Alternative keyboard. Our pick: the best alternative Android keyboards

Dear Bloggers! I received your feedback on the clip of Fili Kirkorov. Indeed, I put it under the heading "LET'S SMILE AND WE",

Although, as many said - nothing funny. It's just sad when noodles are hung on our ears, albeit with a beautiful side dish. I'm sorry

guys on dancers, who in the sweat of their brows earn pennies, while the "stars" chop cabbage with bags under the studio plywood.

I would like to offer an interesting article by the soloist of the "Pilgrim" group Andrey Kovalev, a Moscow City Duma deputy, a musician.

*****

"Singing to" plywood "is immoral"

Group "Pilgrim"
Andrey KOVALEV, Moscow City Duma deputy, musician

A recent decree by the mayor of Moscow prohibits artists from singing to "plywood" at concerts organized by the city, and Moscow City Duma deputy Andrei Kovalev is preparing a bill obliging artists to inform listeners about the use of phonograms.

When you sing yourself, participate in group concerts, two things are amazing: firstly, the phonogram as a norm of life - for those who perform; moreover, people even have a complete set of equipment, gorgeous - and still sing to the soundtrack. And on the other hand - great amount talented, reasonable, honest people who sing live, but because of their adherence to principles it is much more difficult for them to get on stage. Why so, I asked myself.

I was told: this is the specificity of teams or television concerts, "there is no way without a phonogram."

It’s a myth that you can’t sing live prefab concerts. There is international experience: two venues are being prepared, while one group is performing, the other is preparing. We are in August at the festival "Glory to Russia!" And so they did: 18 groups sang one after the other - and all were "live". While the musicians tune in, the presenters entertain the audience. If the phonogram is negative, you don't even need to rebuild anything. The main thing is to want. But nobody wants to.

I asked Willie Tokarev: here the phonogram is legally prohibited in China, Belarus, Turkmenistan ... And it seems like Russia is not very clever to be in this company ... But in America, how? And in America, says Tokarev, there is no phonogram. First, the strongest traditions: singing to the "plywood" is just bad taste, the press will be crushed into powder. Secondly, there is a very powerful trade union of musicians, very influential. And if you decide to sing to the soundtrack, then you will deprive the musicians and sound engineers of their jobs. This means that the union will boycott the artist, the owner of the hall, who allowed singing to the "plywood" ... Recently, Elton John, through the press, openly addressed Madonna: shame on you, dear, half of the songs during his tour (including Moscow) to sing to the soundtrack? Dear Elton, Madonna answers, because during these songs I dance, I cannot sing. But people don't pay you money for dancing, John answers.

For that matter, you can jump and sing at the same time. And for some reason none of the honest musicians says: I will jump here, and here I will sing. What, Zemfira does not jump? Shevchuk? Hundreds of other artists, real ones? You know, this law, if adopted, will not affect real artists in any way, they will not even notice it. And it will only hinder the producers of boy and girl groups, which are cloned in huge numbers, where it is pre-allocated who sings and who dances and the voices are recorded in advance, strangers. Producers include these phonograms in the profitability of the project. If it were not for "plywood", then these projects would not have appeared: it is unprofitable. Only producers this law will prevent. And pop music, which drank so much that it can no longer sing in another way ...

In fact, everything that is in our bill has existed for a long time, it simply does not work. There is a consumer protection law. The law clearly states: if you sing to the "plywood" - if you please inform the audience about it in advance. It's not about banning the phonogram, after all. Our bill, too, is only about giving the viewer full information so that he could decide for himself whether to go to a "plywood" concert or not. And we are talking only about the so-called vocal imitation - this is when a singer comes out and says: dear friends, I will sing for you all evening ... I want to see your hands ... and then the sound in the microphone is muted and "plywood" sounds. Everything else - that is, playback of pre-recorded on the computer sound effects, noises, etc., without which modern music is impossible - does not fall under the law.

Also, our bill prescribes in great detail, for example, how and how the performer is obliged to warn the audience about the phonogram. The font, for example, which is written on a ticket or a poster “phonogram is used”, should be proportional to the font of the artist's name. After all, you can write in huge letters PHILIP SO-THAT !!! - and below it is small, barely noticeable - "phonogram". The artists assure me that they do not care about this signature, but for some reason they are terribly afraid to write "phonogram" on their posters. Because they know: the number of viewers will drop significantly. And the audience will finally hear how our stars sing live.

