I know what it is to input text with a stylus using the built-in Windows Mobile keyboard. Sometimes we need to input text fast, but this f*****g little keyboard won’t make things easy. I had an HTC Touch not long ago, and one of my first thought was: “how do they want us to input text on this?!”. For a “thumb-friendly” device, I doubt anyone can say he/she can input text easily using thumbs… Except with the proper software.
Here is my Top 6 list of life-saving Input Methods for Windows Mobile (free downloads at the end).
PocketCM Keyboard
PocketCM has released a new version of its keyboard (PocketCM Keyboard 0.7). It’s yet another iPhone looking keyboard for Windows Mobile, but the result is really nice and quite close to the actual iPhone keyboard (word guess, input on release, key preview, etc.). I invite you to give it a try here (Download available on the author’s website).
Have a look at the following video, as it’s in motion you can really see what it can do:
HTC PhonePad
Removed from the recent HTC (and Dopod) roms, this is however one of the best way to input text on your device. It’s big, reactive, and you can obtain a very decent word-per-minute ratio. Ok, you’ll have to like the T9 way of input (you can alternatively change from T9/ABC/Num), but it’s one of the best so far (with several western languages included)… And the very good thing is that it’s free and very nice looking.
You can get several versions: normal, dark theme, and Touch style (see below for download).
Happy Tapping Keyboard
I’ve already blogged about it in a previous post. Happy Tapping Keyboard is a very nice (and free) piece of software: it’s a complete and (relatively) thumb-friendly keyboard, which can be very easily themed. This one is also definitely worth the try!
Fingertouch by Teksoft
Described by its authors as a “new kind of keyboard for your mobile device that offers the best typing experience possible”, this keyboard seems to be thumb-friendly. I did not tested it yet so I can’t say much about it. Several people are talking about it on XDA Forums, maybe it’s worth checking this out.
This software can be found there, but you’ll have to pay (10€) in order to get the complete version (it’s 15 days trial).
SPB Full Screen Keyboard
Another solution is SPB Full Screen Keyboard. As the name implies, it’s a keyboard that take the full screen of your PDA/Smartphone, which makes the typing quite easy. However, you barely see a line of what you type, thus it might not be the most suitable solution for everyone.
You can have more information on SPB’s website. Note that this software isn’t free (10$), and only available in Trial version.
TenGO and TenGO Thumb
Another Input Method I’ve used for some time is TenGO Thumb. It’s a bit different from traditional QWERTY keyboard as you just need to type in “areas” instead of the actual key of the letter. This results in (sometimes) faster typing.
You can find more information on this website. Note that TenGO / TenGO Thumb aren’t free, but that a free version exists here.
