What open source keyboard alternative you suggest instead of gBoard on Android?

I'm trying to build my own degoogled ROM for me, so what are you suggesting? For now I'm on OpenBoard.

Tomkoid 14 points 3 years ago

Definitely Florisboard as it has the most features and best theming support but I was using AnySoftKeyboard in the past and it's okay too.

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sudoreboot 5 points 3 years ago

It hasn't been updated in like a year and there is no spell correction. Am I missing something or is this just an acceptable tradeoff for you?

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Tomkoid 1 point 3 years ago

The next release of FlorisBoard should come soon (hopefully) after the main dev finishes the NLP core implementation. Even if not, I still don't mind using it.

Spell correction works but isn't implemented that well. You need to change the default Android spell checker and then find some raw dictionary of words. But it works in the end.

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QuestionMark 3 points 3 years ago

Definitely FlorisBoard. I've also tried AnySoftKeyboard and some others in the past, and I think FlorisBoard is the best.

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janus2 2 points 3 years ago

I second FlorisBoard due to gesture typing even though it's got room for improvement. Couldn't get gesture to work reliably with AnySoft.

Now if Florisboard had kaomoji and gifs like Gboard, it'd be perfect (╥﹏╥ )

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gogosempai 5 points 3 years ago

There's a gesture tying (swipe) fork of open board as well which is simply brilliant: https://github.com/erkserkserks/openboard. The problem with FlorisBoard for now is the lack of autocorrect.

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janus2 2 points 3 years ago

Just installed and tested it. Not bad, I must say. Is it still in development? Last update was Sept. 2022
I giggled over the individual keys for
(╯°
□°）
╯︵
and ┻━┻.

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gogosempai 2 points 3 years ago

It's dependent on the main OpenBoard repo, whenever there's a new release there, this dev rebases it and provides a new release on his repo. OpenBoard hasn't been seeing much activity unfortunately, the last commit was 6 months ago. So nothing here as well. I'm eagerly waiting for FlorisBoard to implement autocorrect, I'll probably switch as soon as it's out. Floris is more customizable and there's even an active MR to support Material You theming which will make it look right at home on Android 12+.

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meliache 13 points 3 years ago

Thumb-Key is aiming to be an FOSS replacement to the now unmaintained MessageEase. Like MessageEase, it offers a 3x3 touch-and-swipe layout. Such a layout takes some time to learn, but allows to type fast and accurately, thus getting rid of the dependence on prediction/auto-correction, without which QWERTY on small touchscreens would be unusable. Some people report being able to type > 50 WPM on MessageEase and the same should be possible with Thumb-Key. It's a young project and is still missing many features and gestures of MessageEase, but it is active and has a community here at thumbkey@lemmy.ml.

I only recently switched from GBoard to MessageEase and ThumbKey, and I still around 25 WPM, but I found that I stopped making mistakes when typing out the long master password for my password manage on my phone, because this is one of the areas where auto-correct couldn't help.

But I am still far away from reaching the speeds of swiping on a QWERTY-keyboard without word prediction. So if you don't mind that and don't want to spend your free time learning alternative layouts, stick to QWERTY layouts, but if you want a keyboard layout to type exactly what you want, try one of these 3x3 boards. To be honest, if you want to give it a shot, out of the two I wound probably still recommend MessageEase, as Thumb-Key is very alpha, but that might change. I have both with the same layout and switch back and forth.

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yimby 5 points 3 years ago

That's a really smart idea: downloaded and using it to type this comment. I've often thought about how radial entry is so superior for many things (see CSGO buy menu). It's definitely a steep learning curve (as is any new input method) but I look forward to reaping the benefits!

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Kyoyeou 1 point 3 years ago

I'm going to miss the radial menu and all my buying habit, that going to be weird soon

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RickyRigatoni 3 points 3 years ago

I test it on your post. It's weird. But I think I can get used to it.

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sudoreboot 2 points 3 years ago

This is cool! Typing with it right now. Have been hoping to see an innovation like this for a long time. (Maybe some proprietary products have come and gone but non-free software doesn't exist to me unless I really can't afford to abstain)

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Kyoyeou 2 points 3 years ago

Ok it's not as step as I thought it would be. I feel like i'm entering a fighting game combo

Will definitly try it for the next few day's althought certain point, like the fact that "I'm" takes 5 clicks

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meliache 2 points 3 years ago

I only need three touches, using the MessageEase English with Symbols layout ln thumb key. That layout shows the single quote on the alpabetical "front" layer, while it is hidden behind a symbol layer in the default layout. Tou can find the layout list in the settings.

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Kyoyeou 1 point 3 years ago

I've passed on it too, although now all my Shortcuts for emojis are different for some reason, on all keyboard since I installed it. Before I would right :kiss: for 💋 emoji and :heart: for ❤️ emoji to write to my SO, and I can't seem to have it anymore and ai can't find what they have been replaced with, so weird

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diffaldo 1 point 3 years ago

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ladnopivo 1 point 3 years ago

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to try it definitely.

