[The_Passporter]

With the introduction of the KEYᵒⁿᵉ there is no shortage of topics on the physical keyboard and comparisons to the virtual but I would like to start this thread on how to improve on Blackberry's virtual keyboard at a time leading up to the launch of the next Blackberry phone which is rumored to be a slab of glass.

One thing I don't understand is why Blackberry has not come up with a trigger to enable using the virtual keyboard to scroll or maneuver the cursor in and through out the text on screen like how it is done on the physical keyboard of the Passport, PRIV and KEYᵒⁿᵉ. There has to be a way to trigger it on and off similarly to how we swipe down to changes keyboard symbols or swipe words up. This would give a whole new twist to all the frustration of editing on a glass screen.

Anyone with any other suggestions would be welcomed here with the hope that Blackberry will take notice and possibly implement any ideas prior to the launch of the next anticipated 🔑.....

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Being that the Keyboard is licensed and really is of only benefit for hardware users, not sure that would be the focus of the limited development resources that they have.

Does sound like an interesting idea... still think they should make the fingerprint scanner operate like a trackpad on BlackBerry's of old. It could fill this need....

[The_Passporter]

Then why have it at all?

I really don't understand the restriction to Blackberry Hardware.

[conite]

I really don't understand the restriction to Blackberry Hardware.

Ask Swiftkey.

[Troy Tiscareno]

Then why have it at all?

I really don't understand the restriction to Blackberry Hardware.

Developing an excellent VKB and prediction engine and all of the infrastructure to make it all work is very expensive - and why duplicate all of that work when you can simply license the market leader's product? That's where BB was back when they needed a VKB for BB10, and licensed SwiftKey. Not that that's at all unusual - in fact it's extremely common in the computer world. Tons of parts of BB10 were licensed from other companies, and many things that are part of Android or iOS were licensed or the companies that owned them were purchased outright by Apple or Google in order to include them (BB doesn't have the kind of money needed to do that).

Anyway, it seems obvious that BB's license for SwiftKey was limited to BB-branded devices - which makes sense, as SwiftKey wouldn't want its licensees using SwiftKey's software to compete directly against SwiftKey. That would be like someone selling a BBM client for WinPhone or Sailfish with no agreement to do so from BB.

BB's VKB is also intended to be an incentive to get you to buy a BB-branded device, which is another reason you won't ever see official support for it anywhere else.

[terminatorx]

One suggestion which comes to mind, would be a quick toggle to disable / enable auto correction. I like leaving it on for the most part, but sometimes you need to spell stuff a certain way and the auto correct gets in the way.

[The_Passporter]

One suggestion which comes to mind, would be a quick toggle to disable / enable auto correction. I like leaving it on for the most part, but sometimes you need to spell stuff a certain way and the auto correct gets in the way.

Agreed! The spell correction or the process in which we add words to dictionary does not seem to work like it did on BB10 but that may be Android.

[AWB70]

I think it works OK. If there is something that you spell that isn't in the dictionary I get the choice of using that word in predictive so it's just a case of adding to dictionary and next time it will suggest it. After that the more times you use it the more likely it is to come up as a prediction.

[The_Passporter]

With the new Blackberry VKB update I got my wish. Not too bad an implementation I'd say.

[The_Passporter]

The new update is a welcomed addition to the Blackberry virtual keyboard but I do find myself accidentally swiping up on the toggles for the new features. Perhaps I need to get used to it still but it would be nice to have to hold the toggles for two seconds to activate so to not accidentally trigger them.
Just a thought

[The_Passporter]

Blackberry's physical keyboard magic on apple's virtual keyboard?
I want this not the failure Blackberry made on their Android's virtual keyboard