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Help In need of Android keyboard (with specific features)

4non

4non

Lurker
I've grown quite fond of the stock Samsung keyboard, however, I've always hated the color.

As I've always been a fan of dark themes, I was quite disappointed upon discovery that the only way to invert the stock keyboard was through rooting (which unfortunately is impossible for me, thanks AT&T).

There's plenty of other themed keyboards available, I know. What's been keeping me with the stock keyboard has been the alternative keys/quick punctuation keys.

You know, these things.
RGIsABG.png


I've grown far too accustomed to those alternative keys on the stock keyboard. I feel crippled without them in that exact position.

Now, unfortunately, every other alternate keyboard app that I've tried has their own, different setup. With absolutely no way to change it.

Does anyone know of any way to either apply a dark theme to the stock keyboard without rooting or some keyboard app that allows customization of individual characters?

Phone: Samsung Galaxy S5 (G900A)
 
Have you tried SwiftKey?

I only use Google keyboard now but it has a lot of themes and options as well as amazing text predictions.
 
MLSS said:
Have you tried SwiftKey?

I only use Google keyboard now but it has a lot of themes and options as well as amazing text predictions.
Click to expand...
SwiftKey was the first keyboard I tested out.
The alternate characters cannot be changed.
I understand that it has many themes/options/amazing text predictions, but it's simply not what I'm looking for.
 
On my Slackware desktop PC it's pretty basic to change keyboard key mappings, and without root privileges.
https://linuxconfig.org/reprogram-keyboard-keys-with-xmodmap
I was hoping it would be just as easy on my phone but apparently the xmodmap command isn't included in Android. (Well at least I can't find it on my S3 using Terminal Emulator 1.0.70 including BusyBox Pro 36). Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think you'll be able to alter any key character mappings without rooting your S5. When rooted you can use a file manager like Root Explorer, go to /system/usr/keylayout and just use a text editor to edit the .kl file for your chosen keyboard (my phone uses the cleverly named 'Generic.kl').
 
svim said:
On my Slackware desktop PC it's pretty basic to change keyboard key mappings, and without root privileges.
https://linuxconfig.org/reprogram-keyboard-keys-with-xmodmap
I was hoping it would be just as easy on my phone but apparently the xmodmap command isn't included in Android. (Well at least I can't find it on my S3 using Terminal Emulator 1.0.70 including BusyBox Pro 36). Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think you'll be able to alter any key character mappings without rooting your S5. When rooted you can use a file manager like Root Explorer, go to /system/usr/keylayout and just use a text editor to edit the .kl file for your chosen keyboard (my phone uses the cleverly named 'Generic.kl').
Click to expand...
With other keyboards there's different alternate character maps, which was my main reason for not switching to anything besides the stock keyboard.
I'm not interested in keeping the stock keyboard, but I want the alternate characters to remain the same.
 
I can't say if the Go Keyboard devs are or are not pulling unwarranted, personal info from your phone but looking through their Google Play page it is puzzling why something like a keyboard app has so many questionable items in its list of permissions (see below):

This app has access to:
In-app purchases
Device & app history
read sensitive log data
retrieve running apps
Identity
find accounts on the device
Contacts
find accounts on the device
read your contacts
Phone
read call log
Photos/Media/Files
modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
read the contents of your USB storage
Storage
modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
read the contents of your USB storage
Microphone
record audio
Other
power device on or off
display unauthorized windows
control vibration
run at startup
prevent device from sleeping
view network connections
set wallpaper
draw over other apps
read terms you added to the dictionary
full network access
add words to user-defined dictionary

If you feel it's necessary to use the Go Keyboard, I'll suggest you install a firewall app like NetGuard and block the Go app from any online access. It's a free, Open Source, software firewall that doesn't require root. At least that'll prevent it from being able to communicate with any anonymous overseas servers.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.faircode.netguard&hl=en
 
I like the Swipe Keyboard the best of them all.

You can access those 2nd keys just by doing a long-press...

and if you want more, there is an option key to bring up even more characters.

I like that it learns the words I use so much.... most do that anyway, but I am fond of how Swipe does it.
 
To answer the OP's question... I've never heard of a keyboard that lets you custom map the keys. Unfortunately, I think you only have 2 options... 1) Accept the light theme with the Samsung keyboard, or 2) Learn a different keyboard's alternate key setup.

Sorry...
 
+ 1 for Swype.
-1 for Go. Never trusted 'em either.

If you think about it, keyboard sees everything you input including passwords and credit card numbers I think, so you really have to trust the developers of your keyboard. Personally I would stick with a big name established keyboard like Google or maybe Swype or swiftkey.

This link gives a tutorial on creating a custom keyboard app using Android SDK. According to the link "you can quickly create a soft keyboard with surprisingly few lines of code, because the SDK takes care of a lot of the low level tasks, such as recognizing key touches, drawing the keyboard, and establishing connections between the keyboard and input fields".

They lead you to believe it's easier than you think, but it still looks pretty difficult to me.
 
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