Finding the perfect Android keyboard is no easy task—there are so many to choose from, and most of them are great, depending on the type of typist you are. This week, we're looking at five of the best, based on your nominations and votes.
Earlier in the week, we asked you to nominate your favorite Android keyboard for the top five, and vote to decide which ones would make the final round. You responded with way more keyboards than we could possibly highlight here, but some definitely rose above the ranks. Here's what you said, in no particular order.
SwiftKey
SwiftKey has come a really long way even since the last time we asked for your favorite Android keyboards. Back then, its predictive text engine was its biggest strength—the fact that it was one of the first keyboards to actively learn from the way you typed and offer better word and spelling suggestions as a result. SwiftKey still does that really well, and if you enable it (and it's optional), can learn from your emails, social networks, text messages, and more to auto-fill your friends names, addresses, favorite words, and more. SwiftKey also supports multiple keyboard layouts on screen, multiple keyboard sizes, phone and tablet friendly layouts that you can move around the screen, themes and personalization options, and cloud syncing for your custom dictionary and saved text, so you don't start from scratch on a new device. Of course, it also supports gesture typing and swipe-to-type, including its "Flow through Space" feature, which lets you type entire sentences without lifting up your finger. Also, did we mention that the once premium keyboard is now free over at Google Play?
SwiftKey is no stanger to Lifehacker or Lifehacker readers. You can see our previous coverage here, and those of you who nominated SwiftKey praised it for its features that were most useful to you. In some cases it was its tablet-friendly layouts, with a split keyboard that made two handed typing with your thumbs easy. Others noted its predictive text was the best in the category. Others praised SwiftKey for its themes and personalization tools, all of which create a really personal experience. There's more where that came from, too. Read more in its nomination thread here.
Swype
Swype was the original swipe-to-type/gesture-typing keyboard, and it still comes on a number of Android headsets by default. Over time, Swype has perfected its swipe-to-type engine, improved its predictive text engine and added crowdsourced dictionaries, given users customization options, and emerged from beta onto Google Play, sporting Dragon Dictation text-to-speech, thanks to its new parent company, Nuance. Now, Swype has split-keyboard options and tablet-friendly layouts, great speech recognition, smooth typing, and easy language switching.
Those of you who nominated Swype praised its swipe-to-type feature, and noted that even other keyboards that have it just aren't the same. Many of you noted that Swype makes it easy to add punctuation, and copy and paste text by swiping key-shortcuts. For many of you, Swype just hits the sweet spot, and while it's not perfect (many of you reported sluggishness with it), it's fast, flexible, and offers more shortcuts and hotkeys than most other competitors. If you're interested, now that it's out of beta you'll have to drop $4 to get it at Google Play. Read more in its nomination thread here.
Google Keyboard
Make no mistake, the default keyboard has come a long way in its own right. Google has taken some of the best features from third-party keyboards and rolled them into its own, which is available for free at Google Play. The stock Google Keyboard (at least in Kit Kat) has gesture typing, a learning dictionary that saves words you introduce to it, text expansion built-in, personalized predictive text based on your typing habits, speech-to-text features, and more. It's remarkably powerful, and offers features for free that used to be only available in premium keyboards. It works just as well on tablets as it does on phones, and while it isn't brimming with customization or personalization options, or special features like auto-capitalization of "I" or copy/paste shortcuts, it's solid enough that many people stick with it instead of dealing with another keyboard.
In fact, in the nominations thread, many of you pointed out that there was a time when you couldn't wait to replace the default keyboard, but it's gotten to be good enough now that there's no reason to. The default keyboard is feature-rich enough, and gets the job done, without slowing your phone or tablet down in the process. Many of you pointed to the Google Keyboards' advanced features, which do give you more control over your typing experience. At the same time, it only really excels on devices running 4.0+, so if you're stuck with Gingerbread or a tablet with Honeycomb, the default keyboard may leave something to be desired (although at least one of you noted you prefer the 2.3 keyboard anyway.) You can read more in the nomination thread here.
Fleksy
Fleksy's minimalist look on-screen hides a ton of power under the hood. The keyboard's real focus is on speed and extremely high accuracy. The standard QWERTY layout is fine and all, but where the keyboard shines is that when you start typing, the layout of the keyboard changes to make sure the letters you need next are right there next to your finger. In fact, when it landed as a note-taking app on iOS, we noted it was so good someone with impaired vision could use it. We cheered when it arrived on Android, bringing its exceptional autocorrection engine, invisible keyboards, auto-punctuation, and multiple themes along for the ride. Once you have a feel for where to put your fingers, Fleksy lets you type words and entire sentences without even looking at the keyboard, which is fairly impressive. One thing to note though—Fleksy is designed for tap-typists, not people who love or are used to gesture-typing. If that's you, it's definitely worth a try. You can pick it up for $4 at Google Play, or grab the free version first to get familiar with its features.
Those of you who nominated Fleksy praised its banner feature primarily: It's autocorrection engine. In fact, it's good enough to correct the word to the one you intended even if you've mistyped every single letter, which is pretty impressive. Plus, you noted that you can customize the size and transparency of the keyboard so it's perfect for your needs. Of course, if you're used to predictive text or swipe-to-type, Fleksy's autocorrect may or may not be enough to make you switch, but it's still worth a try. Read more in the nomination thread here .
Minuum Keyboard
Minuum started life as an IndieGoGo project, and its users swept in and funded it, hoping to build a better Android keyboard. Its claim to fame is that it's tiny, but easy to use even if you have large fingers. We've highlighted it before, and again when it left beta. The entire keyboard takes up a small bar at the bottom of the screen, and stays out of the way of your other work. Each QWERTY row is staggered, and Minuum relies heavily on text prediction to make typing fast and easy. While there's certainly a learning curve to using it, it helps if you're a thumb typer who likes to keep the screen clear and you only really need a little space for the keyboard. If you're a big tap-typist, or you love swipe-to-type, this may not be the keyboard for you, but Minuum is still evolving.
Those of you who nominated it praised its minimal interface, and noted that while it takes some time to learn, it's worth it in the long run. Others of you weren't so sure, and noted that you'd tried and gave up, or that you were sticking with it because you believed in the idea. Either way, it generated solid interest, and if you're interested in trying it, you can grab it for $4 at Google Play, or pick up the free version to try out its features first. Read more in its nomination thread here.
Now that you've seen the top five, it's time to vote for the Lifehacker community favorite:
This week's honorable mention goes out to the Hodor Keyboard . Because Hodor.
Okay, beyond that, some other great keyboards just missed the cut. TouchPal X is a keyboard we've highlighted before, and was one of the first to have whole sentence gesture typing. It's extremely customizable, lets you customize the keyboard layout and size, switch between 70+ languages and text inputs, and it supports predictive text. Its predictive text engine learns from your SMS messages, Twitter account, contact names, and other apps, much like SwiftKey does. If you're looking for an alternative to SwiftKey that has many of the same features, TouchPal is worth a look. You can read some solid praise for it in its nomination thread here.
Dextr is a non-QWERTY keyboard that's well loved by its users, and presents a unique and interesting take on speeding up your mobile typing. The keys are spaced in a way to make them easy to hit even with large fingers, and it's rolled in predictive text and autocorrect that actually works well. For those of you used to or who prefer the standard QWERTY layout though, you'll have to climb the learning curve with this one. Once you do—according to its users—you're in for a treat.
Want to make the case for your personal favorite, even if it wasn't included in the list? Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week . Don't just complain about the top five, let us know what your preferred alternative is—and make your case for it—in the discussions below.
The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!
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