Sunday, October 17, 2010

Another Keyboard this week: Ultra Keyboard [Less Touch for Higher Efficiency]


In a weekly blog series on Android apps, today, I am going to talk about one more keyboard. If you are wondering why I have chosen to write about another keyboard, let me tell you that my experience of Android phones has been awesome except for the Android keyboard option. And like I wrote in my last blog, some of my friends decided to go back to their old phones or wanted to buy a phone with much simpler and better keyboard option. Android needs to address this issue and it has tried this through many keyboards. So, today, I am here to recommend Ultra keyboard that is loaded with features and can make you 20-30% more efficient and make your experience of typing almost a cakewalk. So, let's talk about this keyboard that is loaded with so many great options. While this post highlights a lot of features of the keyboard, let me call out my favorite: I love customizations offered by the keyboard; there are plenty of layouts for every function. For example, there are layouts for phone numbers, emails, SMS, and also the views of the keyboard are customizable to alpha (abcd order), qwerty, qwertz, mobile keyboard, and others. So, the keyboard get 5/5 for offering so many customization options. Read on and take a look at other awesome features of the keyboard!

User Comments from Android Market
  • Been a Swype user for months, tried this and in 5 minutes I knew it was superior!
  • Just replaced Swype, Slide IT, and ShapeWriter. Awesome Keyboard!
  • Still the only keyboard I'd pay for
Rating

4.3/5

Features
  • Super cool custom Themes for your keyboard
  • Adjustable Keyboard height
  • Different keyboard views for numbers, letters, symbols,
  • Tracing allowed
  • Set different layouts like alpha and QWERTZ if you are not familiar with QWERTY
  • Voice to Txt feature of the tool is much better than that of the ones offered by similar apps.
  • Arrow keys for better navigation
  • Configurable swipe gestures
Specifications

2.73 Mb, Version 5.6.3, No option for SD Card

Market Link


What can be done better?

Symbols on keys need to be bigger and word choice should be more practical when tracing.


Sunday, October 10, 2010

My Favorite Android Apps

This is my first blog on Android apps; so I should tell you why I have decided to blog on this and why you should read this blog to know more about Android Apps. So, one of the things that I don't forget to do any day is check for latest android apps. And that makes me an Android evangelist. I spend hours installing, using, and looking for new Android apps. And since before downloading an app, I check its rating and user comments, I have a collection of cool Android Apps on my Android. And I love to tell people why they should be using an app. So, trust me you will be able to make most of your Android by reading this blog. You may not believe this but one of my colleagues decided to switch to a basic Nokia phone because she was not happy with the Android Keyboard. I was flabbergasted by her comparison of Android with a basic Nokia phone and I am here to share some really cool apps with you. To solve the problem of all those Android users that are not happy with their Keyboard, I am going to write about a few Android Keyboard Apps.

Top Free Android Keyboard Apps : The app of the day is Swift Keyboard

Recently, some keyboards have been in news for amazing features and they are Swype and SlideIt, which are similar in use and they are really cool keyboard apps. However, Swype has resolution issues on Nexus and I would like to see it fixed. In spite of them being the most innovative Keyboard apps, they are not my first preference. I would like to see them offering the gesture writing feature for messages and emails and that would make these apps the most sought after ones. Until then, I recommend using Swift Keyboard, which is indeed swifter than the Android default keyboard app and it reads your mind and throws suggestions even when you haven't tapped a letter. No keyboard beats Swift in its guessing game. It's amazing and is available for free in the Android Market. Make your life easy with Swift until we have a better Keyboard app available in the market. No doubt, this lacks a good skin and many other features that Swype and SlideIt offer, but for Free it's a very good bargain. Go for it!

User Comments from Android Market

Much Quicker Than the Default Keyboard -Ethan

Excellent Keyboard .. Seems to know what I plan to type. Saves tons of time -- Yoram


Rating

4/5

Features

Next Word Prediction - Most exciting Feature
Error Correction
Auto learns new words
Voice to text, multi-touch
Enable two languages at once

Size

788 KB, Version 1.0.829, Doesn't move to SD Card

Market Link





And before I post my review of the next app, please use Uloops Music Composer and post your comments here. This app looks promising.