自 2007 年 iPhone 面世以来，智能手机技术(Smartphone technology)发展迅速，但这并不意味着像 Apple 或三星这样的公司总是能够在其设备提供的每项功能和功能上提供最佳的用户体验——即使他们提供的是，在大多数情况下，例外。
照片编辑(Photo editing)和消息传递就是我们看到的两个这样的功能，外部软件公司和科技巨头纷纷涌入，将用户从无法满足消费者不断变化的期望的原生智能手机功能中解救出来。
智能手机键盘(smartphone keyboard)是人们放弃智能手机默认设置以使用其他应用程序的另一个领域，从而提高了他们输入短信、电子邮件等的质量、效率和速度。(efficiency and speed)
虽然有大量的键盘应用程序(keyboard apps)
可供Android 和 iOS(Android and iOS)下载，但这里有三个提供独特的功能和优势，值得首先研究。
Gboard，来自谷歌
多年来， Android(Android)用户一直在使用 Google 的Gboard（以前的Google 键盘(Google Keyboard)），并且它已经随 Google 的Pixel手机一起提供。自 2014 年推出 iOS 以来，iPhone 用户也一直在转向这款高级键盘应用程序。对于许多人来说， (keyboard app)Gboard是键盘应用程序(keyboard apps)之王。让我们探讨一些突出的原因。
滑行打字
Glide Typing使您可以在键盘上的字母上滑动以形成单词，而不是用拇指啄字母（如果您愿意，您仍然可以使用Gboard啄）。(Gboard)
其他键盘应用程序(keyboard apps)也配备了类似的滑动输入功能——事实上(swipe typing–in fact)，Gboard并不是包含此功能的原始键盘应用程序(keyboard apps)之一——但是，让Gboard的滑动输入(Glide Typing)功能与众不同的是它的优雅。
Gboard的Glide Typing的美学质量
通过使用更细的快速消失的跟踪线来提高其功能上的成功，从而提高您查看滑过哪些字母以形成单词的能力。当您形成单词时，Gboard还会向您显示相关的表情符号，例如表示“爱”的心。
Gboard 会(Gboard)记住这些单词，以便在您使用键盘应用程序(keyboard app)时改进拼写和搜索预测。重要的是，这些数据本地存储在您的智能手机上，谷歌无法访问——正如(Google–as)许多人怀疑的那样， Gboard来自世界上最大的互联网搜索公司(Internet search company)——或其他应用程序。您可以在键盘设置中轻松清除此数据。
应用内 Google 搜索
借助应用内Google 搜索(Google search)，您可以轻松享受互联网上最强大的搜索引擎(search engine)带来的好处。您还可以在消息中与他人分享您的搜索结果。
(Google search)这个键盘应用程序中的(keyboard app)谷歌搜索功能
远远超出了简单的文本关键字搜索。您可以访问搜索(access search)其他Google 应用程序和平台(Google apps and platforms)，包括YouTube 和 Google 地图(YouTube and Google Maps)。所有这些内容都可以共享。
Gboard允许您使用语音或手写搜索词进行搜索。您还可以搜索图像、管理过去的搜索、更新您的位置并选择(location and choose)避免使用露骨的图像。
GIF 和更多
由Google 搜索(Google search)提供支持，Gboard允许您在互联网上搜索GIF(GIFs)，而不是从一个数据库中搜索。键盘应用程序还允许您创建自己的GIF(GIFs)。您还有大量独特的贴纸，可选择创建自己的贴纸，以及文字面孔和绘图功能。
Gboard还允许您从多个主题中进行选择以及调整键盘设置，例如滑行输入(Glide Typing)、表情符号建议、自动更正(Auto-correction)等。此外，您可以从大约 85 种语言中进行选择。
SwiftKey，来自微软
在 Gboard 之前，有SwiftKey。自 2009 年以来， SwiftKey的制造商、现在是微软(Microsoft)的子公司TouchType一直在通过人工智能等重大技术进步来改进键盘应用程序。(keyboard app)今天，它仍然是股票键盘的顶级替代品之一，也是Gboard的强大竞争对手。
预测流