You see, now there is a paradoxical situation - because of the dominance of "plywood". A huge slab of the same artists covered all the TV channels. Everywhere the same songs of "veneers". They even go on stage without microphones, they have become insolent before. And if this slab is moved, removed, then how many talented young people we will see! Phonogram pop has crushed, ousted whole genres from screens and broadcasts: electronic music, romance, author's song. .. Luzhkov's decree has been in effect for two weeks now: if the concert is organized by the city authorities, then the artists are obliged to sing only live. We will introduce good fashion.

After all, I don’t bankrupt the producers. Administrative liability, according to the bill, involves a ridiculous fine for "plywood" - from 2 to 10 thousand rubles. Some of the producers have already said that, they say, I will pay a fine for the whole year in advance. It's not about money, it's about the moral component. Moral. So that if a person cheats, he would be called a swindler. I hope that by the spring of next year the Moscow City Duma law on phonogram will be adopted, so that the phonogrammers have time to think.

*****

P.S.

It was a hard day at work, you came home, you were terribly tired ... We made ourselves some aromatic coffee, lay down on the sofa, covered ourselves with a warm blanket, turned on the TV. “Sometimes you really want to relax, enjoying the pleasant singing of your favorite artist,” you thought as you flipped through the channels. And, lo and behold! On one of the music TV channels there is a concert of your idol, your adored artist. Or maybe your favorite group or duet ... You relaxed, felt peace, and fatigue disappeared like a hand.

However, you do not even suspect that your beloved star recorded her voice in advance, and during the performance she has no choice but to open her mouth and seductively move around the stage.

How to understand whether a pop star sings to a phonogram or "live" if you have to be content with just a video recording of a concert broadcast on television? After all, professional sound engineers do their best to ensure that the words of the song fall right in time with the "opening of the mouth" of any of our stars. Let's figure it out.

As you can imagine, no performer can physically sing the same song exactly the same way several times. We mean that the intonation of the voice may differ slightly, the quality and setting of the sound technique may be different (different microphones, different equalizer settings, timbre, volume, etc.)

If you hear an artist's favorite song in concert performance, and in terms of intonation, timbre and voice volume, it is absolutely no different from a studio recording (the one that you heard on a CD or computer), then you can be sure that it is “plywood”.

Also, an artist invited to a concert can shout something into a microphone during a play (something like "Thank you!", Etc.)
When a pop star sings a song to the soundtrack, sound engineers muffle her microphone. And then the artist begins to shout something, turning the audience on, and it turns out much quieter (despite the fact that he shouts, and does not sing in a calm voice) than the words of the song. This is the most common case for a phonogram.

However, if an artist sings a song and you feel that he is doing it differently than on a studio recording, he also suggests auditorium sing a couple of verses for him, directing the microphone in their direction, then you can be sure: you are not deceived, this star deserves praise, because he sings live. Relax, keep drinking your aromatic coffee and enjoy watching your favorite concert.

Anatoly Grigoriev.

Added a new set of new tools to the developers and, of course, received support for alternative keyboards from third-party developers. With a selection of seven available solutions, we will introduce you in this material.

The basis of all keyboards is the technology demonstrated at the time. With its help, an accelerated predictive typing of texts is possible, in which, thanks to the database of dictionaries, the system will automatically select words and even whole phrases.

The iOS keyboard has remained virtually the only element that hasn't received any drastic changes since its launch. So:

7 best alternative keyboards for iOS 8

SwiftKey

Existed for quite a long time on mobile platform Android and has already managed to prove itself from the best side. automatically remembers frequently used words and phrases, and also actively uses the built-in dictionary.

Fleksy

It is considered the fastest keyboard in the world. This was proven by a 16-year-old from Brazil, who managed to score with a difficult sentence in a record 18.19 seconds.

