comma will appear. Now you can use commas again
That said, all you need is an empty day and a few hours to play around with the phone to get yourself familiar with it. Then you'll love it more than your S2.
pelesl said:
I just got the Nexus 4. Needless to say, it arrived the day the S4 was announced, but whatever. It's cheap, relative to what I paid for the S2 I had from T-mobile.
I bought it to get away from bloatware. After updating my S2 to ICS I could type faster than the characters showed up on the screen. Reminded me of my days pushing the limits of a 386.
I've had the Nexus 4 for exactly one day. Immediately I notice some nice things:
1. Definitely feel snappier. This is a big plus.
2. The auto-correct is less intrusive. If I hit backspace after auto-correct does something, it will revert the entire correction. That is nice; in the S2 I had to turn it off because it was driving me nuts (texting in different languages; not to mention it insisted on capitalizing Work but not wednesday).
And then the bad:
1. Can't bcc myself on every email. How lame. No, I don't use gmail and I don't want you. And I am used to doing things this way and don't want to change my email handling on umpteen computers to deal with sent folders. So I had to download K9, and the fact that you have to go into a menu to find the compose function is just plain stupid.
2. Wow, I miss the dialer on the S2. I would just start typing in digits. It would search my contacts by digits *or* by the equivalent letters. Just beginning to type someone's name and I could find them. Now I have to hit the magnifying glass and type in the name to find someone.
3. I also miss the toggles on the slider (whatever you call that thing you pull down from the top of the screen). Takes several clicks to turn Bluetooth on and off now.
These things may not seem like a big deal, but for those of us who don't want to spend our days watching laughing pandas, the little things in software can make or break the experience. That is how Apple got ahead (and still is, in many cases).
Generally I think Google (and possibly all smartphones) missed a few things. Or else I'm old and stubborn. One of them is the utter lack of control over what's going on. Not being able to "quit" an app is annoying. And then you get an app to kill apps---but someone works around that. Happened with AirDroid. Had to uninstall it! Couldn't kill it, and couldn't figure out how to not keep this connection "open" all the time. So I feel like I can't use it.
And my biggest pet peeve is keyboard layout. If you know the history, you know where QUERTY came from. Then came Dvorak, which took off only with a handful of nerds, but is a smart concept. Now we take something that looks nothing like a typewriter and shove QUERTY into it. Look, I understand the need to keep things familiar, but from what I understand, it's extremely difficult to customize the keyboard layout. I hope someone can point me to an app that allows me to do that, but I haven't found one. The world's idea of "customizable keyboard" is to have a Japanese schoolgirl dancing behind semi-transparent keys. Sorry, but no. In the English language you should have the apostrophe on the main keyboard and for most languages the comma should be there, too. I don't use the "speak" key or the smiley face one. Hell, take the space bar, which is 5 keys wide and make it 2.
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
There's no angry old man post icon?
***EDIT***
Opera just downloaded 1600 messages by POP. Now, because of something K9 or the Nexus email client did, Opera lost track of which emails were new and I got 1600 duplicates. Am I doing things that wrong or does it just not work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For number 3, swipe down the notification tray with 2 fingers at the same time, which takes you to "quick settings". Then long press on the bluetooth icon to turn on or off. For punctuation, long press on the period key and a little pop up will appear with several frequently used punctuation marks. slide to the one you one and let go. easy peasy
pelesl said:
And my biggest pet peeve is keyboard layout. If you know the history, you know where QUERTY came from. Then came Dvorak, which took off only with a handful of nerds, but is a smart concept. Now we take something that looks nothing like a typewriter and shove QUERTY into it. Look, I understand the need to keep things familiar, but from what I understand, it's extremely difficult to customize the keyboard layout. I hope someone can point me to an app that allows me to do that, but I haven't found one. The world's idea of "customizable keyboard" is to have a Japanese schoolgirl dancing behind semi-transparent keys. Sorry, but no. In the English language you should have the apostrophe on the main keyboard and for most languages the comma should be there, too. I don't use the "speak" key or the smiley face one. Hell, take the space bar, which is 5 keys wide and make it 2.
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
There's no angry old man post icon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Swiftkey from the Play store. Great keyboard, I can even have arrow keys. It has a comma left of the space bar, a full stop to the right.
