Best Alternative for Windows 10 Mobile Keyboard in Android

[Jeevan Pulluru]

Even As On Today, I Still Miss the windows 10 mobile keyboard. More precisely I miss the Precision stick control directly on the keyboard layout. Have used bunch of keyboards (Gboard, swiftkey, etc....)on my android phone for sometime & stuck to blackberry Keyboard as of now Since it has got some precision stick control built right into the keyboard but I hate the fact that I"ve to switch to another tab to use cursor control. And even as of today I still feel Windows 10 mobile has the best keyboard because of it's keyboard layout & small touches like precision stick control. So Now my question is "Is there any keyboard Free/ Premium that can closely resemble Windows 10 mobile Keyboard (Like it's layout precision stick control and all)???

 

[ven07]

Just wondering.. doesn't the google keyboard have precision controls? I think swiping left or right on the space bar activates it. Otherwise, some phones lets you use the volume buttons to move the cursor

 

[DCRHAAFMTP]

This. I thought I'm the only one who thinks Android's default keyboard is horrible. The layout is just plain bad compared with WP's layout.

 

[heickelrrx]

idk I stick on Stock keyboard

I use Nokia 6 anw, Nokia master race '-')/

 

[unklmik]

I didn't care for any of the Android keyboards. Have been using Swiftkey since day one and have been satisfied.

 

[DRDiver]

Sadly, NO keyboard handles predictive text well at all. Especially with word shaping. I find that NONE of them seem to actually be reading the sentence you're building to give you predictive words that make ANY sense in the context. Okay, so I admit I communicate a bit more elaborately when I'm typing words on a phone than most people. This should NOT matter. If the software is written well, it should NOT be suggesting words, or assuming the word I'm drawing, is something that makes zero sense in the context of the sentence. As a result, I end up typing most words above three letters. It's just disappointing.

 

[gerrymad]

I am even more disappointed in voice to text. On my 950XL when I did voice to text it would put in periods and question marks at the end of a sentence. Android is just one long run on sentence. Swiping with Swift Key works OK, but it does have some issues with accuracy compared to my various Windows Phones. Aside from these issues on input methods I love my Huawei Mate 10 phone.

 

[neo158]

This is a very subjective question because what I like, Gboard, may not be what someone else likes.

I hate the "Best alternative...." threads as we all have our own opinions as to what is the best when really the best is what YOU prefer and use yourself.

 

[Grungni]

I won't part with my KeyOne Black Edition keyboard, the increased precision provided by a pkb is unmatched... Blackberry's software keyboard is in my opinion the best touchscreen keyboard too... My brother has the BlackBerry Motion and it's amazing to type on...

 

[ayaankhan4g]

Microsoft keyboard is Still the best keyboard.....i dint find any alternative yet on android plateform.i have used swift keyboard to use swipe writing as i really miss ms keyboard but swift app really stuck even on higher end devices.so...i m still searching for any worth alternative....ms has launched its many key apps for android and ios user ....ms should provide it's keyboard app....one more app i really miss is fresh paint...

 

[fatclue_98]

I won't part with my KeyOne Black Edition keyboard, the increased precision provided by a pkb is unmatched... Blackberry's software keyboard is in my opinion the best touchscreen keyboard too... My brother has the BlackBerry Motion and it's amazing to type on...

I agree. BlackBerry's onscreen keyboard is 2nd to none outside of Windows. I love me some flicks.

Sent from my Lumia 950 on mTalk

 

[vrans99]

The Lumia phones and Windows Mobile were way superior than Android phones and OS. It is a shame that MS ditched Windows Mobile. The only thing we needed was the Android apps.
Since I switched I've been using SwiftKey and I am happy with it. I normally write in two different languages and it does a great job predicting my words on both languages, even without switching the keyboard from one language to the other. With the Lumia, to get the text prediction correctly in one language, I had to switch the keyboard language with the space bar to do so correctly. It was very good but SwiftKey does it better.
SwiftKey is great!

 

[Morgin Miyako]

Which languages do you use? I love the Japanese keyboard on my Lumia and am wondering how Android compares.

 

[nate0]

I didn't care for any of the Android keyboards. Have been using Swiftkey since day one and have been satisfied.

SwiftKey is good. But like mentioned it's no match against the W10M kb imo. I personally have not used the BB soft kb yet. I usually don't use stock android keyboards, but while I owned an LG v30 I only used the default keyboard and it felt fairly good. However each time I picked up a windows phone the ability to use its vkb always seemed better. Though there is a learning curve if one is coming from Windows phones to be able to adapt to Android soft keyboards. Having to hit the shift key multiple times for punctuation can be frustrating on Android and long presses for simple symbols on Android that can be used similarly with a shift on W10M. Simple differences that for some reason are hard to replicate in an android kb app...

 

[Groover1971]

I have only been using my Android phone for less than a year and have only used one keyboard (SwiftKey) because it is similar to the Windows Phone keyboard. It even has Swipe built in. And now I learned that it is getting Translator capabilities. It works for me.

