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Kii Keyboard for Android (get the full version while it is still free)

January 14, 2013 By 14 Comments

One of the things that I most enjoy about Android is the fact that the keyboard itself is changeable, and that you could merely install an app that will change everything about the keyboard that you could think of, including such innovations as displaying word predictions and entering text via ‘swiping’ gestures rather than clicking each key individually.

Kii keyboard, which is currently free while in beta, offers both swiping gesture input as well as keyboard predictions. It  addition, it offers multiple language support, multiple skins, long-press shift entry for special or additional characters

There are plenty of good and/or interesting keyboards for Android, so I will cut to the chase and list a few reasons why I like this one (a.k.a. the PROS section).

  • Very nice ‘swiping gestures’ input. If you haven’t seen this you must try it. There are other keyboard that offer this that are mostly paid apps (Swype, SlideIT), but the only free option is TouchPal Keyboard, and, at least for the time being Kii Keyboard as well. Note that you have to enable the
  • Has a nice ‘feeling’ to it: it feels great from the get go. I know this is subjective, but it’s the whole reason why I am writing it up at all.
  • Themes and customizability: many skins to choose from. See screenshot above right.

Kii keyboard screenshot1Kii keyboard screenshot2

Cons:

  • Adding a custom word to the dictionary seems rather more involved that it should be. They should add a simple ‘add this word’ option right then and there whenever you type in the new word.
  • It is frequently difficult to discern some of the special characters that can be invoked via long click. They really should be made more clearly visible.

The verdict: a very nice keyboard, especially if you’re looking for swiping gestures input, which is implemented very nicely.

It does not seem to ‘learn’ and predict your frequently used phrases and words as efficiently as Swiftkey, but it is an excellent keyboard nonetheless that has found a spot as the default keyboard on my Android, at least for now.

Get Kii Keyboard here (free while in beta).


 
 
 
Samer Kurdi

Samer Kurdi

Has been reviewing software since 2006 when he started Freewaregenius.com
Samer Kurdi

@freewaregenius

January 14, 2013
Samer Kurdi
14
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  • http://carbonize.co.uk Carbonize

    It’s always going to have a free version but whilst it’s in beta you can use the pro only options as well such as custom themes.

  • Mario

    Hello Samer,
    I have an Samsung S Duos with ICS 4.0 and it already has the swipe keyboard enabled ( not sure is this is an ICS thing or not ). It works quite well in Portuguese that I use. From what you know, is it worth while to install the Kii Keyboard and use it instead of the native one?
    thanks
    mario

    • Samer Kurdi

      Mario. If you already have Swype and like it then it probably isn’t worth switching to Kii, esp if you got used to the former. You could always try Kii and let us know what you think in comparison ;)

      • mario

        Hi Samer
        I’ve tried the Kii keyboard but wasn’t able to swipe. It just did not recognize the movements even when this was toggled on in the options. The worst thing is that it seems that the accuracy of the custom swipe software seems to be worst after the Kii experience. I have uninstalled it. Lets see if the original swipe gets better.

    • http://carbonize.co.uk Carbonize

      As Samer says if you are used to Swype then might be best sticking with it but since this is free there is no harm in giving it a try.

  • http://stayontop.org Henk van Setten

    It’s interesting how different features can be of very different importance to different people. Just like with cars or audio equipment, this may be true for for keyboards too, both physical and software keyboards. It’s like with some people preferring LP turntables over MP3 players, or Japanese car design over European: luckily we don’t always need to fully understand…
    I write a lot, in two different languages, and while writing I usually also do lot of rethinking, reformulating, rewriting. Maybe that’s why I don’t care very much about word prediction or swiping. To me, a much more important feature of any Android keyboard is the permanent presence of up-down-left-right arrow keys, something that (to my prejudiced mind) is painfully missing in the Kii screenshots.
    Why? On a relatively small screen, repositioning the cursor with your fingertip will always be clumsy and imprecise. The more precise (and therefore also the quickest) way to move the cursor to exactly the right spot is with arrow keys (in my opinion, yes I know).
    This is the reason why for my Galaxy Note 2 I paid the awful, terrible sum of $1,19 to install the Thumbs keyboard. Not because of its rather silly “thumbs” split-keyboard option, but because this one is so configurable it allowed me to put relatively big arrow nav keys right where I wanted them.

    • http://carbonize.co.uk Carbonize

      Well it took me a while to get through all the superfluous stuff at the start of your post to get to the point. Kii Keyboard has arrow keys as an option. Kii Keyboard Settings -> Keyboard Layout & Keys. It’s a premium feature but you can use it for free whilst in beta. Failing that you can hold down the 123 key (bottom left) and select the arrow keys from the pop up as can be seen in the images.

    • http://www.paleografie.tk Cerberus

      I agree about arrow keys: it never ceases to amaze me how bad text selection and cursor movement works in Android. I curse it every time I have to use it. It is good that Kii has the option to have them always on screen, as Carbonize explained.

      I, too, write in two languages all the time, and I have two versions of (free) Swype installed. In text-messaging, it it automatically switches to the keyboard set to Dutch (Tasker handles the automated switching), and English in various other applications. But I find swiping words so extremely efficient, it really beats any other method in speed by a mile. And you can still type normally in Swype / Kii / Swiftkey Flow: you only use swiping when you want to.

    • prem patel

      i had the same problem but i found a easy solution its called touchpal keyboard and it has been reviewed by samir earlier it has a 4 direction arrow keys which is good but even better is that it has dedicated keys for cut,copy,paste,delete,home,end and even select text and select all so you fell like you are using your PCs keyboard this is an important but often ignored feature of touchpal and not to mention its a very good swiping keyboard with text prediction which learns from what you type and its free,also worth trying are keypurr keyboard its a big buttons type keyboard but it has many wonderful feature like text expansion and programmable function keys which lets you type often repeated stuff (like your email id) with one click.

      • http://carbonize.co.uk Carbonize

        Kii Keyboard has optional arrow keys and as soon as you select text in Android it pops up with the options to cut or copy anyway so why waste space on the keyboard?

  • A.J.

    How does this compare to TouchPal Keyboard, which is another free swipe-type tool? I’ve been using that for a while and it works well, but I’d be very interested in how Kii compares in terms of options?

    • Samer Kurdi

      @ A.J: I used both. I like the look and feel of Kii keyboard better than Touchpal. My $0.02

  • http://www.paleografie.tk Cerberus

    Sype is also free, and had been free for as long as I can remember. The free version is officially called a beta, but it works fine. Google it.

    Swiftkey Flow is still in beta; I don’t know for how long, but it works and it is also free. So far, Swype beats Swiftkey in accuracy.

  • http://carbonize.co.uk Carbonize

    Latest version makes it easy to add new words because if you select the word you typed from the words it displays it says to press it again to remember the word.