Hi, there! Let us ask you something: What did you do this week? Ordered a pizza? Saw a movie? Went clubbing? Or maybe, you drank yourself silly, picked up a fight at the bar, got beaten black and blue, and then puked your brains out. Right? Yeah, thought so.
Meanwhile, Google took yet another step towards world dominion! It launched a brand new keyboard for iOS, and it’s out-of-this-world amazing!
Called Gboard, the keyboard is unapologetically Google. It’s smooth, intuitive, and loaded with features. Here’s a quick rundown:
Google Search is built-in. Duh!
Just tapping the search icon will bring up Google Search (and by extension, the entire internet) right inside your keyboard! You can search for weather, contacts, local businesses, even maps and directions.
You can insert your search results (displayed as cards) directly into the chats. All that without ever leaving the app. No need to open Chrome/Safari or Contacts or any other app for that matter! Thank you, Google. We owe you one!
Slide to type, Predictive Emojis, and GIFs!!
Obviously Slide-to-type, or “Glide type”, is not a new feature. But Google’s ability to understand those swipes and predict the word accurately is uncanny!
Speaking of predictions, Gboard’s ability to predict extends even to emojis! For example, just start typing “dancer” and the lady-in-red-dancing emoji will show up in the prediction box. *Minds officially blown!*
And finally, we have a keyboard with built-in GIFs! Correction: a good, usable, sane keyboard with good, usable, sane GIFs. There’s a huge collection of emojis for you to choose from, so you can be sure your friends understand exactly what you mean.
And of course, customization!
As is customary to all things Google, the Gboard is fully customizable. You can change permissions for locations, contacts, glide typing, emoji suggestions, etc.
The Gboard comes just one week after Microsoft launched its second keyboard for iOS, which, in turn, followed close on the heels of the Hub Keyboard that they’d launched last month. Read about it here: Microsoft’s Unique New Keyboard for iOS
Microsoft may have two keyboards, but we have no doubt that Gboard will soon be among the most downloaded app!
Please note that the keyboard is only available in the US AppStore right now. We’ll let you know when it becomes available in India.
Meanwhile, we recommend you watch Gboard’s official video and once again acknowledge Google as the lord and master of everything!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0vg4HUEIyk]