Its autocorrect even gets apostrophes right pretty much all of the time (without the need to type them!). It has a British English dictionary available. Mind you, it is QWERTY not QUERTY in British layout.
I've got emoji (extended smileys) in Handcent, my texting app, but even that only has a smiling old man. Sorry can't help there.
Don't these people ever watch that YouTube video when they signed up at xda-devs?
/sage
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Quote needabottle:
gee2012, I thought your initial reply was pretty rude too. You seem to have a zillion posts which would indicate you have been here for a while but you must have been a noob once yourself and asked questions. Yes I know the search function is our friend but sometimes just asking a question is the best way to go because it also generates other things. I, for example, didn't know about wigitsoid until I hooked into this thread.
If i would be ranting in all my posts i would be banned 20 times allready. What irritates me is that some users don`t even make an effort to look in Google Play,XDA or on Google search and just post a question for an easy service. You can check all my posts and see i try to help users, And yes i was a noob too when i started with android, but searching and trying gets you a long way. If you are realy stuck or don`t know whta to do then you post a question.

Samsung keyboard vs swiftkey

I thought I would give the stock keyboard a chance as I usually use SwiftKey on my note 2. I thought it had improved until I tried SwiftKey again and realised how much better it is still.
What are your thoughts on Samsung stock keyboard?
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
I did the same but SwiftKey is so much faster no matter how you use it. That and the multiple language support is fantastic!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
The samsung keyboard is like a big iphone keyboard. Can't long press for captions or symbols smh... What's the point?
I find a make so many more spelling mistakes with the stock keyboard. It's a shame really.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Made a post about this in another section. . I've tried so many keyboards recently, and over the course of many years.. Swipe was awesome when phones were only 3.7-4-3" .. it still is kind of neat , but frankly I never seem to use swipe. So swiftkey was for me as well.. bought it a long time ago and used it as my primary keyboard for the past many phones.
Recently I saw someone post another keyboard recommendation,. Called Kii Keyboard. Its pretty much the best of all worlds, what I love about it, its super easy to customize. So its like Swiftkey in everyway, but more custom options,.
Advantages of Swiftkey?
I've not used Swiftkey since I had the SGS1.
What's the advantage over Swype?
I have used Swype since the 1, and as my 5 arrived today, first thing i did after uninstalling the Optus bloat was to add Swype.
It is one of the few apps I've actually paid for
Stovemeister said:
I've not used Swiftkey since I had the SGS1.
What's the advantage over Swype?
I have used Swype since the 1, and as my 5 arrived today, first thing i did after uninstalling the Optus bloat was to add Swype.
It is one of the few apps I've actually paid for
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both SwiftKey and the Samsung keyboard also support swiping now.
The advantage of SwiftKey is you can use the swype style if you want, or you can do regular typing without spaces and it'll work out what you are writing. The latter technique is way faster and more accurate than swyping in most cases, and you can still swipe if you want as well!
I have been using swift key since the galaxy s2 and never looked back. Every time I use another keyboard I always wish it was swift key. When I first got my s5 I used the stock one for a little bit and was making mistakes left and right and the predictions were not very good.
Anyone that I have recommended swift key to loves it as well.
Sent from my SM-G900T using xda app-developers app
Samsung licenses Swiftkey
Samsung Keyboard is actually "SwiftKey (TouchType Limited)" edition that has been themed for Samsung.
PROOF: Go to SETTINGS | LANGUAGE AND INPUT | SAMSUNG KEYBOARD SETTINGS (gear icon) | PREDICTIVE TEXT | PRIVACY POLICY
Takes you directly to.... drum roll.. SwiftKey site and lists the privacy policy for the software Samsung licensed.
The reason I point this out is that other than some big theme changes, the engine for prediction (when fully enabled) is SwiftKey. To reduce my memory footprint, even though I own SwiftKey that I'd purchased back when I used an S3, I've not installed it again. That said, I've used both.
Baring the themes and the cloud service to sync your predictions to your multiple devices, performance should be identical.
