6 tips for mastering the Android device's keyboard

If you only use Android's virtual keyboard to type in, you're missing out on many great features. There are more things to learn about the keyboard than you think.

Of course, it is possible to type only without paying attention to any of these features, but mastering them will help you type faster, save more time when entering text.

1. Literacy (Voice Typing)

If your hands are not free - or just feel like reading to others, you can press the microphone button on the keyboard and enter the word by reading it aloud.

This feature will send your voice to Google's voice recognition service that will be studied, converted into text sent to the phone. This means that Voice Typing requires an Internet connection, but because this approach uses Google's enormous computing power, it makes it surprisingly accurate.

To enter punctuation marks when using speech recognition, just say 'period ' (end of sentence), ' comma' (comma), 'question mark' ( question mark ), 'exclamation mark' (sign exclamation point , 'exclamation point' (coal mark). Android will enter appropriate punctuation instead of words.

2. Read text without a network (Offline Voice Typing)

If you are using Android 4.2 or a newer Android version, you can now use the Offline Voice Typing feature after installing the appropriate voice recognition language dictionaries. Note that voice recognition in offline mode is slightly less accurate.

To install the dictionary, open the Settings / Language & input screen / touch the setting button to the right of Google Voice Typing.

Download the languages ​​you want to use Offline from the Offline Speech Recognition screen .

3. Swipe to type

The default keyboard in Android 4.2 is capable of typing words by swiping fingers.

To type a word by swiping, simply touch the first letter, slide your finger on the remaining letters. For example, to type in Geek , touch G , move your finger to E , then move your finger to K. Android will try to guess what you are typing to display above the keyboard. Lift up your finger and the word will be typed. In this way, you can quickly type multiple words (after each word, remember to lift your finger off the screen).

4. Predict the word and automatically fix the error

When typing a word, the keyboard of Android 4.2 will try to think first, guess the word you intend to type. For example, type Messa and 'Message' will appear above the keyboard. After that, you can type in the space bar to move on to the next word and Android will automatically fill in the rest of the word that is waiting for you to type.

The keyboard will also use context to guess the word you will likely type, even if you have not yet started typing. Touch one of the suggestions to type it.

5. Keyboard settings

You can also customize the way the keyboard works. Open the Settings / Language & input screen / Touch the settings button to the right of the Android keyboard.

Android Keyboard Settings screen contains many options to disable features like swipe, auto-fix, auto-capitalization, next word suggestions. You can also make it easier to automatically fix errors or switch to other keyboard layouts, such as the French keyboard layout.

6. Third-party keyboard replacements

Android keyboard comes with just one of many options. In fact, it is possible that the phone manufacturer has included third-party keyboards (like Swype) for your use. You can install many other third-party keyboards from Google Play and switch between them.

For example, many people assume that SwiftKey has the best auto-correction features, while Swype is the first keyboard to have the ability to swipe to type.