Tried all the keyboards for dinc- I choose to use:

[Jeffruby]

So ive been lurking/posting here for a while....for some odd reason, with each phone i have, i get obsessed with one thing or another...on my blackberry it was always obsession w/ OSes....on my moto droid 1 it was with rooting and speed, on my dinc its keyboards...so odd.

anyway....i have used

1) stock moto droid keyboard
2) stock htc sense keyboard
3) swipe- for longest time on dinc and moto droid
4) shapewritier
5) swiftkey (was my favorite up until recently)
6) droid x multitouch for dinc-now on newest apk-+vibration
7) better keyboard (bought it)- used many skins

here are my conclusions:

while the sliding styles of swype and shapewritier are FUN, cool to show off, and FAST in portrait....they STINK In landscape (no other way to say it), and if you talk in slang a lot....they both are subpar in tapping out words. Swype was the best, but the double letter jiggle thing slowed me down, and i HATE the way a mistake would slow you down longer than usual. Also both these were bad to use if you typed a word and were unsure of spelling. finally the vertical word suggestion of swype was very distracting, as was the constant pop up reminder that a NEW word is suggested (if youve used swype alot, youve seen this). Being that the fastest way to type for those who touch type and can type about 60wpm on cpu is landscape (for most...there are some swype freaks)....these keyboards are bad in landscape. HOWEVER THEY ARE THE FASTEST PORTRAIT KEYBOARDS imho (but ultimatley got more annoyed after 6months (especial typing or and getting our).

droid X multitouch- always found it to be BLAZING for sms/email, but slow slow on browser (however most typing is done on sms/email).....another downside to it was that you cannot edit the dictionary...so if you accidentally add an incorrect word, your stuck w/ it. Also word correction is NOT AS GOOD as stock (try tomorow). HOWEVER: love the grey and red contrast for touching keys, its seems to be the most accurate for typing, and in landscape sms/email, i can by far type the fastest and most accurate of all. even in portrait i can fly on this keyboard. The double tap comma vs period on same button is nice, w/ mic on first screen. AnD unlike stock (cant figure why htc did this), when you choose a suggested word it DOES auto space!!!!. after leaving this keyboard for swiftkey,,,,,i am back to it....as my choice for best keyboard. (also mention- i like the clean look of one symbol on one button....this is one of only a few keyboard that offers this clean look...most of the symbols you use anyway can be seen if you long press the comma, period button.

swiftkey beta- love it in portrait....but unfortunately (and just found this yesterday...if you type REAL fast in landscape....certain letters dont register, words disappear...and overall cool to watch suggested words, but i think it actually slows you down checking each word!....if you misspell a letter deep in a word, the suggested words are whack....left and went back to droid x

better keyboard- liked it overall....similar to stock. but like clean look of droid X...would use if they had a clean skin (one icon on each button)

 

[jbdan]

I've tried the same except for shapewriter. If one gives swiftkey a few days so it can learn your typing habits it really starts to shine. Often I can type a 6-7 worded reply by just tapping the space bar 6-7 times. 5 second repy nice. When being verbose and inside with the AC swype is my #1. I found the droid x keyboard to be weak in portrait. I am a portrait texter though. Thanks for your review!

 

[Jeffruby]

I agree, swiftkey rules in portrait, but try it in landscape. All kinds of weird, if you turbo type.

 

[waynester]

since your trying them out you might as well look at
ThickButtons: finger text input for touchsreen smartphones

 

[Jeffruby]

Ha, i did try that one. Lasted about two minutes. I think its good if you can't touch type.

 

[p0di]

Ive used a few of those and always find myself going back to the stock HTC Sense keyboard...

 

[Jeffruby]

Correction, playing around with swiftkey in landscape, noticed why I got whacked results..... its not the keyboard per se, its the multi touch. If you type too fast left thumb and right thumb on key at same time, will both light up, bit only one will register.

 

[MisterMixelpix]

I have to say, I'm not any slower with trace keyboards in landscape than I am in portrait. That one might just be you. And the ability to one hand type makes the trace keyboards the winners in my book.

But that's the awesome thing about Android: you have the choice! You can go stock, trace, multi touch, predictive, whatever!

 

[Adamx]

I like the droid x keyboard except I prefer to have alt keys that I can press and hold rather than switching to a new keyset every time.