与Gboard 一样(Gboard)，SwiftKey使用自己的称为Flow的函数提供滑动输入。虽然Gboard提供了优雅的体验 - 而SwiftKey也不甘落后 - SwiftKey键盘应用程序的强大之处在于其预测能力。
随着SwiftKey通过使用人工智能来分析您在Gmail、
Twitter、Facebook和短信中的输入方式来学习您的风格和常用词，它改进了它为您和所有用户纠正和预测语言的方式。这是此键盘应用程序(keyboard app)改进其功能以改善用户的关键方式。
除了Flow之外，Flow Through Space还允许您在不将手指从屏幕上移开的情况下形成完整的句子。来自SwiftKey的这种手势输入法(gesture input method)允许您像往常一样在字母上滑动以形成单词，然后向下滑到空格键(space bar)以指示您正在形成下一个单词。
当您执行此操作时，键盘应用程序(keyboard app)会将上面显示中的单词串在一起，以便您可以验证您正在形成的句子是否正确。
Swiftkey 允许您备份您输入的内容并跨设备同步您的字典，并能够在将来恢复您的字典。但你也可以删除数据，包括“ SwiftKey学到的关于你的写作风格(writing style)的所有信息，包括你使用过的任何新词，”制造商说。
点击地图
Tap Map可让您查看SwiftKey如何根据您的键入方式调整键盘。使用人工智能，当您使用SwiftKey时，键盘应用程序(keyboard app)开始感知您的手指位置和轨迹，从而调整键盘以适应您的打字/滑动习惯。这种级别的定制使您能够提高
速度和准确性(speed and accuracy)。
使用情况统计
虽然Tap Map让您了解SwiftKey如何
适应您的习惯以提供可能的最佳打字体验，但它在帮助您了解自己和(typing experience)键盘应用程序(keyboard app)
以及通过一连串其他使用统计数据方面更进了一步。
从生产力(Productivity)到使用流的距离类型(Distance Types Using Flow)
到已保存的击键(Keystrokes Saved)，SwiftKey 的使用统计(Usage Stats)显示您如何使用其键盘应用程序(keyboard app)进行改进，以及与您以前使用的普通键盘(stock keyboard)或其他键盘应用程序(keyboard app)
相比，它如何帮助您提高质量和速度(quality and speed).
强大的定制
除了高级智能之外，SwiftKey
还提供了令人印象深刻的自定义功能，以帮助确保使用此键盘应用程序(keyboard app)的任何人都
拥有出色的用户体验(user experience)。
语言
虽然Gboard等键盘应用程序(keyboard app)也提供多种语言输入，但SwiftKey允许您从大约 150 种语言中进行选择，从英语(English)到意第绪语到南非荷兰语(Afrikaans)以及世界各地人们使用的一长串其他语言，真正使SwiftKey成为国际通用的键盘应用程序(keyboard app)。
主题
同样，Gboard提供了多个主题可供选择，包括创建自己的主题，但 SwiftKey 为您的键盘提供了几个主题 - 包括几种不同的背景颜色以及通过上传自己的图像来设计自己的主题以用作背景——非常优雅，经常因此而受到称赞。
语法键盘，来自 Grammarly
自 2009 年以来，制造Grammarly Keyboard(Grammarly Keyboard)的公司Grammarly一直在开发软件来帮助人们避免——你猜对了——语法错误。本质上，与其他键盘应用程序相比，这款键盘应用程序(keyboard app)的独特之处在于它专注于帮助你输入完美无瑕的错误 -免费句子。
完美的打字
并不是每个人都喜欢像 Gboard 的 Glide Typing 或 SwifKey 的Flow那样吹捧滑动输入的(Flow)键盘应用程序(keyboard apps)。我们中的一些人是传统主义者。我们喜欢我们的啄式发短信。这个问题，不管你啄得有多准确，错误是必然会发生的。
对于那些喜欢使用传统打字方法但希望提高准确性和更高质量校正(quality correction)的人来说，语法键盘(Keyboard)是一个很好的解决方案（尽管滑动打字正在(is )流行，Grammarly 说）。
虽然股票键盘提供自动更正功能，但它并没有达到语法键盘(Grammarly Keyboard)提供的水平，尤其是考虑到它作为一家专注于语法(grammar)的软件公司的历史。
除了自动更正之外，语法键盘(Grammarly Keyboard)
