New user questions about keyboard options
 

Greetings, and first of all thanks to those people who have taken their time to research/build new firmware, and document how to make this cool little device work better than new. I particularly like the work being done with Android. That's going to be amazing in a few months.

I picked up a Sprint HTC Touch on Saturday and spent all day Sunday glued to the little screen. Two questions I have, and I'll post them separately to keep the thread subjects clear.

As a long time Treo user my biggest concern was the lack of a keyboard. I've tried the iPhone and it's great on keyboard usage, so I was willing to give the Touch a try. Have to say I'm impressed so far, but it seems like one thing would make it better. Is there a way to connect one of the physical buttons to a utility that would swap the screen from portrait to landscape mode?

The Touch seems to work best in portrait orientation, so I find myself reading an e-mail and then wanting to switch to landscape mode to get the biggest keyboard possible to write my response. After sending the message I want to toggle back to portrait orientation.

So far I can only change screen orientation by navigating out of the application I'm running. So two keyboard questions really:

1) How to toggle screen orientation with a button press.

2) How to get the "best" (i.e. biggest, fastest, most accurate, prettiest) keyboard.

Thanks.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I'm a new Touch owner as well, received mine this past Friday, and I had the same questions.

1. Click Start->Settings->Buttons
The only button you can configure with the stock ROM is the camera button on the right side. It allows 2 settings, one for short press and one for long press.

I would imagine that a hacked ROM would probably allow more customization but I am unsure.

2. From what I've read most seem to prefer TouchPal. I'm using it right now and it is an improvement over the stock keyboard. Don't know how great it is as this is the only 3rd party KB I've tried.
http://www.cootek.com/

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

You can check out the spb full keyboard. http://www.wireless-apps.net/desc.php?d=d1&id=42055

and then map it to the camera button per the post above.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

You can use AE Button Plus to map any key to "rotate screen"

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

Touchpal is by the far the best keyboard app i've used.

PCM Keyboard is ok, and then the rest of the keyboard layouts I've tried seem pretty useless in comparison

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

there are also other layout that would works with pcm keyboard check them out.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

Well, so far I've installed the SPB Full Screen Keyboard, and hooked that to the camera button. This is perfect. I can toggle between screen orientation exactly the way I hoped. (And the camera button still takes pictures in the camera application.)

Actually wish the keyboard was a little smaller so I could get a little more text on the screen. The typing window is pretty small. But so far so good. I'll try the other recommendations, but this is exactly the kind of thing I wanted.

Thanks for the help.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I like TouchPal's feature to allow mixed input with different languages without switching the input panel. Very handy for me.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I like PocketCM Keyboard. Check the forum there for the iPhone layout. It works better on the WM6 devices than iPhone's keyboard works on the iPhone ROFL:evil4:

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I'm going to chime in and say Resco Keyboard is the way to go.
http://www.resco.net/pocketpc/keyboard/default.asp

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I also love touchpal myself, but i think the touch diamond qwerty keyboard is a pretty damn good free alternative too.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

i like the new keyboard on the new ROm update "full qwerty" windows 6.1

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I too prefer PcketCM keyboard to touchpal. It doesnt take up as much space on the screen, yet works just as well...its just as responsive to touch..I find I can type just as easily with it.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I agree with you

I've used all of them except for Zoomboard (in my relentless search of the best keyboard), and here is how I ranked them.

SPB Keyboard: (5th)
Nice and big, but text input area is too small for my liking and I use my hardkey for rotating to landscape+camera.

Resco Keyboard: (4th)
Didnt really seem responsive to when I pressed the buttons, but it had some nice skins and the buttons were decent sized.

PocketCM Keyboard: (3rd)
I liked PocketCM keyboard mainly because of the skin I found for it, that made the buttons pretty big (IMO) and it seemed to respond to finger taps a bit better than Resco. Here is the link to the Skin I was using http://igg-soft.com/en/pcm-gray2.html

Touchpal Keyboard: (2nd)
I absolutely hated the the standard qwerty keyboard on this and it also really doesnt support landscape (just shows the same portrait keyboard in landscape). HOWEVER, the T+ input almost completely makes up for all of this. It's quick, not that hard to get used to and I could probably eventually get better at it than using a regular full qwerty.

Touch Diamond Keyboard: (1st)
I felt this was the most response of all of the full qwerty keyboards and I felt it had the biggest keys to press (besides SPB Full Screen). Overall I am pleased with this keyboard the most out of all of them and will probably switch between this and the Touchpal one occasionally.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I totally agree. I've tried every keyboard I've heard about and Touch Diamond Qwerty FTW! I've haven't looked at any others since I started using it.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

That is scary... not only do I agree 100% with the order you put those in, but also with all of the reasons. Are you a psychic?

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I might very well be a psychic lol. I really hope they come out with a update for the Touchpal Keyboard though, because it does seem like a very promising keyboard.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

The block recognizer works so well. Those of you that can't find a Keyboard they like should try it. It uses the same Alphabet as the old Palms did. So if you had those for years like I did its like riding a bike :)

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I like the 6.1 qwerty.. but how do I get it to stay as default /.....it always goes back tothe small full qwerty.. maybe somebody knows something


thanks in advance..
timdawg

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

Settings > SIPChange > Set it as your default keyboard.

If you dont have the SIPChange option I know there is a CAB of it floating around somewhere, just do a Search.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I have been using PocketCM keyboard and i love it, one question to those who may know, does PocketCM disable the other stock keyboards on the Verizon XV6900? WHenever i switch to another keyboard such as the 12Key or 20 Key, it only types out the corresponding number that i press. how do i get the letters??? or is this option disableed once downloading the PocketCM keyboard, Please advise.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I know there is a program that lets you set a keyboard as default. Do you know what program is that?

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

I'm using the touch diamond qwerty which i think is prefect...the only problem I'm having is that its trying to suggest words and if I keep typing what I'm in the middle of and hit space it puts the suggested word in as well. I've turned off all the settings I could find and it still happens.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

This is a serious problem for me too. I am using the stock Full QWERTY keyboard that came with wm 6.1 in the update. It is such a pain in the *** when the dang thing tries to guess what you're writing and suggest the next word. The only way to get rid of that light grey suggested word without making it permanent is by backspacing once before you hit the space key. If you use Resco Keyboard, forget it. You can't even get rid of the word with the backspace key unless you backspace through the whole thing. And as Smoka said, none of the options or settings allow you to turn this feature/bug off. Any suggestions? I searched threads and this one came up, any solutions to this problem yet? I'll keep searching, otherwise I'll start a new one.

EDIT: Ha, found my own answer. Now I feel stupid. There is actually a setting to fix that problem. Go into the input options for "Full QWERTY" method, then click XT9 Settings, then uncheck Next Word Prediction.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

My choice of keyboard is an external BT keyboard that folds up and can be carried in your pocket. I think it was made for the crackberry but works well with my touch. There is even a small cradle to sit the Touch while you type. Sometimes I need to say a bit more in an email than I care to type on my touch.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

My picks:

Stowaway BT Keyboard (fastest but hardware solution)

Resco Kb
Touchpal
Fitaly (this one REQUIRES alot of practice, but it's damn fast too)

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

Do you have a hack/file to download to make this work on Diamond? My Stowaway isn't working? Need file to translate to wm 6.1.
Thanks

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

Everyone is different for their needs but this ^ is my set up and I find it works best for me to. I've tried about 90% of everything else but I keep going back to this.

Re: New user questions about keyboard options
 

diamond qwerty ftw!