Tuesday, August 6, 2013


Stock keyboard not cutting it on the Nexus 7? Why not try out the ASUS keyboard instead

By Richard Devine  | Oct 16 2012 | 8:25 pm  | 17 COMMENTS
Android Central
One of the greatest positives about the Android platform, is choice. Hardware, software, apps, theres something for everybody out there somewhere. Customizing your user experience to meet your every need is possible in so many different ways, including something that's used all the time. The keyboard. Like Twitter clients, there's a keyboard out there to suit everyone. 
So, let's focus a little. In particular, on the Google Nexus 7. A pure, un-tampered, vanilla Jelly Beanexperience straight from the depths of Mountain View itself. The stock Jelly Bean keyboard is OK, some would argue it's better than OK. For some of us though -- on the Nexus 7 in particular -- the stock keyboard is nothing but frustrating. But, that's cool, we can change it. And, it looks like there's an alternative built right into the Nexus 7 from ASUS, that's possibly worth a look before handing over some of your dollars to buy a replacement, such as the ever impressive SwiftKey. The one caveat -- you may need to be rooted to try it out. Now that's out of the way, click on past the break and we'll show you how to find it. 
This may not apply to everyone's device, but it did on ours, so it's how we'll tell the tale. You may -- may -- just be able to select the ASUS Keyboard from Settings>Language & Input. But, on our Nexus 7 the app was disabled, frozen, tucked away, however you wish to refer to it. So, to get at it and use it, we have to enable it. With root, it's a simple process. Our tool of choice, Titanium Backup. Upon opening Titanium Backup, you're going to want the "Backup/Restore" tab, and once opened look for one of the purple highlighted bars. This will be the ASUS Keyboard application. The highlight indicates it's frozen.
   Android Central   Android Central
Tapping on the highlight will open up the window we see here, and to activate the keyboard simply hit "Defrost!" Voila. Next time you head into the Settings>Language & Input menu, a new selection will be visible titled ASUS Keyboard. Sadly, next time you reboot your Nexus 7, the app will become re-frozen by default. The trick is to convert it to a user app, that way when you do reboot, you don't lose your selection. This can be achieved by long pressing on the app in the same "Backup/Restore" tab, and tapping on the button labelled "convert to user app." Simple. 
Android Central   
So, what about the keyboard itself then. Any good? Well, like many applications you'll need to try it out to see if it fits for you. Touch response is OK, but it does have a habit of ignoring some screen taps, in our experience recognising the space bar seemed to be the worst area. It does have a row of numbers up top though, which is pretty useful. The party piece is the Swype-eque capabilities of the keyboard. In this capacity it's pretty good. Accuracy seems to be pretty much on the money, and on a nice, big screen like the Nexus 7, typing in this way was actually a pleasurable experience. This coming from someone who can't abide such keyboards on a smartphone screen. 
Either way, give it a try for yourselves. There's bound to be mixed feelings on this one, so why not hit us up in the comments below and give us yours. 
Richard Devine

RICHARD DEVINE Writer

"Other Brit Richard is usually found working hard, or hardly working"
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RELATED GOOGLE NEXUS 7 STORIES

THERE ARE 17 COMMENTS
techno_techie says:
Initially, I thought this was a clever way of putting it out there that Asus has released their official Bluetooth keyboard. Guess not!
Jays2Kings says:
Could someone post the apk, being on CM10 I don't have it.
cammykool says:
i noticed that a few days ago thought it was just the vanalla keyboard thou
littleemp says:
I would like to see a piece comparing the current sliding keyboards out there, I'm currently using SlideIT and I think that it is pretty good, but would like to see a comparison with other options available in the market.
mikegonzalez2k says:
Hacker's Keyboard is one of the best IMO.
jean15paul says:
Swiftkey = "decent"? Wow, understatement of the day.
But on a tablet I'd definitely recommend SwiftKey Tablet because it has the split keyboard option.
6tr6tr says:
Swype is easily the best keyboard. And the dictation is more accurate than Google's.
leever6000 says:
I like SwiftKey, it's worth every penny.
I use it on both my Xoom and Bionic.
co.ag.2005 says:
As Jays2Kings says, can someone upload an apk of this? I am running a custom rom and don't have that option in titanium backup. Thanks!
wagonis says:
I've defrosted the keyboard and converted it to a user app but now every time I try to type, I get the "ASUS Keyboard has stopped unexpectedly". Wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that I'm on 4.1.2?
Jubagel says:
In my opinion, Thumb Keyboard is the best for tablets...
spock123 says:
Thanks for the tip, just purchased it for my Note2 + Nexus7
Perfect keyboard. Already in love with it.
borgib says:
I stopped by the comments just to make sure someone said this. PERFECT for tablets!
toastynuggets says:
I agree it's the best keyboard to type with on my nexus 7. My only problem with it is that it does not automatically fix missed space typos; for example something like "andbthen." Have they updated to address this yet? Seems all the other mainstream keyboards can do this now.
ygvuhb2 says:
I think this keyboard is mainly for traditional chinese user (Taiwan & Hong kong) typing/handwriting
As google still have not offical keyboard support on it(in play store google only release Korea, Japanese & Simplified Chinese ime)
but this keyboard still lack of support Hong kong chinese words like 埗， 着， etc
Hope google can release offical tranditional chinese ime later
rohit verma1 says:
There is no doubt that this keyboard is cool. However, I would like to recommend one more choice. The more choices, the better for us. It's an Aluminum Case with Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard for Google Nexus 7 which serves as a best partner for my Nexus 7 in many ways.It is sold at $39.99 only. Hope my recommendation helps.
danclan says:
The Nexus 7 keyboard has a great layout and very easy to handle. Super portable and user friendly and always at your dispense. Because it's a Nexus keyboard it can easily be converted into a laptop type keyboard with no hassles. For those who own a Nexus 7, an accessory like this is inevitable. For more information, check out the following link: http://www.uplaytablet.com/nexus-7-keyboard-cover-nexus-7-bluetooth-keyb...

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