还提供：
- 复杂的语法检查器
- 上下文拼写检查器
- 高级标点校正
- 词汇增强
更正说明
不像在学校里坐在你旁边并且喜欢纠正任何人和每个人(anyone and everyone)的迂腐语法家，语法键盘(Grammarly Keyboard)可以帮助你，然后解释为什么它建议改变。对于它标记的每个单词，键盘应用程序(keyboard app)都会提醒您并礼貌地解释原因：该词不在(word isn)应用程序的字典中。
如果您认为该单词应该在您的个人词典中，您只需选择“学习”，Grammarly Keyboard 就会将该单词添加到您的个人词典中。下次，语法上不会标记您使用它。
虽然其他键盘应用程序(keyboard apps)可能会提供先进的人工智能来学习您的风格并避免在您将“虽然”拼写为“tho”时自动纠正您，但语法键盘的选项可以更细化并指定您希望它记住的单词可能会更好(meant ).
与其让键盘应用(keyboard app)了解你，不如直接教它——或命令它——(command it–to)做你想做的事。
个人词典
语法键盘(Grammarly Keyboard)不仅会像其他键盘应用程序(keyboard apps)一样建议单词，它还允许您将具有独特拼写的独特单词添加到个人词典中，您希望在输入时向您建议这些单词。
如果您考虑一下，这对于旨在帮助您正确语法书写的键盘应用程序(keyboard app)来说非常灵活，但鉴于我们生活在一个正确语法变得越来越主观的时代，这是确保语法键盘(Grammarly Keyboard isn)的重要功能不要浪费你的时间建议编辑和试图告诉你如何打字来妨碍你的想法。
您使用哪种键盘？
虽然您可能不想在智能手机上切换三个或更多不同的键盘，但现实情况是您可以下载所有这三个键盘应用程序(keyboard apps)并探索它们中的每一个，以确定哪一个最适合您的打字方式或哪一个尽最大努力加强你的弱点。
虽然Gboard 和 SwiftKey(Gboard and SwiftKey)可能过于相似而无法串联使用，但两者都可以很好地与Grammarly Keyboard搭配使用。无论如何(Regardless)，这些都可能是对智能手机库存键盘的改进。
Three Keyboard Apps Worth Using Over Your Smartphone’s Default
Smаrtphone technology has advanced rаpidly since
the dawn of the iPhоne in 2007, but that doesn’t mean companies lіke Apple or
Samsung are аlways caрable of delivering the best user experienсes аcross every
feature and function their devices provide–even if what they do рrovide is,
for the most рart, еxceptional.
Photo editing and messaging are two such functions where we’ve seen outside software companies and tech giants swoop in to rescue users from native smartphone capabilities that don’t live up to consumers’ constantly evolving expectations.
The smartphone keyboard is yet another area
where people are ditching their smartphone defaults for other apps, thereby
improving the quality, efficiency and speed with which they type text messages,
emails and more.
While there is a litany of keyboard apps
available for download with Android and iOS, here are three offering unique
features and benefits that make them worth investigating first.
