The Verge has obtained a sneak peak image into what Microsoft’s Word Flow keyboard for iOS may look like once it is officially released. The keyboard will include a one-handed mode that places the keys out in a fan-style layout. The user can still access emoji and word suggestions and even use swipe gestures to type. This differs from the Word Flow keyboard on Windows 10 Mobile where the keys simply shift to one side. The Verge explains that other than that one-handed mode, the rest of Word Flow for iOS is similar to the Windows Phone version.
If you can’t wait to try out some of the basic Word Flow features, take a look at our review on One Handed Keyboard which shifts the keyboard to one side or the other. For a fanned-out keyboard style take a look at Thumbly. For swiping text input fans (me being one of them), Swype and SwiftKey rank as popular keyboards too.
Microsoft is planning to launch its Word Flow keyboard on iOS in the coming months, with an Android version to follow.
Photo: The Verge
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sweet!
Will we finally get a 3rd party keyboard that completely works the way it’s supposed to?
I’m wondering the same thing. I wonder how many of the problems are developer related, or just Apple’s implementation of third-party keyboards. I assuming it’s the latter though.
I’m assuming the former. :) Have you tried a lot of third party keyboards? They’re atrocious and performance varies greatly between vendor. Most developers hosting apps on the store produce some really terrible code, so it’s no stretch to see some of the horrendous keyboard implementations and be almost assured based solely on the way they look that they’ll be terrible in performance as well. Garbage in, garbage out.
I have tried a lot of third-party keyboards, there are currently 18 under my ‘Not on this iPhone’ section in the App Store.
I don’t believe it’s “terrible code” that’s causing a rough experience for third-party keyboards, just iOS itself. A lot of the keyboards I have tried have had multiple updates, performance improvements (which I _have_ noticed), and new features. But when you switch to a third-party keyboard, and it just doesn’t show up? That’s usually something breaking on iOS’ side.
This is evidenced when you launch Xcode, and look at the console log and see the keyboard errors being spat out by iOS. Sometimes iOS just breaks on switching keyboards.
Microsoft’s implementation will be a good test because they have developers that have good iOS experience, and they look to be committed to making this a reality. I’ll be sure to revisit this topic once the keyboard is released and I have some more time to spend for a review.
This is actually a really good idea.
Me no likey.