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Droid X keyboard alternative ?

T

thp2478

Newbie
Anyone care to suggest an alternative keyboard for the Droid X. I became accustomed to the compact qwerty with the Incredible and BB Storm 2 and man I am finding myself very slow at typing with the full keyboard setup. Haven't messed with Swype enough to go that route. Thanks in advance.
 
I use Ultra Keyboard, and while I don't use the compact mode, you can set it to that in either landscape or portrait or both/neither. I freakin love this keyboard and all the options it comes with. For instance I have the directional keys turned on (you can toggle them on/off) since this phone doesn't come with one built in (I hate that). Also the toolbar is super freakin handy, and you can add or delete any of the options that come with it.

Check it out broseph!
 
Outlaw71 said:
I use Ultra Keyboard, and while I don't use the compact mode, you can set it to that in either landscape or portrait or both/neither. I freakin love this keyboard and all the options it comes with. For instance I have the directional keys turned on (you can toggle them on/off) since this phone doesn't come with one built in (I hate that). Also the toolbar is super freakin handy, and you can add or delete any of the options that come with it.

Check it out broseph!
Click to expand...
Wow, nice suggestion! Just downloaded it now (there is a 24-hour trial available on the market that has all of the full features!), and this is probably the best keyboard app I've played around with. The others were okay, but had little quirks that always made me revert back to the stock keyboard. Might end up sticking with this one!

+1, thanks Bro Montana.
 
I tried Ultra Keyboard and loved the customizability but just found it lacking in good auto-correction. It wasn't anything specific, just that I can use the Gingerbread keyboard (posted in the root forum) and pound out long blocks of text, knowing that anything I miss will be caught and fixed by auto correct. This didn't change no matter how I laid out the keyboard so I don't think it was typing behavior.

Tried a bunch of keyboards now and my favorite is the compact Gingerbread keyboard that came with ApeX. It's small, so it doesn't take up much of the screen, the auto correct is excellent and I rarely have trouble with it.

If I could add navigational arrows, it would be perfect. Alas...

My second favorite was the HTC keyboard linked in the post above mine. Excellent auto correct. It took me a while to adjust to the extra buttons - for quite a while I kept hitting the buttons surrounding the spacebar. Once I adjusted, though, it was nice.
 
I disagree with the above. I am very used to Swype and like it as a one-fingered alternative, but I think it's easily possible to type faster with two thumbs on a portrait keyboard with good auto-correction.

Of course, there will be some people who still prefer Swype or still type faster on it, but Swype often gets presented as some kind of panacea for keyboard problems, as if anyone and everyone would be better off using it. It's fine. It's a good, interesting keyboard alternative. It'll work better for some people, or some situations. It is not perfect and simply "getting used to it" will not make it perfect.
 
I had been using smartkeyboard pro for a while but found it was going downhill for auto-correction. I switched to swiftkey a month ago and love it. It seems to always know what I want to type before I even start typing. I have used the gingerbread keyboard as well which is also quite good but I still think I prefer swiftkey.
 
I have tried them all and LOVE LOVE LOVE SlideIT...better than Swype but Swype style. It takes a LITTLE getting used to because you have to anticipate ahead of time if SlideIT knows the word you are about to type (like proper nouns, names, weird stuff) because if it doesnt it will come back at you with a ?mark. You have to remember to type odd words in manually and add it to the dictionary the first time you use it but otherwise it is WAY WAY faster than any two handed QUERTY ever.

Recently tried SwiftKey and ditched it fast and went back to SlideIT.
 
To the people suggesting Swype: Ultra Keyboard has a mode called "tracing" that you can enable that makes the keyboard act exactly like Swype (and, in my opinion, better, since you can further customize it).
 
Kaleb Randleaxe said:
To the people suggesting Swype: Ultra Keyboard has a mode called "tracing" that you can enable that makes the keyboard act exactly like Swype (and, in my opinion, better, since you can further customize it).
Click to expand...

+1

I was just about to hop on here and mention that. Looks like you've been going through the settings quite a bit eh? lol
 
Did you guys have any success with the tracing mode of Ultra Keyboard? I found it to be abominable but really only tried it for a few brief periods.
 
binary visions said:
I tried Ultra Keyboard and loved the customizability but just found it lacking in good auto-correction...
Click to expand...

So each keyboard comes out with their own auto-correction do they? For some reason I thought they all used Google. I wonder if you can port the auto-correction in from another one you like? Not that I find it to be a problem. I just haven't found another keyboard with as many of the features I like that this one has.
 
binary visions said:
Did you guys have any success with the tracing mode of Ultra Keyboard? I found it to be abominable but really only tried it for a few brief periods.
Click to expand...

For me (I used Swype for a long time before upgrading to Ultra), if you put Swype at 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 then I'd put this one at 9. Like you mentioned on Swype, you have to add the odd words to the dictionary before it will recognize what you're trying to type, but after that it's pretty good IMO.

But I don't swype religeously. Like BV I kinda swap between swyping and typing with my thumbs. I find that for longer words expecially, once I type in 2 or 3 letters I'll see the word I'm looking for in the suggested words that come up in Ultra's tool bar. Then I just click it instead of having to swype it all the way out.
 
I have tried them all: GB keyboard, stock keyboard, swype, smartkeyboardpro, swift key, ultra keyboard...

smartkeyboard pro works the best for me. Accuracy and gestures are great, and the themes are nice too. You can install third party themes as well.

I never got swift key or ultra to be as accurate.
 
Is there a option to add a D-Pad on it? For me that's a must as I frequently go back and either add or change wording in sentences. And my finger just doesn't seem to want to be able to hit the exact area I'm aiming for... FRUSTERATING!!!

The D-Pad totally cures that problem for me. It was the thing I missed most about my Blackberry (the trackball). Now I'm fine (even though the trackball was definately easier to manuver around on).
 
I too long for a Dpad.

Meanwhile I tired and hate swype. It is useful for one handed portatit texting.

Otherwise it was a pain in the AZZ.

Might give ultrkeyboard a spin. On the autocorrection, I wonder if when you trade keyboards it still keeps your existing user dictionary. I use quite a few Acroynms for work (aviation engineer) so I have some odd ones.
 
Outlaw71 said:
Is there a option to add a D-Pad on it? For me that's a must as I frequently go back and either add or change wording in sentences. And my finger just doesn't seem to want to be able to hit the exact area I'm aiming for... FRUSTERATING!!!

The D-Pad totally cures that problem for me. It was the thing I missed most about my Blackberry (the trackball). Now I'm fine (even though the trackball was definately easier to manuver around on).
Click to expand...

Yes, u can add an arrow d pad as a secondary keyboard activated by swiping up.
 
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