There are many flavours out there for people who want to change the keyboard on their Android device. Most of the proper ones, however, aren‘t free. Not anymore, as Google has just made its stock Android keyboard available in the Google Play store. Its initial rollout includes a multitude of countries, with the rest to follow soon.
There are many people that aren‘t crazy about their OEM‘s typing experience (nudge, nudge, Samsung), so this is the perfect opportunity to check out another option.
I, for one, have been using SwiftKey for a couple of years and it is still by far the most useful app I‘ve ever purchased. Its predictive text (in over 80 languages) is simply unmatched and the ability to use it in conjunction with swipe typing is brilliant.
That being said, we are glad that Google have given the public this option. This is another step in their strategy to give more Android users a Nexus experience. And we are all for the Nexus experience. In the press release, Google added:
Google Keyboard has Gesture Typing (which lets you glide through letters to form a word, just lift your finger to enter a space), automatic error correction, and word predictions. You can also tap the microphone to compose messages with Voice Typing when you‘re on-the-go. Together with dictionaries for 26 languages (plus keyboard layouts for a dozen more), it provides a fast, accurate, and reliable typing experience.
Source: Google
