Wednesday, October 30, 2013

I Hate Those Small Smartphone Keyboards Don't You!

Not just because I have a vision disability but those phone keyboards are just too darn small wouldn't you agree? Either we have fat finger tips are we can't seem to focus on the letter we need but it sure is frustrating. What to do?

 
I use a different keyboard from the one that came with my phone. Yes, it's an Android phone and we can just go to the Google Play Store and get one--free or not. Don't worry you iOS people, there's help for you too.
 
I use A.I.Type Keyboard. It's FREE but there is a pay version ($3.99)  with a few extra features that I went ahead and purchased because I just love what this keyboard helps me with--I can SEE IT! There are lots of very good features with this app but I don't use most of them. What I like best of all is the ability to have larger keys and a very good contrast between background, letter and key face and A.I. Type Keyboard does this. The only setting I used is to make the keys a little taller so they are bigger targets. How cool is that!
 
Take a look below to see the original Android keyboard and then the A.I. Type Keyboard I use.
 

Standard Android Keyboard
 

A.I. Type Keyboard
 
Other features of the A.I. Type Keyboard include:
  • It will finish words as you type and it gets smarter as it learns what you say
  • Even if you mistype a word A.I. Type Keyboard will know what you mean and show the correct word. Be careful though as it might misunderstand you
  • You can change key colors or backgrounds to fit your style
 
For you iOS people (iPhone and iPad), you don't get a choice of keyboards. This is bad for many but good for most as it something you just don't have to worry about. The keyboard works and you just don't have to think about it. However, for any of you that might, there is a method to make your iPhone or iPad easier to see if those eyes just don't work the way they used to.
 
In iOS 7, go to Settings, General, then Accessibility. See the section to the right and make any appropriate changes to help you. Below is a screen shot of the selections I've made to let me see the screen better on my iPad.
 
 
You may want to look through the iOS 7 User Guide to see other Accessibility features for you iPhone or iPad.
 
 
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