The achievement was possible thanks to a unique technology Fleksy... The main requirement when typing is to press the keys exactly as many times as there are letters in the word. Moreover, you can press all five letters incorrectly, and the word will still be printed the one that was intended. The keyboard allows you to miss letters. The number of letters typed and the area that the user tapped is taken into account. Next, a dictionary search works.

KuaiBoard

The non-standard keyboard has three accelerated text input techniques on board at once:

— TextBoard- creates templates (pieces of letters, signatures, messages, addresses) and automatically applies them when typing. The most interesting thing is that it can be both simple phrases and whole paragraphs.
— MeBoard- imports all contact details from notebook, up to the place of residence and work Email, for convenient filling out of forms and eliminating routine actions.
— LocationBoard- in one tap, you can send current geolocation data to friends and acquaintances.

Minuum

How much space does the standard keyboard take on iPhone display or iPad? More than a third, and sometimes even half of the screen. Alternative keyboard developers Minuum decided to save space and squeezed it upright. Instead of a whole scattering of keys, Minuum boasts a small strip with a minimum of buttons containing three letters of the alphabet each (for example, the first column with the letters Q, A and Z is now one button). The speed of typing with increases significantly.

Swype

The main feature of the keyboard is the ability to enter text without lifting your finger from the display. It is enough to click on the first letter of the word and swipe through the rest of the letters. Further, the application will automatically select what it wants, as if predicting the words that the user wants to write. You only have to lift your finger when writing a new word. The culprit is a unique technology in which a software analyzer tracks the trajectory of a finger. A nice addition will be the presence of a variety of keyboard themes.

TextExpander

The program uses templates for fast typing. You can hide entire paragraphs of text behind any combination of numbers and letters. There is nothing new or extraordinary here.

TouchPal

Another alternative keyboard for iOS 8 that offers multiple input methods:

— Touchpal curve- analogue of the Swype keyboard (input of words without lifting your finger)
— Wave- Predictive typing with selection of word endings and even prediction of the next word is taken as a basis.

All users of devices with an operating Android system I want them to have best keyboard... But each of us has different needs, capabilities and preferences. Therefore, choosing the best Android keyboard will vary from case to case. Therefore, we present to you our list of those models that are considered the best according to several criteria. As you know, in order to download the best keyboard for Android, you need to go to Play Market... Therefore, the app store rating will be the main selection criterion.

How to change keyboard to android

Some users don't know how to change the keyboard on Android. Before moving on to our selection and comparison of keyboards, I want to tell you how it is easiest to do it when downloading. And it is very simple to do this:

1. Download the required model from the app store.
2. The Select Input Method window appears. We set a mark next to the desired option.
3. The window is closed and the changes are applied.

As you can see, changing the keyboard to Android is very easy. Now let's move on to the most important thing and choose the most convenient and best keyboard for android.

How to choose the best keyboard

To choose which application will be included in our TOP keyboards for Android, and which will not, we will be guided by the following criteria:

Of course, to determine which is the best model for Android, we will look at the ratings in the Play Market. First, we will present you with our list, and then you will decide for yourself which keyboard to choose for yourself.

Our review will end with a comparative table, which will also help you make your choice.

Typany Keyboard

This is a very bright and beautiful model that you can download on Android for free. It features a wide range of customization options, as well as big amount themes, stickers and emoticons. It is noteworthy that all this is completely free.

Here are a few more features of Typany Keyboard:

• Typany's own training system! F-A-S-T, which is many times better than the standard T9 (as evidenced by reviews). Also, this system includes the functions of auto-completion and prediction of the entered words and phrases. In addition, there is an automatic fix.
• The program weighs only 10 MB.
• The program is very easy to use. So the layout in the phone can be changed by different buttons that can be customized. In addition, you can choose the interface for yourself.
• The keyboard layout is also customizable - there are QWERTY, QWERTZ and AZERTY.
• Support for more than 100 languages, including Russian.

Of the shortcomings, we can only remember that the Typany Keyboard is not suitable for a smartphone or tablet with little memory. But still, this alternative keyboard for Android is very popular due to its brightness and versatility.

Swiftkey keyboard

This is a very famous and already more classic keyboard for Android devices. At the same time, Swiftkey keyboard is a very smart and beautiful keyboard. If you ask geeks what Swiftkey is, they will probably say that it is one of best models in terms of prompting and automatic predetermination of the entered words.