Granted, it's well hidden, but here's how to unlock more of the Swiftkeyness (sp?):
1. Go to SETTINGS.
2. Go to "Language and Input".
3. Click on the settings icon for "Samsung Keyboard".
4. Note, you can add more input languages (scroll down as you need the additional languages list).
5. Click on "Predictive Text".
You can now learn from Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Messages and so on to improve the predictions. This is part of the Swiftkey magic, to learn from the services you use.
6. Go back to Samsung Keyboard Settings.
7. Click on Keyboard swipe.
Interesting, one of the selections (default) is SwiftKey Flow. A further indication that it's licensed from SwiftKey.
Granted two significant features are missing, but I've actually come to like the extra row of keys for the numbers. Just wish Samsung would license the full product so that themes would be possible.
So, in summary, if you haven't purchased SwiftKey yet try enabling all the additional prediction features to get a closer experience to the full SwiftKey product. If the keyboard theme is not to your liking, then the full product version is entirely worth it.
I own it and I want to see SwiftKey continue to do well, but if you are also concerned about memory resources and the theme is not a problem then enjoy the built-in SwiftKey (TouchType Limited) or "limited freebie".
SeaFractor said:
Samsung Keyboard is actually "SwiftKey (TouchType Limited)" edition that has been themed for Samsung.
PROOF: Go to SETTINGS | LANGUAGE AND INPUT | SAMSUNG KEYBOARD SETTINGS (gear icon) | PREDICTIVE TEXT | PRIVACY POLICY
Takes you directly to.... drum roll.. SwiftKey site and lists the privacy policy for the software Samsung licensed.
The reason I point this out is that other than some big theme changes, the engine for prediction (when fully enabled) is SwiftKey. To reduce my memory footprint, even though I own SwiftKey that I'd purchased back when I used an S3, I've not installed it again. That said, I've used both.
Baring the themes and the cloud service to sync your predictions to your multiple devices, performance should be identical.
Granted, it's well hidden, but here's how to unlock more of the Swiftkeyness (sp?):
1. Go to SETTINGS.
2. Go to "Language and Input".
3. Click on the settings icon for "Samsung Keyboard".
4. Note, you can add more input languages (scroll down as you need the additional languages list).
5. Click on "Predictive Text".
You can now learn from Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Messages and so on to improve the predictions. This is part of the Swiftkey magic, to learn from the services you use.
6. Go back to Samsung Keyboard Settings.
7. Click on Keyboard swipe.
Interesting, one of the selections (default) is SwiftKey Flow. A further indication that it's licensed from SwiftKey.
Granted two significant features are missing, but I've actually come to like the extra row of keys for the numbers. Just wish Samsung would license the full product so that themes would be possible.
So, in summary, if you haven't purchased SwiftKey yet try enabling all the additional prediction features to get a closer experience to the full SwiftKey product. If the keyboard theme is not to your liking, then the full product version is entirely worth it.
I own it and I want to see SwiftKey continue to do well, but if you are also concerned about memory resources and the theme is not a problem then enjoy the built-in SwiftKey (TouchType Limited) or "limited freebie".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whether this is true or not, SwiftKey performs so much better with more precise key presses and less mistakes. Samsung need to perform some sort of better key calibration imo.
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
simacca said:
Whether this is true or not, SwiftKey performs so much better with more precise key presses and less mistakes. Samsung need to perform some sort of better key calibration imo.
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not disagree that the ability to load a theme on SwiftKey that has a better keyboard layout and key size is fantastic.
The best thing for Samsung? License the keyboard themes from SwiftKey so that we can choose a better layout without having to install another product.
SwiftKey still makes money on each phone sold, or at least that would be the prudent method to license, so even if this reduced SwiftKey purchases they'd make great money if the Samsung Keyboard mirrored even more SwiftKey customizability.
simacca said:
I thought I would give the stock keyboard a chance as I usually use SwiftKey on my note 2. I thought it had improved until I tried SwiftKey again and realised how much better it is still.
What are your thoughts on Samsung stock keyboard?
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Am not a fan of Samsung stock keyboard. Am also using an application for my keyboard.
swiftkey for the win!!
simply because it synchronizes all your data and you have the same keyboard no matter what device you will have in the future instead of having to relearn everything..
