Move keyboard from one phone to another

[KenWK]

The Swype keyboard on my Moto Bionic had these really cool arrows that were always on the screen above the top row. My S5 doesn't have that and for spastic, fat-fingered texters like me its very helpful.

What's interesting is that the keyboard on the Moto shows version 3.26.92Q.39616. . . . with a crap load of numbers following. On the S5 its 1.6.7.24598 which one might think is older.

Are the Swype keyboards manufacturer specific? Is there a file I might be able to move from the Moto to the S5?

Thanks!

 

[codesplice]

Hi KenWK, and welcome to Android Forums

The version of Swype that comes preloaded on devices is a bit different (and likely older) than the product that Nuance (the developer) makes available directly to end-users. You could maybe try that one out and see if it better suits your needs, but you'll need to buy the $4 paid version to continue using it after 30 days:

• Swype Trial
• Swype Paid

Alternatively, there are a lot of other good keyboard alternatives that you may want to look at:
• Swiftkey
• Kii
• Touchpal
• Fleksy
• Google Keyboard (the one I keep coming back to)

 

[KenWK]

Thanks, codesplice, I'll have a look around. The Swype that came with the phone is great, I just really dig those arrows on the Moto.

Having done some development myself, and wanting to get into development for droid, I asked the question as much out of curiosity for the technical aspects as much as liking the Moto keyboard.

Thanks again

 

[hiredgun]

There are apk extractors that I think in theory would do what you are looking for, but I don't know just how well they work. Incidentally I liked the Swype so much that came with my Galaxy Mini that I was thinking of doing just that, but finally I decanted for buying the newest version on the Play Store and I love it!

 

[electricpete]

I will second an assertion that the old versions of swype were better than the new ones. Nuance took over a great program, took away many good parts, and added nothing.

Swype edit screen
The individual numbered items listed regarding the edit keyboard
1 - jump to beginning/end of line are removed
2 - the ability to delete in front of cursor is removed (kept the ability to delete behind cursor, but most people prefer a choice because it saves keystrokes)
3 - new tab key. meh...maybe a slight improvement but I hardly ever need it
4 - new back key. Ummm... who on Android doesn't already have a back key!?!
5 - new dedicated select all key. But swype-A worked fine before. If we were so short of real estate that we needed to delete 1 and 2, why make room for new redundant key.

Some more stuff missing from the number keyboard:
Add/Remove keys to/from the Number and Edit layer

You no longer have a choice of voice recognition. Nuance is it
How to access Google Voice recognition instead of Dragon

For the last change above, I can see that Nuance has a business reason for pushing their own voice recognition service (even though many users don't like it because they already have Google voice recognition for Google now... why force user to use two different voice recognition services in different areas of the same phone). The other changes above have no logical basis for anyone, other than pure stupidity. As if Nuance had to go into a product they knew nothing about and change everything to make themselves feel better about putting their name on the product. If their execs had a clue of how badly their own programming team had gutted the product, they certainly should have fired someone for this colossal cluster.

Now 6 months after switching to my new phone with new swype, I have certainly gotten used to the new swype, but it's still obvious that the old was way better. If anyone figures out a way to capture the old version from my old phone, I'll be grateful.

 

[Guru82]

Don't know how the Moto keyboard would go on the S5, but try this:
Download App Backup & Restore. That should allow you to backup the Moto's Keyboard APK for installation on the S5. Don't know how it would work, but as long as you install it as a user app, the default keyboard will remain to fall back on.

On the Moto
1. Download App Backup & Restore app
2. In App Backup & Restore go to settings and tick 'Show System Apps'
3. Find your Keyboard in the list, backup and then transfer the APK from sdcard to your S5

On the S5
1. Enable 'Unkown Sources' (Settings > Security)
2. Using a file manager app on the S5, browse to and install the keyboard APK
3. Go to Language & input settings and enable your Moto Keyboard on the S5

Good luck

 

[KenWK]

Thanks Guru82, gave it a shot and it loaded! But, every time I tried to activate it, it would croak with the usual "Unfortunately Swype has stopped" message. Not too surprising, I guess. Luckily the one that came on the phone is still there and working fine, though I did back that one up as well. App Backup and Restore is pretty cool!

The next question is, how do I UNinstall the Moto keyboard from the S5 when it doesn't show up in the "Uninstall/disable apps" menu?

 

[KenWK]

Found it with a hint from another post.

Settings, Applications, Application Manager, scroll right to All. Tap and uninstall.

Thanks again for the info. Fun stuff.