Recently, we looked at a relatively new keyboard for Android, 8pen, who is hoping to reinvent the keyboard for the modern day smartphone.
By way of an update, I need to confess that it didn’t even last one full day on my phone. It’s a big learning curve, and I think that in this “fast food” culture, I’m not sure if 8pen is going to cut it; at least certainly not for me, I just don’t have the time.
However, someone within our community came up with another recommendation for a keyboard that was designed specifically for the smartphone in mind. So Mark, thank you!
Mark recommended a keyboard called Messagease.
As Mark quite rightly pointed out, Messagease doesn’t exactly have the sexiest marketing and perhaps even not the sexiest product visually. Although, I think it looks quite alright on my Android phone.
When I checked out the Messagease website, I must admit, I got quite excited. Their keyboard actually looked really good, so I checked out one of their tutorial videos:
[tentblogger-youtube pPW0IuWlnnw]
Now putting aside the fact that their music and visuals aren’t exactly cutting edge, they actually have a product that looks like it works, and doesn’t have the same kind of crazy learning curve that a product like 8pen has.
This morning I installed it on my Android, and I actually really like it. I managed to send some SMS messages much faster than I managed to on 8pen, although, still slower than Swiftkey. However, this is a keyboard that I really feel that I will be able to persevere with and something that I feel will actually be very simple to pick up.
Messagease also have branched out quite a bit. They currently have apps for iPhone, Android, Palm, Pocket PC, and Tablet PC. Pretty impressive right? Plus, it’s free!
You know, I just wish someone would go in and sex that product up a bit. Give it an awesome website, a sweet product video, and tweak the UI a bit, it would be awesome and something that I feel people would actually use.
Please, Messagease, make a bit of investment. You will own the market, for sure.
Try it out, download it from your app store, have a play, and let us know what you think in the comments.
Mickey says
Very interesting. I gave 8pen a good try (two days), but couldn’t do much with it. This might be worthwhile. Of course, it’ll be difficult to beat Swype on the phone, though perhaps this would be useful on the tablet.
James Brooks says
I haven’t yet tried Swype. Is that your primary Android Keyboard?
Mickey says
On the phone, Swype all the way. It’s not perfect, so I always try out new alternatives, but I’ve yet to find anything even close to being as good.
On the tablet I’m playing with “ThumbKeyboard”, as it has a nice one-button switch from thumb-mode to standard mode. It’s pretty cool.