Gboard, from Google
Android users have been taking advantage of Google’s Gboard (previously Google Keyboard) for years, and it already comes stock with Google’s Pixel phones. iPhone users also have been shifting to this advanced keyboard app since it was introduced for iOS in 2014. For many, Gboard is the king of keyboard apps. Let’s explore a few of the standout reasons why.
Glide Typing
Glide Typing enables you to swipe across letters on your keyboard to form words rather than pecking at letters with your thumbs (you can still peck with Gboard if you want to).
Other keyboard apps come equipped with similar swipe typing–in fact, Gboard wasn’t one of the original keyboard apps to include this functionality–however, what makes Gboard’s Glide Typing different is its elegance.
The aesthetic quality of Gboard’s Glide Typing
enhances its functional success by using a thinner tracing line that disappears
quickly, improving your ability to see what letters your gliding across to form
words. As you form words, Gboard will also show you relevant emojis, such as a
heart for “love.”
Gboard remembers these words to improve spelling
and search prediction as you use the keyboard app. Importantly, this data is
stored locally on your smartphone and isn’t made accessible to Google–as many
would suspect with Gboard coming from the largest Internet search company in
the world–or to other apps. You can easily clear this data in Keyboard
Settings.
In-App Google Search
With in-app Google search, you have the benefits
of the Internet’s most powerful search engine at your fingertips. You can also
share your search results in messages with others.
Google search functionality in this keyboard app
goes well beyond simple keyword searches with text. You can access search for
other Google apps and platforms, including YouTube and Google Maps. All of this
content is able to be shared.
Gboard allows you to search using your voice or
by handwriting a search term. You can also search for images, manage past
searches, update your location and choose to avoid explicit images.
GIFs and More
Powered by Google search, Gboard allows you to
search for GIFs across the internet, rather than from one database. The keyboard
app also allows you to create your own GIFs. You also an abundance of unique
stickers, with the option to create your own, as well as text faces and the
ability to draw.
Gboard also allows you to choose from several
themes as well as adjust keyboard settings such as Glide Typing, Emoji
Suggestions, Auto-correction and more. Additionally, you can choose from around
85 languages to use.
SwiftKey, from Microsoft
Before Gboard, there was SwiftKey. Since 2009, TouchType, the makers of SwiftKey and now a subsidiary of Microsoft, has been improving the keyboard app with serious technological advancements like AI. Today, it’s still one of the top alternatives to stock keyboards and a strong competitor of Gboard.
Predictive Flow
As with Gboard, SwiftKey provides swipe typing
with its own function called Flow. While Gboard provides an elegant
experience–and SwiftKey’s isn’t far behind–the power the SwiftKey keyboard
app is in its predictive capabilities.
As SwiftKey learns your style and commonly used
words by using artificial intelligence to analyze how you type in Gmail,
Twitter, Facebook, and text messages, it improves how it corrects and predicts
language for you and for all users. This is a key way this keyboard app is
advancing its functionality for the betterment of users.
In addition to Flow, Flow Through Space allows you to form complete sentences without ever lifting your finger from the screen. This gesture input method from SwiftKey allows you to glide over letters to form words as you normally would, then glide down to the space bar to indicate you’re forming the next word.
As you do this, the keyboard app strings together the words in the display above so you can verify the sentence you’re forming is correct.
Swiftkey allows you to backup what you’ve typed
and sync your dictionary across devices, with the ability to restore your
dictionary in the future. But you also have the ability to remove data,
including “everything SwiftKey has learned about your writing style, including
any new words you have used,” the makers say.
Tap Map
Tap Map allows you to see how SwiftKey is
adjusting your keyboard based on how you type. Using artificial intelligence,
as you use SwiftKey, the keyboard app begins to sense your finger placement and
trajectory, henceforth adjusting the keyboard to accommodate for your
typing/swiping habits. This level of customization enables you to increase
speed and accuracy.
Usage Stats
While Tap Map gives you a sense of how SwiftKey
is adapting to your habits to provide the best typing experience possible, it
goes one step further in helping you understand yourself and the keyboard app
as well through a litany of other usage stats.