Some even decide to download to Android keyboard to expand your vocabulary. Here are some more of its features:

You can change the color and theme as you like. But this is still a less colorful keyboard on Android than Typany. The disadvantage of Swiftkey is the inadequate innovations of the developers, which, however, are very rare.

For example, they recently removed the letter "e". But this model is still very good for typing.

Swype

Perhaps the most famous version of the alternative keyboard, which many users think is better than the iPhone. Its main features are:

• Android keyboard Swype is very handy tool to a phone in which all the basic elements are well executed - switching languages ​​on the keyboard, changing the layout and much more.
• Many unusual features. For example, there is simultaneous input in two languages. This means that if you have a Russian keyboard, you can also enter words from the English language.
• Many unique technologies, for example, DRAGON DICTATION'S for speech recognition. All of them can be changed using the settings. There are also gestures.

Truth, latest versions Swype has gone bad. Previously, it was not worth looking for a more convenient and quick assistant for entering words, but now Swype has a large number of flaws and glitches.

So by loading this program to your Android device, remember that you may not like it.

Go keyboard

This is very fast keyboard, it works faster than most other models. Many users decide to download the Go keyboard for their Android device for this very reason. She also has the following features:

• Many so-called emojis. This means that you can not just add emoticons to the keyboard, but use full-fledged pictures that will express emotions. Some people download Go keyboard for Android for free because of them.
• More than 10,000 additional themes. There are also plugins and more. You can download the theme for Go keyboard in the app store or in the program itself.
• Support for gestures and other traditional features.

All in all, this is a great lightweight functional model. It is very easy to change the language on the keyboard, change the design, layouts and other parameters. It is noteworthy that here you can also change the font, height, letter spacing and button transparency.

This means that the Go keyboard is a large button Android keyboard for people with disabilities.

Google keyboard

Google's free keyboard, also called Gboard, is different unique system tips. For example, if you enter the name of a city, restaurant or other place, the Google keyboard will immediately find information about it in a search engine. Also Gboard has the following:

It is noteworthy that in some versions of Android Gboard is already built-in, but the Google keyboard apk is also on the Play Market. So the program from Google can be downloaded for Android for free.

Kika

If you want to download the emoji keyboard for free, Kika is what you need! There are over 3000 smileys, most of which are completely unique.

Many users believe that this is the best keyboard for an Android tablet or smartphone in terms of the number of emojis. Here are some more features of the Kika keyboard:

• This virtual keyboard has a large number of themes and other design options. So this is one of the brightest and most colorful models on Android.
• There are also unique sounds.
• Intelligent word replacement and hint system.

It is important to note one feature of this keyboard in Russian. On some devices, it highlights. So if you decide to replace the standard model with Kika, be ready for it.

If you need even more stickers, emoticons and emojis, you need to download Kika keyboard emoji gifs on your Android.

Kika Emoji Pro

This is the best Android keyboard if you want to download emojis, emoticons, stickers, GIFs and so on. Actually, this is the difference between Emoji Pro. There are no problems with emoticons and other additional elements of message design - there are millions of them.

As for how to make emoticons on this Android keyboard, or, in other words, add more of them, this is done traditionally. At the bottom there are buttons that allow you to add sticker packs.

So, if you want to completely get rid of the boredom that system keyboards have, you need to download Kika.

TouchPal Emoji Keyboard

There is a standard keyboard for Android tablet or smartphone TouchPal. But in the extended version there are many of the same elements that we talked about in the section about Kika Emoji Pro.

These are new emoticons, GIFs, stickers, stickers and what the developers themselves call text muzzles.

But there are fewer of them here than in Kika. For example, there are more than 1000 emoticons, and there are at least 3000 in Emoji Pro. But Android tablet will work more stable with the TouchPal keyboard.

In any case, communication between people, even between users with disabilities, will become much more interesting.

Touchpal

If you decide to download the Touchpal russian keyboard (geeks call it "Touchpad keyboard"), you will get a very stable and easy-to-use program. Speaking about what a Touchpal keyboard for Android is, experts note that among all downloaded keyboards, it is distinguished by the absence of glitches, freezes and other similar things.