As has been pointed out the Samsung keyboard is Swiftkey. Adapt it more to your liking in the keyboard settings. If you have used Swiftkey on a previous device and setup a cloud account it will be faster as it has already learnt from your typing. The Samsung Keyboard gets better over time. Also, the Samsung Keyboard has shortcut texts keys for the numbers. Long press a number to insert text. I like this alot.
for example -
Long Press 1 - I'm in a meeting, cant talk , will call you back as soon as possible
TouchPal is not a bad option although the subscription model sucks. Kii Keyboard lacks the ability to learn from Facebook etc.
I have to say that my main issue with the Samsung keyboard is the lack of symbols on the main keyboard which allows for quicker typing and the fact it takes up so much damn screen space with no option to resize.
Any of you never gave a shot to google keyboard? You can enable swipe typing on it. And it's better (for me) at predicting new words than both swiftkey and sammy's. It feels like good old swype when it was fast (even faster).
I love Swiftkey but it drives me nuts that it doesn't always give me the option to "learn" some of the various words I use. I really wish it would let me manually add words to my dictionary. Because sometimes when I type something, it does not show me what I'm typing up top. The three choices it gives me are totally not what I'm typing, so I can't add the word.
And would be even sweeter if I could give some words a priority rating, like "high" or "medium" or "low".
And as I'm typing, Swiftkey will move the correct predictive word from the middle, over to the left, just as I'm about to click on the prediction. Drives me nuts.
CZ Eddie said:
I love Swiftkey but it drives me nuts that it doesn't always give me the option to "learn" some of the various words I use. I really wish it would let me manually add words to my dictionary. Because sometimes when I type something, it does not show me what I'm typing up top. The three choices it gives me are totally not what I'm typing, so I can't add the word.
And would be even sweeter if I could give some words a priority rating, like "high" or "medium" or "low".
And as I'm typing, Swiftkey will move the correct predictive word from the middle, over to the left, just as I'm about to click on the prediction. Drives me nuts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you link it to your google account?
that is the whole point of swiftkey...that it learns....and that you can sync it across various devices
mine has everything learned, like my address...when i type in the street number, the street name, etc pops up as a choice next
eyecon82 said:
did you link it to your google account?
that is the whole point of swiftkey...that it learns....and that you can sync it across various devices
mine has everything learned, like my address...when i type in the street number, the street name, etc pops up as a choice next
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it's linked to my Google. I've been a SwiftKey user for two-three+ years now.
And no, it does not learn everything.
But yeah it knows my address and so many other things, which is why I love it.

My setup, up for scrutiny and suggestions (T800)

Just got the 10.5" WiFi version with the Samsung keyboard (BEAUTIFUL together, I might add) a few days ago. I also picked up the Samsung mouse, as it's quite useful for when I'm using this for server connections, etc. I've populated the microSD slot with a 16GB that I had lying around; but have plans to grab a larger one soon. I tried, unsuccessfully, to run CM11 (which is not working with wireless AC it seems), thunder rom, which failed about 5 times out of the 6 I tried to install it. In the end, I just Odin'd to the factory image, rooted, and debloated. This preserved everything that I needed and wanted, without issue.
Currently, I have the following installed; your feedback is welcome for better or for worse:
AdAway - Obviously to remove ads
Air Comic Viewer (Paid) - Connects to my Linux Air Comic Server to read comics
AnyConnect - Connection to work VPN
BusyBox Pro - Obvious...and for goodness sakes, people...buy it and support the developer
Chrome Device Support Library - Supposedly helps performance of Chrome on Samsung devices.
DVFS Disabler - Xposed module to disable DVFS
ES File Explorer - Best file manager available
EZ Weather - Not totally sold on this weather widget, but it's not horrible either
F-Droid - Really, just for AdAway
Google Keyboard - Still my favorite soft keyboard
Hancom Office Hcell 2014 - Actually, not a bad office suite so far...I'll be comparing it against WPS
Hancom Office Hshow 2014 - See above
Hancom Office Hword 2014 - See above above
JuiceSSH (Paid) - SSH with tunnels and all kinds of goodies; totally worth the money
KitKat SD Card Full Access - Xposed module
LolliPop HD Theme - For a couple of icons
Marvel Unlimited - Moar comics!
