
Show HN: Keyboards Club - ahmetsulek
http://keyboards.club
======
seynb
No love for the Hacker's Keyboard (Android)? It's invaluably helpful for
sending ASCII Control characters (when on an SSH session, for instance).

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketwork...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketworkstation.pckeyboard)

~~~
martinml
If you like another keyboard but need the functionality that Hacker's Keyboard
provides, you can try JuiceSSH, which augments any keyboard with control
characteres, function keys, etc.

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sonelli.ju...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sonelli.juicessh)

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boynamedsue
Anybody else uncomfortable with the fact that these drop-in keyboard
replacements are effectively sanctioned keyloggers that send keystrokes to a
remote server?

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Ethan_Mick
By default, iOS keyboards cannot interact with other parts of the app/their
container app, and cannot send information over the network. [1][2][3]

If you do enable full access, then yep, anything is fair game. But that's a
tradeoff users can make.

[1] -
[https://twitter.com/SwiftKey/status/514540356918972416](https://twitter.com/SwiftKey/status/514540356918972416)

[2] - [http://swiftkey.com/en/blog/swiftkey-require-full-
access/](http://swiftkey.com/en/blog/swiftkey-require-full-access/)

[3] -
[https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Genera...](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/General/Conceptual/ExtensibilityPG/Keyboard.html)

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boynamedsue
It doesn't appear that SwiftKey allows for swiping across the keyboard unless
you give it full access. I just installed it and then removed it because of
this.

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martinml
For Android, I really like SwiftKey, and have been using it for years. Its
predictions are very accurate and it (un)learns very quickly.

But since the last updates (maybe when they added emojis? I'm not sure) it has
become laggy and unresponsive, sometimes I end typing a phrase and have to
wait several seconds while I see the text painfully appearing one letter at a
time in the screen. Also there is a period of 1-2 seconds after I send a
message when I can't press any key, as it will be ignored. I don't use Flow.

However, it has something that I can't find in any other keyboard: two
simultaneous languages. Every keyboard allows to select several languages and
change between them, but in SwiftKey they work at the same time and you can
use both seamlessly, and for me that's irreplaceable.

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nodata
Swype supports two simultaneous languages.

~~~
martinml
Well that's new, it didn't before! I'm going to check it right now, thank you.

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CmonDev
Suggested name: Virtual Keyboards Club.

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benihana
Agreed, I was expecting a discussion about mechanical keyboards

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tuananh
so was I. I click the link expecting to find another click clack community.

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ilyanep
Slightly OT: I installed SwiftKey (currently the top option under iOS on this
website), and I really like the concept (would at least like to try it out,
even though I've developed a pretty good proficiency with two-thumb typing),
but I don't like the fact that it's hard to re-do/correct the last word. I can
either type slowly, which defeats the point of the keyboard, or type quickly
and have to do the slow process of backspacing the last word and re-swiping it
(which slows you down a lot).

Is there some magic gesture I'm missing, or is there a different third-party
keyboard that has a similar idea but is better in this regard? I'm tempted to
pay the $1 for Swype but I don't want to bother to do that and then discover
it has similar problems.

~~~
davweb
I don't know about the iOS version, but on Swiftkey on Android swiping your
finger from right to left across the whole keyboard deletes the previous word.

I'm using the ordinary typing mode though. I don't know if this works if you
have the Flow mode enabled.

~~~
deong
It doesn't, but a long press on the delete key deletes words at a time,
accelerating as long as you keep pressing.

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wxs
Hey all, we make one of the keyboards on the list, Minuum. It has been really
fun to see the iOS community jumping on to third party keyboards so whole-
heartedly.

I'm curious, since I've never really asked the HN community about this: what
do hackers look for in a virtual keyboard? We all have strong opinions on
optimizing our hardware keyboards, (I suspect HN has one of the highest
proportions of DVORAK users out there) but I've seen less debate for soft
keyboards.

Software keyboards have the potential to be much more flexible and
customizable than hardware ones, is this something that we want or need? Is
lack of a good coding keyboard the thing that stops us from really writing
code on a tablet?

~~~
madvoid
Minuum is great, one of the first I downloaded for iOS8. One thing that I
would like to see more of is text expansion. Apple's stock keyboard has it but
I don't think I've seen it in 3rd party keyboards. I also really like gestures
if they are implemented correctly

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TarpitCarnivore
Slightly off topic but I have been less than impressed with iOS 3rd-party
keyboards compared to their Android counterparts. I noticed they take a bit
longer to load and are really inconsistent on when they load. Open AppA, get
stock. Open AppB, get Swiftkey. etc. On my wife's iPhone 5 she just wouldn't
get a keyboard at all sometimes.

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ultrafez
You might want to replace the screenshots of the Android keyboards - you're
using the screenshots of the cross-platform keyboards running on iOS devices,
and they look different when running on Android devices.

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72deluxe
PerfectKeyboard for Android? I use it daily thanks to the T9 layout (not sure
if that's the correct name for it, but the old Nokia style phonepad layout)

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pearjuice
Am I the only one uncomfortabke with a third party managing my keyboard? I
wish Android had a sane security policy for keyboard controls but they don't.

~~~
deong
By definition it must be able to see your keystrokes. What sort of policy are
you looking for? I guess you could deny them internet access on a more
granular level, but otherwise, it seems like they need pretty terrifying
permissions to even work.

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lhnz
Why is it that iOS8 already has more fun and quirky keyboards?

Android keyboards have been around for much longer and you'd expect them to be
more competitive surely.

~~~
Rynant
I was going to note that 8pen[1] was left out of the Android list, but it
doesn't appear to be on the Play Store right now. According to their website
they are working on a new version.

[1] [http://www.8pen.com/](http://www.8pen.com/)

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lowlevel
Ahmetsulek... the website link for TextExpander goes to the wrong website...
and there is no way to contact you on the site. Awesome.

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spindritf
I have been using SwiftKey for like 15 minutes now and it is amazing! I don't
know how I missed it. Where was HN?

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lportion
There's an Apple Store download 'TouchPal' on the Android page. I like the
minimalist design.

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ahmetsulek
thanks! fixed it..

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morsch
Might want to add pricing information.

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ahmetsulek
true, I can mark the free ones, thanks!

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ozh
Some come in 2 version, free & priced, eg Swype which you currently link only
with the paid version

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gambiting
Give me a keyboard that allows be to efficiently type in two languages with
autocorrect,and I am sold.

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paobe
I'm waiting for something like Hacker Keyboard for iOs. It is very useful on
my Android device.

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phloxicon
Hacker Keyboard is my favorite keyboard on Android. I only wish it had swipe
support but it seems the developer has abandoned the project.

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8ig8
It would be helpful if the SwiftKey video (iOS) actually demonstrated the
keyboard.