 

[Rorschandt]

Yes, I know this thread is old. The most frustrating thing about Android isn't the keyboard, the most frustrating thing about Android is Android. Consistently inconsistent, so much malware aimed at it, a back button that sometimes goes back a step and other times leaves the program. Android is a hodge-podge of apps that kinda-sorta work together. I've had an LG V20 for about a year now. Not a slouchy phone as far as Android goes. I have been seeking a feature phone with a QWERTY(hardware) keyboard built in, and eventually came to the conclusion that an older Windows phone with said hardware will do nicely for me, as I don't care about all of those apps. What do I do with a phone? I talk with other people, I text them, I email them, and I use the calendar to keep my appointments. If the internet works on it, then that is a bonus, but not a necessity. Much like a QWERTY feature phone, that by the way, in newer phones is most likely to be Android than any other OS. With my Windows phones, I've always gotten my notifications for messages and emails, and voicemails clearly marked without swiping. I looked at the front of the phone and there it all was~ the time, the date, how many voicemails, how many emails, how many texts. And I didn't need a microscope to see the cryptic symbols that suggested something needed my attention. Tap one of the tiles and it ACTUALLY TOOK ME TO THE MOST RECENT MESSAGE, unlike android; which seemed to take me to the last message I responded to. Android is not for me. I'll keep my V20 to run Square credit card transactions, and that is all. In short, there isn't a good substitute QWERTY keyboard in Android, because Android is the problem.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Yes, I know this thread is old. The most frustrating thing about Android isn't the keyboard, the most frustrating thing about Android is Android. Consistently inconsistent, so much malware aimed at it, a back button that sometimes goes back a step and other times leaves the program. Android is a hodge-podge of apps that kinda-sorta work together. I've had an LG V20 for about a year now. Not a slouchy phone as far as Android goes. I have been seeking a feature phone with a QWERTY(hardware) keyboard built in, and eventually came to the conclusion that an older Windows phone with said hardware will do nicely for me, as I don't care about all of those apps. What do I do with a phone? I talk with other people, I text them, I email them, and I use the calendar to keep my appointments. If the internet works on it, then that is a bonus, but not a necessity. Much like a QWERTY feature phone, that by the way, in newer phones is most likely to be Android than any other OS. With my Windows phones, I've always gotten my notifications for messages and emails, and voicemails clearly marked without swiping. I looked at the front of the phone and there it all was~ the time, the date, how many voicemails, how many emails, how many texts. And I didn't need a microscope to see the cryptic symbols that suggested something needed my attention. Tap one of the tiles and it ACTUALLY TOOK ME TO THE MOST RECENT MESSAGE, unlike android; which seemed to take me to the last message I responded to. Android is not for me. I'll keep my V20 to run Square credit card transactions, and that is all. In short, there isn't a good substitute QWERTY keyboard in Android, because Android is the problem.

Have you considered BlackBerry Android devices?

 

[anon(50597)]

Yes, I know this thread is old. The most frustrating thing about Android isn't the keyboard, the most frustrating thing about Android is Android. Consistently inconsistent, so much malware aimed at it, a back button that sometimes goes back a step and other times leaves the program. Android is a hodge-podge of apps that kinda-sorta work together. I've had an LG V20 for about a year now. Not a slouchy phone as far as Android goes. I have been seeking a feature phone with a QWERTY(hardware) keyboard built in, and eventually came to the conclusion that an older Windows phone with said hardware will do nicely for me, as I don't care about all of those apps. What do I do with a phone? I talk with other people, I text them, I email them, and I use the calendar to keep my appointments. If the internet works on it, then that is a bonus, but not a necessity. Much like a QWERTY feature phone, that by the way, in newer phones is most likely to be Android than any other OS. With my Windows phones, I've always gotten my notifications for messages and emails, and voicemails clearly marked without swiping. I looked at the front of the phone and there it all was~ the time, the date, how many voicemails, how many emails, how many texts. And I didn't need a microscope to see the cryptic symbols that suggested something needed my attention. Tap one of the tiles and it ACTUALLY TOOK ME TO THE MOST RECENT MESSAGE, unlike android; which seemed to take me to the last message I responded to. Android is not for me. I'll keep my V20 to run Square credit card transactions, and that is all. In short, there isn't a good substitute QWERTY keyboard in Android, because Android is the problem.

Android isn’t a problem for most people, but appears to be for you. It can be customized to meet almost anyone’s needs. Not perfect, but certainly not unusable.
Sounds like you just need a basic phone. Why not a used Alcatel Idol 4S? Might be just what you’re looking for.
Good luck!

 

[Rorschandt]

Problem is, Microsoft did what they always do when they get something to work well, they change it. Windows 10 is just about as awful as Android, now with forced updates every ten minutes or so... Windows Phone 8.1 did every thing I needed, very well. But of course, 8.1 is no longer supported, so parts of it are beginning to screw up. I also never saw a qwerty phone running Windows 8.1. I've found an old Dell Venue Pro with qwerty, and I'll just shut off data.

 

[Ryujingt3]

This all depends on user preference. For me, I prefer Swiftkey on Android for my keyboard.