Other features include:

• This is very comfortable keyboard in terms of hints and auto-selection of words.
• Less battery load than other apps in our review. So if you need to install a keyboard on your phone, but your Android device has a weak battery, choose Touchpal.
• Boomtext - converting text to animation. Moreover, the letters and smilies are large here, so that all users will see them.

Of the shortcomings, it is worth noting that this on-screen Android keyboard does not have as many functions as some would like.

Fleksy Keyboard + Emoji

We all need different things from a keyboard, but if you want a model that is thought out to the smallest detail, choose Fleksy. Here, too, there are the broadest possibilities of customization, that is, settings for yourself, emoticons and much more.

Everything is done with high quality, even such a trifle as the key "big letters small". Here are some more Fleksy features:

• Everything works very quickly.
• 800 emoticons, 50 themes - not very many, but all are beautiful.
• 40 languages ​​supported. As for how to install the Russian Android keyboard, everything is standard - there is a settings button for this.

The disadvantage is the developers' not-so-good approach to advertising. So to use the extensions, you need to register on Twitter. And yet, it's not uncommon to see Fleksy making it to various ratings and reviews. It is usually published in Keyboards.

Smart keyboard

A very interesting replacement option standard keyboard Android. It has a very smart vocabulary that learns as you use it. Also, Smart keyboard has the following distinctive features:

A significant drawback of Smart keyboard is that it is paid, and there are not as many functions as it could be.

Ai.type + emoji

Another interesting model. There are also tons of emojis, themes, and other personalization options here. Some users singled out Ai.type as the most customizable keyboard. Other features include:

• Unique design and some small details. For example, at the top there is an ellipsis button that scrolls through panels with additional buttons. True, not everyone will find this option successful.
• Forecasting and correction works well.
• The ability to create your own themes.

To expand the functionality of emoji, you need to use a plugin. As for how to enable it on your keyboard, you just need to download the ai.type Emoji. Many users do not know this.

Yandex.Keyboard

Yandex is trying to keep up with Google, so the developers decided to release another product such as Yandex.Keyboard for Android devices. There is nothing special here, in principle, everything is the same as that of the representative of Google.

For use of this product no Android registration required, but to use additional functions it is better to have an account in the Yandex system. Here are some of the highlights:

• Own built-in dictionary.
• The ability to insert a geo-tag into the message.
• Unique sets of GIFs and emoticons.

Of the shortcomings, it is worth remembering that there is no swipe.

The best keyboard for Android - which one to choose!

The table below summarizes our review. Make your choice based on it.

Table 1. Ratings of keyboards for Google play Market

Name	Rating on Google Play	Who is it for
Typany Keyboard	4.5	Users who want a bright and beautiful keyboard and have productive Android devices.
Swiftkey keyboard	4.5	Users for whom the automatic suggestion function is important.
Swype	4.0	Anyone who cares about gestures and some of Swype's unique features. But lately this program has deteriorated.
Go keyboard	4.5	Anyone who needs a bright and simple Android keyboard with the ability to make the buttons big.
Gboard	4.2	Those who want to expand the capabilities of the standard model (search and translation functions are added during installation).
Kika and Kika Emoji Pro	4.2 and 4.4	Those who need a large number of emoticons, emojis, emojis, animations and the like.
TouchPal and TouchPal Emoji Keyboard	4.3	Users who value stability. This program will not freeze, crash and glitch.
Fleksy + Emoji	4.4	Users for whom it is important that the developer thinks through everything to the smallest detail. But for using additional functions, you will have to complete tasks.
Smart keyboard	4.5	People for whom vocabulary and its learnability are important. The application is paid.
Ai.type + emoji	4.2	People for whom personalization is important.
Yandex.Keyboard	4.2	Lovers of Yandex products.

Also popular are the keyboard for Android AOSP (aka AOSP WiFi Keyboard) and Game keyboard +. But these are completely unique products not for widespread use. AOSP, for example, allows you to connect to a computer over WiFi and type on it. And Game also connects to a computer or gamepad of another device.

