Smart Keyboard Pro – Highly Customizable Replacement Keyboard for Android
by Paul Wilks
Sep 27, 2011 7:58 AM –
Install
Smart Keyboard Pro is a highly customizable keyboard replacement for Android. The app is skinnable, comes with a wide variety of options and downloadable languages and lets you edit the layout of the keyboard itself. In light of the recent disappearance from the Android Market of another popular keyboard app- Better Keyboard 8, this might be just a great substitute.
Price: Free, ~$2.69
Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Highly customizable replacement keyboard app from virtually every aspect!
- Wide range of skins available!
- Changeable sounds!
- Loads of languages!
- Good prediction options!
Cons
Features:
Smart Keyboard has been available in the Android Market for a long time. Approaching 5,000 customer reviews and 12,000 ratings, so this is nothing new. However, one of the other big-players in the replacement keyboard space- Better Keyboard 8 had to take its app down- leaving paying customers (like myself!) without their product. Now, it would appear that there is another app ‘Better Keyboard Pro‘ available, but the original left me- and I’m guessing quite a few other users- possibly looking for something else. Therefore it’s perhaps time to have a closer look at Smart Keyboard Pro as an alternative option.
Like most paid-for products, Smart Keyboard has a free version, but it’s fully featured so do not expect a lot of functionality to be absent. The app merely provides quite a number of ‘Buy The Pro Version’ prompts. For testing purposes this is fine and you still get full use of the application, so it’s worth considering.
Smart Keyboard Pro is massively customizable. Most noticeably is the huge selection of skins available in the Market. While there are many which cost about $0.99 each, there are plenty for free so it’s well worth looking about and seeing what is available.
The other thing that is great is the support of different languages. There are 50 different languages supported and you can download dictionaries for each language. While I would only use English personally, its good too see such a range.
The app also comes as standard with all the typical features you would expect: voice input, dictionary, prediction options and a lot more. You can select between normal, compact and T9 modes, add (and customize) arrows to the keyboard, change the transparency of the keyboard, add smiley keys, change the domain key (.com, .org, .gov etc), calibration, key height and so on… you can even add extra ‘padding’ at the bottom of the keyboard if you wish.
The look of the keyboard is quite important to me so I spent a little time checking out a few different skins (even the iPhone one!) and also tried the different sounds you can use. The app is incredibly easy to use and change the settings of- even if there is a wider selection of options available than you might actually use. On the whole, the app performs really well and has a high quality feel to it. At no point does it feel unintuitive or overly complicated. While it doesn’t offer any kind of swipe input (so if you have been using Swype and want that kind of functionality, this perhaps isn’t for you) it is still a solid and reliable keyboard with more customizations than you can wave a stick at.
Watch on Mobile
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Smart Keyboard Pro – Android skin
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Smart Keyboard Pro – iPhone skin
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Smart Keyboard Pro – Google Plus skin
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Smart Keyboard Pro – Gingerbread skin
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Smart Keyboard Pro – HTC skin
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Smart Keyboard Pro – Galaxy skin
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Smart Keyboard Pro – Storm skin
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Smart Keyboard Pro – Alien Abstract Aqua skin
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Smart Keyboard Pro – T9, old-school!
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Smart Keyboard Pro – Text prediction options
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Smart Keyboard Pro – Compact mode keyboard
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Smart Keyboard Pro – Voice input options
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Smart Keyboard Pro – 50 language packs available
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Smart Keyboard Pro – General settings
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Smart Keyboard Pro – Intro page
Usefulness:
With the host of customizations and superb predictive text, Smart Keyboard Pro is an incredibly useful keyboard replacement. If you have perhaps just the native keyboard but feel you need a ‘bit more’, or even if you just want to radically change the look and feel of your typing experience, or maybe like me you find yourself without Better Keyboard 8 and need something else to try, Smart Keyboard is a great option.
Ease of Use:
Despite being a warren of various settings, preferences, customizations and options, Smart Keyboard isn’t confusing or complicated to use. Switching skins is really straightforward and there is even a preview pane for the different skins.
Frequently Used:
I guess a keyboard is something you use a lot right? So, every search, SMS, email, document, etc. will require the use of it. Therefore it would be a very regularly used application.
Interface:
The interface is superb and you can change the look of the keyboard in an almost infinite number of ways. Using the keyboard has a really heavy and qualitative feel to it. The haptic feedback is great and there is a wide variety of skins. As far as interfaces go, if you don’t like the look of it you can change it easily to suit your tastes.