Gboard may soon add a split keyboard for tablets and foldables

If you have ever used Gboard in a landscape orientation or on a large screen tablet, you probably know the experience isn’t very nice. It’s the same story on foldable phones, with the stretched-out keyboard layout making it difficult to comfortably reach keys. But as part of its recent push to optimize Andriod apps for big screens, Google is now working on a new keyboard layout for Gboard.

The new layout that Gboard is testing divides the keyboard into two halves. This will make it faster and easier to input text without having to do thumb gymnastics. The concept itself isn’t novel, as the Samsung Keyboard and Switfkey have had the split keyboard for a while. Gboard is merely playing catch-up here.

An important distinction between Gboard’s split layout and Samsung Keyboard’s is how they implement the spacebar. The Samsung Keyboard divides the space key, so each halve has its own spacebar. Gboard, on the other hand, uses a long, undivided space key. Another notable difference is that Gboard’s layout duplicates certain keys on both sides while Samsung Keyboard simply splits the layout in half.

Here are some screenshots, shared by Twitter user @RKBDI, showcasing the new split keyboard. Users will be able to enable the split layout from the three-dot menu.

Note that the new split keyboard hasn’t been rolled out to users yet. The feature is currently hidden behind flags and is not accessible to end users. We don’t know when Google plans to roll it out to everyone. It’s also unclear whether it will be exclusive to foldable smartphones and tablets or available on standard phones as well.

Gboard has been working on the new split layout for some time now. The feature was first spotted in development by Android Police back in March.

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Source: Telegram Channel “Reboard Themes”

Via: Mishaal Rahman

The post Gboard may soon add a split keyboard for tablets and foldables appeared first on XDA.

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