Apple's iOS 8 operating system is much more innovative than the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus gadgets. Significantly enhanced developer options allow smartphones to be used in new ways, giving the impression that these models are significantly better than the iPhone 5S. However, it is worth noting that if you put iOS 8 on a previous generation gadget, it will not be much inferior to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

IOS 8 has brought a huge number of new features such as widgets, export panels, Metal technology, Health Kit and much more. In addition, the new Apple operating system has a predictive text input function, QuickType technology, and most importantly, this the ability to use alternative keyboards from third party developers.

Here is a selection of the best alternative keyboards for iOS 8, which mostly worked well on Android and were ported to the new Apple operating system.

SwiftKey keyboard for iOS.

It is considered one of the smartest keyboards for gadgets on Android, it uses a predictive text input system and auto-correction in 60 languages. SwiftKey's work on iOS 8 is no different, from the moment you install the app on your iPhone or iPad, the utility remembers everything you enter and automatically suggests the most frequently used words or phrases. The most popular comment is that users get the impression that the keyboard “guesses” their thoughts and correctly suggests whole sentences from the beginning of the first words.

Fleksy keyboard for iOS.

Fleksy is another popular keyboard ported from Android to iOS 8, which has a large army of fans, the feature of the application is that you don't even need to enter the word correctly, making a mistake in each letter, the main thing is that their number and location roughly coincide with the correct word ... Fleksy keyboard has a built-in gesture system that allows you to type at high speed. A nice feature of the application is the ability to apply different color schemes and change the size of the work area.

Swype keyboard for iOS.

No less popular keyboard for Android and iOS 8, Swype's principle of entering words is that the user needs to slide across the screen from letter to letter and lift his finger only between different words. The application has a built-in error correction algorithm and a linguistic model of a specific language, in addition, there is an option for predictive text input (a word suggestion for the first letters entered). In the Swype keyboard for iOS, the main emphasis is on the module that analyzes the trajectory of a finger on the screen and the search system for words in the application base.

Nintype keyboard or Hipjot (keyboard + notes) for iOS.

Nintype / Hipjot is similar to the Swype keyboard in terms of input method, but the developers have taken the technology even further and improved it so that it became possible to use gestures with two hands at the same time, which significantly increases the speed of typing. So the developers claim that if the average speed of typing words on the Swype keyboard is 50-60 words per minute, then the author of Nintype / Hipjot managed to type 120 words per minute, and the average user is able to type at a speed of 70-90 words per minute. The downside of the Nintype / Hipjot keyboard is that so far only English is supported.

KuaiBoard keyboard (first name QuickBoard) for iOS.

The KuaiBoard keyboard lets you choose from three different typing techniques on iOS devices: TextBoard, MeBoard, and LocationBoard. Each method is based on automation, the most repetitive actions, for example, you can add buttons with the most frequently used words and phrases to the screen, in addition, this function can be used for large text blocks (templates for replies to letters, contacts, and much more).

Minuum keyboard for iOS.

The Minuum keyboard is very different from other developments, primarily in its appearance... The standard QWERTY layout is vertically compressed, which greatly reduces the size of the keyboard itself on the screen. This feature perfect for new models of smartphones with big screen: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. With such a compressed arrangement of the Minuum keyboard, the number of errors will be much greater, therefore this problem is compensated for with the help of dictionaries and text recognition algorithms.

TextExpander keyboard for iOS.

Another keyboard with an original principle of operation, designed to automate the process of typing as quickly as possible. The main method in the TextExpander keyboard is the "autocorrect" function, ie. The utility allows you to create large dictionaries with abbreviations of words, phrases and large chunks of text, for example, after entering "tyvm", the phrase will be automatically replaced with "Thank you very much". It will take time to create a database of templates, however, later entering text using the TextExpander can become the fastest and most convenient.

TouchPal keyboard for iOS.

The TouchPal keyboard allows you to choose from two methods for entering words. The first one is called TouchPal Curve, words must be entered by moving your finger across the screen, moving from one letter to another. The second method is called TouchPal Wave, which is based on a predictive input method. It is possible to choose from several color schemes, in addition, there is an option to quickly enter additional characters.

All these and many other keyboards for iOS can be downloaded from the "Utilities" section of the store Apps App Store, they are only available for iPhone, iPad and iPod running on operating system iOS 8.