The Samsung Keyboard helps glide typing, voice dictation, a number of languages, and deep customization by Good Lock. On paper, it’s a really succesful and completely practical keyboard. Nevertheless, it’s solely after I began utilizing it that I noticed nice options don’t essentially translate to a terrific consumer expertise. Right here’s each downside I confronted with the Samsung Keyboard, and why I’m completely sticking with Gboard as my foremost Android keyboard.
I’ve been utilizing Gboard and the Samsung Keyboard on a just lately purchased Galaxy S24, which I acquired at an enormous low cost.
Google’s voice typing doesn’t lower me off mid-sentence
Fewer corrections, fewer cutoffs, sooner dictation
I could be knowledgeable author, however I hate typing—whether or not it is on a bodily keyboard or a digital one. I kind slower than I feel, which I believe is true for most individuals. That turns into an issue when I’ve a number of concepts in my head and must get them down quick. It’s occurred far too typically: I begin typing one thought and neglect the opposite. Since jacking my mind into a pc isn’t an choice (but), I’ve been leaning increasingly on voice typing because the quickest option to seize my ideas.
Now, each Samsung Keyboard and Gboard assist voice typing, however I’ve observed that Gboard with Google’s voice engine is simply higher at transcription accuracy. It picks up on accents flawlessly and manages to output the proper phrases. In my expertise, it additionally appears to have a extra up-to-date dictionary. Once I point out a correct noun—one thing just lately trending like a online game or a film identify—Samsung’s voice typing fails to catch it, however Google nails it.
That stated, you can select Google as your most well-liked voice typing engine inside Samsung Keyboard, nevertheless it’s a buggy expertise. I’ve observed that the transcription will get lower off whereas I am in the course of speaking—even after I have not taken a protracted pause. This is usually a actual downside after I’m transcribing hands-free.
Gboard affords a extra correct glide typing expertise
Google precisely maps my swipe gestures to the proper phrases
Voice typing is not all the time doable, particularly while you’re in a crowded place and need to be respectful (or secretive). At instances like these, I accept glide (or swipe) typing. It’s typically a lot sooner than tapping on the keyboard—offered the prediction engine maps your gestures to the proper phrase. If it does not, you need to delete that phrase, draw that gesture once more, or worse—kind it out manually.
Now, each Samsung Keyboard and Gboard assist glide typing, however I’ve observed Gboard is way extra correct. That stated, after I researched this on-line, I discovered a 50-50 divide—some individuals say Gboard is extra correct, others say Samsung is. I do have a principle on why this occurs.
Earlier than my Galaxy S24, I used a Pixel 6a, earlier than {that a} Xiaomi, and earlier than {that a} Nokia 6.1 Plus. All of my previous smartphones got here with Gboard by default. I consider Gboard discovered my typing patterns over time—what phrase correlates to what gesture, which corrections I settle for, and which of them I reject. After a decade of build up that prediction mannequin, Gboard is aware of what I imply when my thumb traces a specific form. Samsung Keyboard, however, is ranging from zero on this Galaxy S24—resulting in all of the prediction errors. At the very least that’s my working principle.
There’s additionally the argument for muscle reminiscence. Whereas glide typing, you want to hit all the right keycaps for the prediction engine to work. In the event you’re even off by a slight quantity, the prediction mannequin would possibly assume you meant to hit “S” as an alternative of “W.” Now, due to my years of typing on Gboard, it’s possible that my muscle reminiscence is optimized for its particular structure and has bother adapting to Samsung’s.
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I combine three languages in a single message, and Gboard simply will get it
Predictive multilingual typing doesn’t get any higher than this
I am trilingual—I communicate English, Hindi, and Bengali. Once I’m messaging my family and friends, we’re principally code-mixing—leaping between languages in the identical sentence utilizing the Latin alphabet. Now, my associates and I’ve observed that Gboard handles code-mixing far more seamlessly than Samsung Keyboard.
In the event you simply have the English dictionary enabled, neither keyboard can guess that you just’re attempting to transliterate a distinct language into English. It’ll all the time attempt to autocorrect all the pieces, which breaks the move. The one option to repair that is by downloading a transliteration dictionary like Hinglish (Hindi + English) or Bangla (Latin). Each Samsung Keyboard and Gboard assist these dictionaries, however the issue with Samsung Keyboard is that it could solely use one dictionary at a time.
As an example I am writing one thing in Latinized Bangla and all of a sudden drop a Hindi phrase. Samsung Keyboard will try and autocorrect these Hindi phrases. Gboard is extra context-aware. Since my Hinglish keyboard is already put in, I haven’t got to manually change to it. Gboard can detect that I am utilizing a Hindi phrase even with the English or Bangla keyboard enabled, and it will not attempt to autocorrect what I am writing. This additionally works flawlessly with glide typing, which is a large quality-of-life enchancment over Samsung Keyboard.
This is not simply an India-specific factor both. Code-mixing is how billions of individuals kind every single day—Spanglish within the US, Taglish within the Philippines, Franglais throughout components of Europe and Africa.
Gboard seems good with out me spending an hour on it
I don’t have time for guide customization
Samsung Keyboard is arms down the extra customizable choice, particularly in case you mix it with the Keys Cafe module inside Good Lock. You get granular management over virtually each side of the keyboard—key colours, keycaps, gesture animations, and an entire lot extra. Whereas for some customers, that is heaven, I simply discover it too overcomplicated and an enormous time sink.
I don’t have the persistence to sit down and modify each visible element of my keyboard. Positive, it will get stale after some time, and also you’d need to freshen it up, however I don’t need to spend the higher a part of an hour tweaking a digital keyboard. That is the place Gboard wins (at the very least for me) by doing much less.
Android 16 brings Materials 3 Expressive, which robotically themes your system apps utilizing your wallpaper’s colour scheme. With Gboard, all you need to do is change the wallpaper, and the keyboard updates to match—no Good Lock, no guide colour selecting. It is a cleaner, extra seamless option to hold your telephone trying good with out placing within the additional legwork.
The keyboard you do not take into consideration is the one which’s working
I did not change to Gboard as a result of Samsung Keyboard was damaged. I switched as a result of Gboard made typing really feel easy. In the event you’re a Samsung consumer who’s by no means tried it, it is a free obtain and a five-second change. You won’t return both.
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