Don't know how many people are privy to how powerful the Google keyboard, aka Gboard, has become since last week's update.
It translates texts on the fly, for one:
And now includes GIF and better Google search integration. Suggestions have dramatically improved, too, I've noticed. It'll suggest a word, and then depending on your next word, it'll autocorrect the first one if it guessed wrong. Smart stuff. And voice typing is as accurate as ever.
Also, some of us have been discussing the one 3D Touch function that is almost unanimously praised -- the force touch cursor movement -- and I just want to remind people that Gboard has a similar function in the space bar that doesn't require force touching. You can gesture left and right along the space bar and it'll move the cursor accordingly. While it's missing the up-down movement, this still serves as a great way to move your cursor around.
Another useful gesture is in the backspace. You can swipe left to highlight and erase text, which I find very useful. Furthermore, it leaves what you just deleted in the suggestion bar in case you want it back. A kind of "undo," if you will. This gif demonstrates both the spacebar gesture and backspace gesture. Together, they work really well.
And lastly, let's not forget about gesture-typing, which I think Gboard has really improved upon. I find it as good, if not better, than Swype. It's particularly useful during those one handed situations, but even if both hands are free, gesture-typing is just plain faster. Once you get good at it, you can type out full sentences with merely a few strokes. Emulating a typewriter (that normally employs all ten fingers) with only two thumbs just doesn't make much sense anymore in a software-based keyboard. Gesture-typing has become an invaluable feature. I would never trade it for multi-directional cursor movement, for example.
Even better is if you have a larger/wider phone, you can set your keyboard to align left or right, and still gesture-type very accurately.
Either side is easy to initiate. You long press comma key to align the keyboard to the left side, and long press the return key for the right.
Gboard doesn't get enough love. It is, in my opinion, the best smartphone keyboard to date. It's stable and fast, feature-rich with powerful search and translation built right in, and it's customizable (not just themes, but things like keyboard height, too). And it accomplishes all this solely in the software -- no need for additional hardware tech like a pressure sensitive screen.
This feels like a keyboard that is smart, advance, and adapted to the times.
You can learn more tips and tricks here:
http://www.guidingtech.com/63876/gboard-tips-tricks/
