HUGE Keyboard compilation thread (now 16 total): which do you use?
 

This is my attempt to compile every (or at least all the major ones) windows mobile on screen keyboard out there. Some of these you probably use every day, some you may have never heard of and you might want to give a try. All of them are not free, but that will be noted along with appropriate links to the developer's site or thread. All are QVGA and VGA unless otherwise noted (VGA sometimes through the use of a skin). Also, I will try to keep this thread up to date with the last release versions of the keyboards.

SIPChange will be included at the bottom of this first post as well. This is a handy little app that will let you make which ever keyboard you choose the default on your device. No need to have to keep changing yourself whenever you do a soft reset. The .cab is attached at the bottom of this post.

Ok, here goes:


Navigation to make more user friendly

Post #1 (this post)- is all freeware
Post #2- paid (all have free trials)
Post #3- some different keyboards with more unique features (paid w/free trial)

The 16th keyboard, MessagEase, was added to the beginning of post #3. (thanks kessler)




Pocketcm Keyboard v.23 (freeware)

One of the most well know and most used out there. Word correction based on key position, fully skinnable, and ability to load premade user defined dictionaries. More can be found here, with a video demonstration on youtube (this is a slightly older version in the video). Download from here, with the latest build found here.

http://pocketcm.com/img/kb2/kbshot1.png





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TouchPal v3.5 (freeware and paid w/14 day free trial)

Three different layouts, multilanguage w/ mixed input, a predictive as well as a precise input mode, mistyping correction, context-based word prediction, next-word prediction (it will suggest the next possible word), and more, a lot more. It is highly customizeable, with the ability to turn the features on/off. There is a slight learning curve with this keyboard, but it's "flow" feature allows you do more within the keyboard. Video demonstration here. It's website is found at cootek.com. There is a standard version of this app, which is freeware, and a Professional version of this keyboard. The professional version has many extra features like the multilanguage w/ mixed input, resizeable layout, 3 different layouts, etc. See the differences here.

http://www.cootek.com/images/Screenshot.gif






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FingerKeyboard2.1 (freeware) (QVGA and VGA)

One of the best looking ones out there. Really cool split keyboard in landscape mode (looks like an ergonomic keyboard). Completely free and now in VGA thanks to ppcgeeks member Reef48. Read the thread about it here.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g6..._0003_111g.jpg






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The Diamond 2 ported keyboard (freeware) (VGA)

This is the keyboard that will ship on the Diamond 2 and the Touch Pro 2. Read more about it here. Thank you jmztaylor.

http://wmpoweruser.com/wp-content/up...inputnont9.jpg





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EzInput 1.5 (Freeware)

aka the "Diamond" keyboard. This is the new default keyboard that now comes with HTC devices (until the diamond 2 comes out). It was ported over at xda, and you can read about it in this thread. It has 3 different layouts, supports multiple languages (the language packs can be downloaded from the xda thread), and even has more features than the phones with the official release. Read more about it here. All screen sizes are supported.

http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/o.../keyboards.png







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SIPChange, as described above, lets you set the default keyboard on your device. You can find out more about it here.

Re: HUGE Keyboard compilation thread: which one do you use?
 

Resco Keyboard v5.22 (paid w/7-day free trail)

"Thumb mode" for faster typing that allows you to preview each letter that is about to be typed, in more than 20 different languages, supports standard gestures, skinnable, and a frequently used phrases mode. There are even a couple more features found at its site. Video demos found herel.

http://www.resco.net/pocketpc/keyboa...dPro_anima.gif





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SPB Keyboard 4.1.1 (paid but with trial) (updated 3/3/09)

You can see the changelog here. Mainly just a bug fixes, but it seems they made quite a bit of improvements.

One feature that sets this keyboard apart from every other kb out there is its Full Screen mode. Yes it covers the WHOLE screen, giving you huge buttons that are extremely finger friendly. There is still a text box at the top that lets you see what you are typing. See pic on left. There is also a half screen feature, which is resembles a more typical keyboard's layout. Both modes still have features like auto complete, user defined dictionaries, and has custom skins and layouts. It can be downloaded from the Spb Keyboard page, which has a video demo as well.

http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/uplo...nshots/100.png http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/uplo...nshots/200.png



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FingerTouchPro (free and paid versions)

Five different layouts, improved T9, supports multiple languages, the keys can be moved allowing for complete customization, and its size can be changed, as well as a fullscreen mode. Four tutorial/demo videos can be seen here. It can be downloaded here.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/5978/50373613.jpg






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Zoomboard (paid)

Uniqe keyboard in that it lets you slide your finger around the interface, while displaying a zoomed in display of the actual letter you are pressing. A video is worth a thousand words. It can be downloaded and purchased here.

http://www.iwindowsmobile.com/images/zoom/1.png





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Phraze-it v2 (paid, but with a 10 free trial)

This thing is really unique. Not all of the letters in the alphabet are displayed, actually only the 5 vowels are displayed. You must first select the vowel that corresponds to that chunk of the alphabet to display the other letters. For instance, hitting "e" once gives to access to "efgh" where you can then type the rest of the word. My description may not do it the best of justice. It does seem a little cumbersome, but it is quite a different take on the ppc keyboard. It's at least worth watching a couple videos (if for nothing else entertainment). You can download it from its homepage.

http://www.prevalentdevices.com/images/PI_WM6.png

Re: HUGE Keyboard compilation thread: which one do you use?
 

