It’s hard to imagine, but it looks like Android phones with hardware keyboards might start making a comeback this year. While nostalgia might hit some people hard, most folks will most likely stick with touchscreen keyboards to type because they’re just that good.
Gboard is the keyboard of choice for many, with the brand adding features that consistently make it better and better. With that said, we’re now getting an important update that will improve the typing experience by quite a bit thanks to a small tweak.
A small change that will make a huge difference
Gboard will have the ability to auto-switch to the standard keyboard with letters once an apostrophe has been typed. As you can imagine, this is a pretty big deal for most people, because it’s something that requires a manual change up until now. Not only does this make typing more convenient, but it should also allow users to get messages out faster.
This is something that we saw in code some months back, and now 9to5Google reports that it’s now showing up in the current beta with version 16.6. However, it’s important to note that this feature is not yet available to all that are in the beta. The next step is a public release, which shouldn’t take all that long.
As you might expect, this is a feature that’s optional within Gboard. So, if you’re someone that doesn’t often type possessives or contractions, then this might be something that doesn’t even need to be toggled on. Of course, if you’re trying to type faster, and want some ways to improve, we have some helpful tips available.
And if you’re not a fan of Gboard, the great part is that you can always choose another keyboard instead. Those that are on Gboard will want to keep an eye for this feature, or hop into the beta for early access. You can enter the beta by signing up in the Google Play Store.
Although the betas are usually pretty stable, there is the disclaimer that things might not be 100%. And Google will also collect data so that it can improve the app. Again, this feature isn’t available for all beta testers at the moment, but from the looks of it, it’s starting to roll out.