From Productivity to Distance Types Using Flow
to Keystrokes Saved, SwiftKey’s Usage Stats show you how you’re improving with
its keyboard app, as well as how it’s helping you increase quality and speed
compared to the stock keyboard or other keyboard app you were previously using.
Strong Customizations
Beyond its advanced intelligence, SwiftKey
offers impressive customizations to help ensure anyone using this keyboard app
has an outstanding user experience.
Languages
While keyboard apps like Gboard also offer
multiple languages to type with, SwiftKey allows you to choose from around 150
languages, from English to Yiddish to Afrikaans and a long list of other
languages people speak around the world, truly making SwiftKey an internationally
applicable keyboard app.
Themes
Again, Gboard offers several themes to choose
from, including the ability to create your own, but SwiftKey’s several themes
for your keyboard–including several different background colors as well as the
ability to design your own theme by uploading your own image to use as the
background–are exceptionally elegant and often praised for being so.
Grammarly Keyboard, from
Grammarly
Grammarly, the company that makes Grammarly Keyboard, has been developing software to help people avoid–you guessed it–grammar mistakes since 2009. In essence, what makes this keyboard app unique compared to others is its focus on helping you type immaculate, error-free sentences.
Flawless Typing
Not everyone is a fan of keyboard apps that tout
swipe-typing as with Gboard’s Glide Typing or SwifKey’s Flow. Some of us are
traditionalists. We like our peck-texting. The problem with this, regardless of
how accurate you may be with pecking, is mistakes are bound to happen.
Grammarly Keyboard is a great solution for those who prefer to use traditional typing methods but want improved accuracy and higher quality correction (although swipe-typing is on is way, Grammarly says).
While stock keyboards provide auto-correct, it’s not at the level of what Grammarly Keyboard provides, especially considering its history as a grammar-obsessed software company.
Beyond just auto-correct, Grammarly Keyboard
provides:
- Sophisticated
grammar checker
- Contextual spelling
checker
- Advanced punctuation
correction
- Vocabulary enhancements
Correction Explanations
Unlike the pedantic grammarian who sat next to
you in school and loved to correct anyone and everyone, Grammarly Keyboard is
there to help you and then explain why it’s suggesting a change. With every
word it flags, the keyboard app alerts you and offers a polite explanation for
why: the word isn’t in the app’s dictionary.
If you think the word should be in your Personal
Dictionary, all you have to do is select “Learn” and Grammarly Keyboard will
add the word to your personal dictionary. Next time, grammarly won’t flag you
for using it.
While other keyboard apps may offer advanced artificial intelligence to learn your style and avoid auto-correcting you when you meant to spell “though” as “tho,” Grammarly Keyboard’s option to get granular and specify words you want it to remember is potentially even better.
Instead of letting the keyboard app learn about you, you literally teach it–or command it–to do what you want.
Personal Dictionary
Not only will Grammarly Keyboard suggest words
like other keyboard apps, it also allows you to add to a personal dictionary
unique words with unique spellings that you would like it to suggest to you as
you’re typing.
If you think about it, this is pretty flexible
for a keyboard app designed to help you write well with correct grammar, but
given we live in an age where proper grammar is becoming more and more
subjective, it’s a vital feature that ensures Grammarly Keyboard isn’t wasting
your time suggesting edits and getting in the way of your thoughts by trying to
tell you how to type.
Which Keyboard Do You Use?
While you may not want to have three or more different keyboards that you shift between on your smartphone, the reality is you can download all three of these keyboard apps and explore each of them to determine which one fits best with how you type or which one does the best to strengthen your weaknesses.
While Gboard and SwiftKey may be too similar to use in tandem, either could certainly pair well with Grammarly Keyboard. Regardless, each of these are likely to be an improvement from your smartphone’s stock keyboard.
