Hear ye, hear ye! Google has just rolled out the default keyboard in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (or better) as a standalone app. The app itself weighs in at just 15MB, so there is no need to hook up to a Wi-Fi network as your 3G or LTE connection should be able to do the job just fine. It has the makings to shape up as a potential contender to the likes of Swype or SwiftKey, but a lot of it will be determined by the market take-up rate. In fact, a post over on Google+ did mention that the Google Play Store’s app debut will deliver “Gesture Typing”, allowing you to drag your finger from a single letter to another so that you can form the words of your choice, as the artificial intelligence itself will help you get the job done.
Other features include next-word suggestions, auto-complete, voice recognition, as well as the support for 26 languages, but do bear in mind that right at this moment, the keyboard remains English-only, although this is set to change in due time. As long as your Android device runs on Ice Cream Sandwich and more, you are good to go with the Google Keyboard app.
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