Microsoft's One-Handed Keyboard App is Only For iPhones
April 25 2016 - 6:40PM
Dow Jones News
By Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Microsoft Corp. has built a fantastic one-handed smartphone
keyboard, but you'll need an iPhone -- and not a Windows phone --
to use it.
On Monday, Microsoft's free Word Flow keyboard app made its U.S.
debut in Apple Inc.'s iOS App Store. As the rather small number of
Windows smartphone users out there may know, Word Flow is the name
of the keyboard in the Windows Phone 8/Windows 10 Mobile operating
systems. But while the name is the same, multiple just-for-iPhone
features set the two keyboards apart.
The best part is the one-handed keyboard option. Designed for
people who have a hard time reaching their thumb across an iPhone
display, the keyboard curves into an arc to bring every key into
reach. (The arc can lock to either side of the phone, for righties
and lefties.) It is helpful on an iPhone 6s -- doubly so on the
larger 6s Plus, which forces many people to type with two
hands.
Once you've installed the app, you launch the keyboard by
tapping the globe icon on the iPhone keyboard (the same button to
get emojis). I have fairly large hands, but even I preferred typing
on the curved keyboard when I had to use one hand, like banging out
a quick email while carrying my lunch back to the office.
The iPhone version of Word Flow also lets you change the
keyboard background to your own photo. Windows phone users can't do
this either -- though I'm not really sure why anybody would care
to.
When asked whether Microsoft will eventually offer the new
keyboard features on Android or Windows phones, a Microsoft
spokesperson said the company "has nothing more to share at this
time."
Both iPhone and Windows phone versions have predictive text and
gesture typing, which lets you continuously slide your finger
across keys to spell out words. Many other keyboards, like Swype
and the Microsoft-owned SwiftKey, also do this.
There are other one-handed keyboards for the iPhone, including
Blink and Minuum. But these shrink keys rather than curve them,
making them tougher to tap.
Write to Nathan Olivarez-Giles at
Nathan.Olivarez-giles@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 25, 2016 18:25 ET (22:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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