Adaptxt Review: Complete In-depth Hands-On

Introduction

There are a plethora of on-screen keyboard apps you find on the Google Play store for Android devices, but it’s very hard to find one that suits ALL your needs. We came across Adaptxt keyboard- a highly rated keyboard app that we thought would just fit the bill. Does it, or not? Let’s find out.

Features & Installation

Alright, the best part-Adaptxt is free for download from the Google Play Store. Now this app here has two versions, one suited for phones and the other for tablets. The app has some very impressive features for a free one and the official list is unending, so we will just keep ourselves to the relevant ones while we discuss more and more in the review.

To install the app, all you have to do is search for the specific app from within the Play Store on your phone/tablet or you may wish to download the app from the links given below-

• Adaptxt for phones
• Adaptxt for tablets

Once you land on the app page, just hit ‘Install’ and let the app download on your device. Once installed, we are ready for the next course of action.

Setting up the app

Once the app is installed on your device, the first thing you need to do is set the keyboard as your default input method. How you do it depends on your phone make & model, but for the Sony Xperia P that we used for our testing purposes, it could be done from Settings>>Keyboard & Input.

Once done setting the keyboard as default, we straightaway head on to the app and open it from the app drawer or the apps menu on your phone. The app itself is the place where one can customize the keyboard and perform advanced settings. When opened, you can choose to add new languages from a range supported by the app, change the theme and layout, alter advanced settings (like Auto Capitalization, Auto Correction and keypress events) and check for the latest version of the app as well.

The experience

We tried out the ‘dark’ keyboard theme for our review amongst the several others available and we absolutely loved it.  It looked great, the keys were adequately big, keys were nicely spaced on both the portrait and landscape modes, and there were rare occurrences of mistypes. There was almost zero lag between typing on the touchscreen keyboard physically and the keystroke appearing on the screen. While we typed, predictions of what could possibly be the next word appeared over the keyboard in what the Adaptxt makers call as the ‘S Bar’. Also, typing a few letters gave us words to choose from so that we don’t have to type them entirely (auto-completion). The keyboard also detects mistypes and suggests possible corrections for you to choose from and have them automatically replaced. Adaptxt also detects new words that you type and instantly adds them to the keyboard’s built-in dictionary, something which is not uncommon amongst keyboard apps. To change between various installed languages, you just have to swipe right or left on the spacebar, as simple as that! To access the quick settings menu, just tap and hold on the left bottom corner button marked with the Adaptxt logo. Deleting a word is as simple as single tapping the unwanted word and tapping the delete icon in the S Bar.

What we liked

Let’s talk about some of the features which really stood out in this app, in comparison to the others. We really liked the Adaptxt’s Automatic Text Replacement (ATR) feature in which you can type one preset sequence of letters which upon completion are replaced by a complete sentence!  Want to share the message you just typed on a social networking site or send it as an e-mail or as a message on Whatsapp, instead of as a text message? Tap and hold on the period button to the right of the spacebar, choose the medium of share and voila! Now let’s come to the most salient feature of the keyboard which will easily be everyone’s favorite- the keyboard customization module. Once you tap and hold on the Adaptxt logo button, you get the quick settings menu. Select ‘Keyboard Customization’ from the menu and you are welcomed with the Themeboard and Key Height tabs which let you alter the visual appearance of your keyboard in ways which no other keyboard app or stock keyboard would let you. Period. Change the color scheme of the various elements of the keyboard and adjust the key height to your liking and you will have your personalized keyboard.

What we disliked

Clearing a word or sentence using the backspace button clearly takes longer than usual. Also, what we would have certainly loved is the ability to input using gestures or continuous swiping over letters, which most other keyboards now come standard with, including the stock Android 4.2 Jelly Bean one. And ah, a dedicated smiley button is sorely missed and getting a smiley to enter using this keyboard is not an easy task to do.

Verdict

With 103 languages on offer currently, this keyboard app has great global appeal. Add to that, it’s never ending list of features and the limits to which it can be customized are undeniably hard to beat for other downloadable or stock keyboards. Without doubt, Adaptxt has its shortcomings, but they are easily outdone by the impressive and exclusive list of features that the keyboard comes with. It’s a clear winner from our point of view, and the USP of this app is surely its ‘adaptability’-something from which we assume the name has been derived from. This app is definitely recommended to be at the very top of the best keyboard apps available for Android!