Android boasts an impressive number of keyboard apps, and many of them offer some amazing alternative keyboards. Nevertheless, today we’re going to focus on one in particular and I’m talking about Google Handwriting Input, which was just released last week.
This free keyboard app lets you write with a stylus and converts your handwriting to regular text – in all apps and phone areas. This is an incredibly easy way to write using a stylus, instead of typing – something many users will appreciate, because not everyone is so proficient at using touch-based keyboards. Furthermore, the app works on any Android phone or tablet running under version 4.0.3 or higher and it works even if you use your finger instead of the stylus.
The first thing you need to do is download and install Google Handwriting Input, which you can do from here (Play Store download).
After you launch the app and agree to the terms of use, a three-step setup screen will be displayed.
Tap on the first step, enable the ‘Google Handwriting Input’ and press ‘OK’ to apply the setting.
The second entry will download additional language packs – if you don’t need this, you can simply skip to the third step. The app currently supports 82 languages, so you’ll probably find the ones you need.
Tapping on the last entry will allow you to switch from your current keyboard to Google Handwriting Input. Once you do this, you can go ahead and write with your stylus or finger, in any app, or phone area that comes with a text field.
Tip: Whenever you need to switch to another one of your installed keyboards, you can quickly do so by tapping the globe button left to the space bar.
This app is surprisingly good at recognizing handwriting and just in case its interpretation is incorrect, Google Handwriting Input offers a few alternatives you can choose for word replacement. It even detects hand drawn emojis, so you’ll have to rely on the keyboard a lot less, when you’re writing texts, chat replies and emails.
Do you find handwriting on your mobile device useful or you prefer to type on the regular touch-based keyboard?
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