MyFitnessPal - For fatties like me
Nest - Control the thermostat and smoke/carbon detectors
NovaLauncher (with Prime) - Much better than TouchWiz, IMHO
Open VPN Connect - For home VPN
Plex - Movie/TV consumption from my server
Remote Transmission - Control the torrents running on my server
RetroArch - Ultimate emulation app
Sixaxis Controller - What better to play RetroArch with?
Subsonic - Music client for my Subsonic server
Subtle - Some nice wallpapers
SuperSU (with Pro) - Again, support the devs!
TeslaUnread Plugin - A must when you've got Nova Prime
Titanium Backup (with Pro) - Can't say it enough...support developers
VNC Viewer - On the off chance I need to graphically remote into my server
Wanam Xposed - A must-have module for Xposed
WPS Office (Kingsoft Office) - For comparison against Hancom
Xposed Framework - Ultimate tweaking
YouTube AdAway - Because f**k ads
Performance is up after tweaks and freezing all the crap that I don't need/want. My goal is to replace the combination of my personal laptop (Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro) and my Nexus 7. The Tab S, even at the 10.5" size is light enough that I can hold it for very long periods of time to read/watch stuff. The screen is incredible. (By the way, I HIGHLY recommend using the Basic display profile. It removes all of the unnatural saturation that is so common in AMOLED screens. DisplayMate did a breakdown of the same technology on the Note 4 screen, the only other device to feature this, and it makes the color profile as close to reality as you can get in AMOLED.)
Anyways...I feel like I'm reaching the end of stuff to install and configure, but wanted to not only share my setup and get suggestions/feedback. Anyone have anything constructive to add?
How about sharing battery life results? I installed a custom kernel and set it to battery savings settings and still get no lag. I get about 9 hours screen on time.
soulctcher said:
Just got the 10.5" WiFi version with the Samsung keyboard (BEAUTIFUL together, I might add) a few days ago. I also picked up the Samsung mouse, as it's quite useful for when I'm using this for server connections, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you mean the Samsung S mouse. How well does it work and when does it? I was also thinking of this but wanted to try it out first. Was curious which screens does it actually work in. I too VPN into my job and connect to my VDI session. That is indeed where I can see it being useful but was curious if it worked inside Android at all. The Samsung Kiosk in Best Buy near me did not have one to test. Any feedback you can provide would be helpful. Wondering if I could use the 50% Samsung coupon on this but want to know if it's really worth it or not.
Thanks
cbb77 said:
I assume you mean the Samsung S mouse. How well does it work and when does it? I was also thinking of this but wanted to try it out first. Was curious which screens does it actually work in. I too VPN into my job and connect to my VDI session. That is indeed where I can see it being useful but was curious if it worked inside Android at all. The Samsung Kiosk in Best Buy near me did not have one to test. Any feedback you can provide would be helpful. Wondering if I could use the 50% Samsung coupon on this but want to know if it's really worth it or not.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I do mean the S mouse. It works 100% of the time in Android. In fact, it works really well. There's a small learning curve compared to normal mouse actions; right-click to go back, middle-click for home, etc. The best part is that it makes some applications really work well, such as 2X RDP; the right-click in an RDP session is exactly like it would be in Windows. It also makes for easier navigation in the office suite and chrome. Pair that with the multi-window functionality and you can multi-task with ease.
It's definitely worth it for me.
As a side note, I compared the office suites and found that I actually prefer the Hancom suite; it's just a bit closer to Microsoft's desktop version in my opinion.
Also, as of this post, my tablet has been on battery for 4hrs and 6mins, with 2hrs and 26mins screen time and I'm at 80% left. At that rate, I could easily get another 6 to 7 hours in. Most of that time has been using both the keyboard and mouse on Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi has been on the entire time. Rather fantastic, I must say!
DUHAsianSKILLZ said:
How about sharing battery life results? I installed a custom kernel and set it to battery savings settings and still get no lag. I get about 9 hours screen on time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on stock kernel and had the same amount of screen on time. Yesterday, I ran a test. I had the device strictly on battery for quite a bit. I keep the tablet on auto brightness, use the bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and even did some gaming with RetroArch and my PS3 controller for a bit. Most of the day on it was spent on a VPN or at least browsing something. Here are my battery screens for that period:
http://imgur.com/Jh1yoGh
http://imgur.com/CsPNBPV
http://imgur.com/4rV25D4

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