MessagEase (paid w/ TWO month free trial)

This keyboard has a very innovative, yet unusual keyboard layout to optimize text entry. Each letter is positioned on the keyboard based on its frequency of use in the English language, as well as its letter-pair frequency. This is done to minimize finger movement to speed up text entry. It has a few, large keys making it very finger friendly. The most frequent characters can be entered with just a single tap. The less frequent keys are entered with a drag or slide (a little similar to TouchPal if you are familiar with that). There is a learning curve with this keyboard, but they have step by step plan to become more efficient and faster while typing with this keyboard. It can be found here. Supposedly, it only takes about 1-2 days to become proficient. You can find out more about it on its homepage, where there are quite a few video and flash tutorials, as well as videos of it in action.

http://www.geek.com/images/minirevie...ppc/meppc3.gif
(pic taken from geek.com)





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ShapeWriter (paid but with a 30 day free trial)

This one is really neat. No longer will you "hunt and peck" for the keys, instead you slide your finger across the screen stopping on the next letter. ShapeWriter then recognizes the word that is roughly connected by that one gesture. In essence, you are tracing the word from key to key. Neat concept, check out the video, although it is an android video there is a WM version found on their site.

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/image...Picture_18.png
pictured on the iphone






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TenGO Thumb (Paid but has a 14 day free trial)

This is quite the different keyboard that many of you have probably never seen. It only uses 6 large alphabet keys. That's it, and what makes it even more unique is that it doesn't type the actual letter you are typing (although there is a way to strike a specific letter). Instead, it uses a T9-like dictionary-based approach to actually "guess" the word you are typing. That makes it sound far more inaccurate than it really is. Read more about the features in the FAQ, as well as its home page. (There is a video demo that is downloaded from the home page, but here are 2 youtube videos of it in action: video 1 and video 2 [the type in video 2 is in another language but you can see it in action better])

http://www.tengo.net/images/tengo_th...screenshot.gif






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TenGO v2.10 (Paid but has a 30 day free trial)

This keyboard is similar to TenGo Thumb in the fact that it still only uses 6 keys for the entire alphabet (individual letters can be typed by striking that letter). However, it is not as finger friendly, but comes with more features. It has more accessible buttons on the interface (like punctuation and numbers), much larger dictionary, takes up less screen space, and the ability to add user defined words easily. Although stylus oriented, it is one of the fastest keyboards to type with because of it word prediction technology (far better than standard T9). Read more about it on its FAQ page as well as its hompage. (It also has built in tutorials.)

http://www.tengo.net/images/tengo_po...tengo_qvga.gif






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InterKey (Paid but with trial)

This multilingual on-screen keyboard, with over 60 national layouts! It comes in 2 versions: Standard and Professional (Professional has an autocomplete word feature). In addition to the standard keyboard (pic on left), both versions also have a Large Keys keyboard in an effort to make it more finger friendly (pic on right). The selected key is zoomed in on, just release you finger to type that key, or slide your finger over to select another one. Find out more about it on its website.

http://www.penreader.com/screenshots...erkey_1_en.gif http://www.penreader.com/screenshots...erkey_2_en.gif








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WorldLogic (paid)

Uses the patented WordChunking Technology, which allows the user to type large words after only a few letter inputs. It utilizes predictive text allowing for speedier entry of text. Also, it learns from your typing patterns, adjusting to what words you type the most. Find out more about it here.

http://pocketnow.com/html/portal/new...ge_02.jpg.jpeg
pic take from pocketnow.com

Re: HUGE Keyboard compilation thread: which one do you use?
 

I use the TP2 keyboard.

I like the look and feel of that one.

PocketCM is nice, but stock is just fine for me.

Re: HUGE Keyboard compilation thread: which one do you use?
 

I use the finger keyboard. It works very well and it matches the blacked out theme of my Diamond. I can type fairly fast, very accurate, and the shortcuts on the letters are very convienent. By far my favorite that I have tried. I have tried the touchpal, fingertouch, resco, and maybe some others I am forgetting.

Re: HUGE Keyboard compilation thread: which one do you use?
 

TouchPal for me. I've been using it since they released the first version. I'm hoping to beta test the new V4 that is soon to come out.

Re: HUGE Keyboard compilation thread: which one do you use?
 

While i use PCMKeyboard(since like v0.12) and/or the diamond keyboard, this is a good thread because i like that FingerKeyboard one. Also, cant wait until the TP2 sip is ported to QVGA.

Re: HUGE Keyboard compilation thread: which one do you use?
 

By far SPB Full Screen Keyboard is the best one I have used. Large keys in portrait mode and with one click on the keyboard it flips to landscape mode and will take up the whole screen allowing you to see what you type in a dedicated box.....If you have not tried it yet, I totally reccomend doing so. I can not use any other keyboard since being spoiled by this one.

Re: HUGE Keyboard compilation thread: which one do you use?
 

+1 for spb

Re: HUGE Keyboard compilation thread: which one do you use?
 

yea, me too.

I'm glad I finally took the time to learn how to use TP. I have tried every KB shown here & Touchpal blows away everything else IMHO (I can type insanely fast in T9+)

~John