So sadly, still stock.

 

[Adamx]

I have to say, I'm not any slower with trace keyboards in landscape than I am in portrait. That one might just be you. And the ability to one hand type makes the trace keyboards the winners in my book.

But that's the awesome thing about Android: you have the choice! You can go stock, trace, multi touch, predictive, whatever!

I can't one hand type with swype, but I can a normal keyboard. I have to use one hand to keep the phone steady and the other to trace, and it's still slower. As for landscape, give me a break. Nothing is faster than touch typing.

 

[euph_22]

Google needs to make it possible to have different keyboards for landscape and portrait.

I love to have Swype/shapewriter for portrait and a more conventional (probably DX) board for landscape.

 

[Oddity]

I see you haven't tried Smart Keyboard. Any reason for that? It is one of my favorites up there with the DX keyboard. It is multi-touch as well. You can use a stock android skin, an HTC skin, or an iPhone skin with it. I really like it and recommend you at least check out the free version.

 

[crazydog]

I used to love swype, but I've been converted to swiftkey. I find that I'm typing much more quickly and accurately on it.

 

[jbdan]

Google needs to make it possible to have different keyboards for landscape and portrait.

I love to have Swype/shapewriter for portrait and a more conventional (probably DX) board for landscape.

Now that would ROCK! nice idea!

 

[rlivin]

Am i the only one that uses slide-it? If youve never tried it please do. You will absolutely love it. It beats swype hands down.

 

[facedown41]

anyway of linking to the droid x keyboard for dinc, i would like to try this out.

edit: nevermind i found it haha

 

[Ben Medlock]

Multi-touch is coming for SwiftKey, plus many other improvements over the next few months... watch this space!

 

[Bearly]

Fully agree with your assessment. I think the Droid X multi-touch has the nicest layout, color scheme, and is multi-touch (duh!)...BUT

I can type faster with stock HTC Sense keyboard because the auto-correct is so damn good.

What I hate about the auto correct of the Droid X keyboard is that the suggested words seem to all start with the same letter, so the suggestions are LIMITED to what words start with the same letter. This is an issue if you mistyped the first letter of a word, and essentially makes the auto-correct "one-dimensional" and, in my opinion, not as intelligent or as elegant as that of the stock Sense keyboard.

Solution:

Droid X keyboard with stock Sense auto-correct and dictionary. Is a "surgery" possible? Can someone Frankenstein a keyboard like that?

 

[ttamnedlog]

I hope the multitouch keyboards can become true multitouch in the future. Right now I find the multitouch aspect of them to be rather pointless.

For example:

Try typing hey quickly using the following method.

1. Hit the h and hold.
2. Hit the e then remove your finger from the h.
3. Finally, hit the y then remove your finger from the e.

You'll get hee.

So it's only semi-multitouch. I'm assuming this is a hardware limitation since the Droid X keyboard and Smart Keyboard both do this. Will there ever be a workaround?

 

[sta7ic]

i can't seem to find the droid x multitouch keyboard with the vibrate. All i can find are the no vibrate ones?

 

[Jeffruby]

after more playing, I am shocked that I'm back to the stock. while I like the clean look of x, the predictive words take up too much of viewable screen, and the autocorrect is inferior. if only stock autospaced after choosing suggested word. how could they miss this.

 

[Cobra5]

Am i the only one that uses slide-it? If youve never tried it please do. You will absolutely love it. It beats swype hands down.

I use slide-it, it's excellent...

 

[Taylored]

I have been using swype for a while now and I have been very happy, but all this talk about swiftkey has made me want to check it out. It seems ok so far, but it will take some getting used to. This was typed using swiftkey. It is slow going so far. The predictions are pretty good though.

 

[ttamnedlog]

Am i the only one that uses slide-it? If youve never tried it please do. You will absolutely love it. It beats swype hands down.

Swype users are like iPhone users. Despite the fact that other swiping keyboards may be better, they don't care. If it isn't Swype, they don't want it.

 

[Oddity]

Swype users are like iPhone users. Despite the fact that other swiping keyboards may be better, they don't care. If it isn't Swype, they don't want it.

Haha I hate to say it, but you may be right. I have noticed this type of behavior around here.