There are many replacement keyboard apps floating around the Play Store, but some simply don’t stand up to the acid test of daily use. While some of these keyboard apps are “smart” enough, they disappoint in the usability department. Others are intuitive and easy to use, but don’t add enough functionality to warrant a change from the stock keyboard on your device.
For app developers, it’s not easy to come up with an app that satisfies the needs of power users, without pushing away the more casual user base. It takes a lot of tweaking, usability testing, and listening to feedback, and as a result, many Android keyboard apps simply don’t have what it takes to stand out in the crowd.
Having said that, we have found, after weeks of use, that the Adaptxt smart keyboard app for Android makes for an extremely usable daily keyboard. Developed by KeyPoint Technologies, Adaptxt has an impressive list of features that can assist any user with their text input needs, every single day. The app was recently updated to version 0.9, which brings a host of new features, including automatic text replacement and better word suggestion.
We’ve took Adaptxt for Android for a spin, and made a video review to show you why we think it’s a keyboard app that is worthy of your attention. Before you watch the video, let us walk you through the most important features of Adaptxt for Android.
Adaptxt for Android main features
- Custom Acronyms (or ATR: Auto Text Replacement)
- Three column suggestion bar, with word cloud dropdown
- Private Mode – Adaptxt learning’s engine can be temporarily turned off, for typing in sensitive text
- Great improvements made to the suggestions prediction
- Many different language packs to download, including industry specific language packs for IT, Medical, and more.
- Accent trimmer, accented suggestions, error correction, dictionary prioritization.
- Learns from Android dictionary, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.
- Included “post to social network” key on keyboard.
What we love about Adaptxt
Some of the features that we really enjoyed about the new Adaptxt for Android smartphones keyboard app include the ATR feature, which lets you define shorthand for phrases that you use a a lot. For example, if you often type in “Android Authority rocks!” you can define the “aar” shorthand. The next time you feel like praising us, just type “aar” and Adaptxt will suggest you the full phrase. It’s quick and easy, and really something that we find useful.Another cool feature of Adaptxt are the industry-specific language add-ons. Here, the developers capitalized on their linguistics prowess by creating industry-specific dictionaries, like Business, Medical, or IT. So, for example, if you choose IT, the prediction engine will suggest you more tech-related terms. When starting to type “pro”, you will be served with “processor” instead of “prostate”. I don’t have to tell you that typing technical, business, or medical terms can be a real hassle, so this feature should really improve both the speed and the accuracy of your text input.
Adaptxt offers a sprawling collections of languages and industry-specific add-ons (that you have to download separately), with over 50 packs at the last count. Other Android keyboard are Western-centric or support only major languages, making the international-friendly Adaptxt shine out in this department. Switching between languages/add-ons is easy, which is a boon for multilingual users.
What we don’t like about Adaptxt
No app is perfect, and Adaptxt for Android has a few shortcomings, but fortunately, they are not deal-breakers by any means. We’ve noticed that word prediction is a little slow, meaning that, sometimes, you have to type in many letters before the app comes up with the word you wanted. However, since Adaptxt learns as you type, this improves substantially over time.Another minor gripe would be the UI, which some might find a little crowded. But, this is because the keys have double functions (long-pressing “Z” will enter “@”), which is a great time saver. So, something’s got to give. Again, this is something you get used to, and totally worth the inconvenience.
Wrap up
Adaptxt Keyboard Beta for Android smartphones (available on Google Play and GetJar) is a really nice keyboard app, that we find very useful. Its innovative features and vast language support overcome its shortcomings by a long margin, and we have no problems recommending it.We suggest that you give Adaptxt a try, but before that, check out our Adaptxt video review below to see the app in action.
Post a Comment