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7eter 10 points 3 years ago

I am using OpenBoard as well. There even is a fork with gesture typing for the adventurous.

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5redie8 1 point 3 years ago

Is there an apk on hand for that fork, or do I have to build it myself?

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5redie8 2 points 3 years ago

Nevermind, found it

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Makeshift 1 point 3 years ago

I like open board, but I wish it had better text prediction. I would love a privacy respecting keyboard that predicts what I'm going to say. Years ago I had Microsoft SwiftKey so well trained I usually barely even need to type, just hit the suggestions

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lemon 7 points 3 years ago

Florisboard. It has glide-typing, and I found it to be better than AnySoftKeyboard. Main downside is it doesn't have next-word suggestions yet, but that's planned for the next major release.

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ShittyKopper 4 points 3 years ago

but that’s planned for the next major release.

...for years at this point.

Don't get me wrong, the fact that this is a brand new keyboard app and not a fork of the AOSP one with no significant changes (hi OpenBoard) does throw quite a large wrench into the works, but development is going so slowly even on a de-Google'd ROM I had to resort to switching back to Gboard with internet access cut off to have anything I write have any sort of resemblance to understandable language.

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communist 5 points 3 years ago

https://github.com/... it's actually coming really soon, he spent a year working on learning NLP, and it's finally in the implementation phase.

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lemon 3 points 3 years ago

I suppose it's only really an issue if you use that feature, though I rarely did, even when I was still using Gboard 🤷 Apart from that Florisboard is really solid.

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QuestionMark 1 point 3 years ago

You would probably get used to FlorisBoard after a bit of time if you try it. I was used to SwiftKey but I didn't like it because it doesn't have a good history, like suggesting private email addresses to other users, and it's for Microsoft. But now I'm typing this using FlorisBoard.

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ladnopivo 1 point 3 years ago

I cannot find an option for glide typing. Where's that setting?

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lemon 2 points 3 years ago

In settings there's a 'Gestures & Glide typing' option. It does say that it currently only supports US English, so if you have another language set that could be the issue?

That's also meant to be changing with the next major release though.

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tubbadu 7 points 3 years ago

I use the slide-to-type feature a lot, and currently the only other keyboard I found with this feature is anysoftkeyboard, but it is (or at least it was the last time I tried) sadly so much worse than gboard, so I'm still using Gboard currently

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version_unsorted 6 points 3 years ago

Yeah, I use anysoft and just deal with it. It isn't great, but at least I'm not on Google. I definitely respect your position though, just wanted to show support for anysoft.

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Ignacio 1 point 3 years ago

Thank you for the suggestion. I'm enjoying it (⌐■_■)

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greatwhitebuffalo41 1 point 3 years ago

Agreed. I used anysoft on my last phone but for some reason I just struggle with it on this one

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SomeBoyo 6 points 3 years ago

Openboard

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Quill7513 1 point 3 years ago

That's what I use. I find it quite good

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PrivateOnions 5 points 3 years ago

Florisboard is amazing

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ladnopivo 1 point 3 years ago

I'll give it a spin

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Jeffmeister 4 points 3 years ago

I used to use Florisboard for a while, but the lack of autocorrect (however annoying it may be sometimes) made me switch to AnySoftKeyboard. I mostly like that I can customize away all the unnecessary emoji and single use buttons (e.g. .com button when filing in links), as the usable space on a phone screen in portrait mode is already cramped.

Happy with it so far, but mobile phone keyboards (outside of physical ones), are generally still a bit of a pain IMO.

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ladnopivo 4 points 3 years ago

I can agree. Lack of autocorrect is really a bummer, as I'm so used to it.

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cambionn 4 points 3 years ago

Used OpenBoard, but switched to Florisboard because OpenBoard seems abandoned and the developer of FlorisBoard came back with an update of what he's working on. So far I'm not mad, the lack of autocorrect did make my typing much better. But as a dyslectic person I can't wait for proper autocorrect to be implemented.

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burgersc12 3 points 3 years ago

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CalcProgrammer1 2 points 3 years ago

Hacker's Keyboard. The only keyboard I'll ever use on Android.

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underscores 2 points 3 years ago

It hasn't had a real release in about 5 years though. It uses a very old API so it's slightly buggy.

I've been using Unexpected Keyboard lately instead. It's the only modern keyboard I've found that has stuff like control and function keys. It uses swiping on keys to get more characters though, so it takes some getting used to. I had to set the swipe distance higher so I don't have as many typos.

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ladnopivo 2 points 3 years ago

It is really good. I'm typing this from it right now.

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diffaldo 1 point 3 years ago

thats neat! im typing from the app.

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lochi 1 point 3 years ago

Shameless Plug: Not exactly a keyboard but you can have keyboard independent shortcuts/text expansions with my app