The Best Keyboards for Apple Smartphones

I'm sure everyone is enjoying their new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus. The size of their screens are great for quickly checking your Facebook or Instagram, watching YouTube or Netflix, or even crushing all that candy. The only noticeable issue with having such a large phone is trying to type on it with one hand. iOS 8, which was released last fall, does give you the option of choosing from multiple different keyboards by downloading them from the Apple App Store and enabling them in the iPhone's Settings app.

The best keyboard for your iPhone would most likely be the SwiftKey. It has the best word prediction you could possibly get, it's fast when responding to the traditional tap-typing, and has a tracing feature you can use with just one thumb. In addition to that, the word prediction generally knows what you are trying to type or are about to type next. It also taps into you social media accounts, as well as your contacts list to help better personalize it's predictions based off of how you type everything else out.

SwiftKey also has some themes you can pick from such as light, dark, or the occasional holiday theme. It also has the standard auto-correct, double taping the space bar for a period, and auto-capitalizing that you're used to. The downside to using SwiftKey is the way iOS handles third-party keyboards. These keyboards tend to crash in the Messages app or when using Spotlight. You can't talk to your iPhone and have it input passwords or reply to your texts when you are on the lock screen either. It's nothing that you can't look past, but it can get irritating sometimes.

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If you are more of a simple person and don't want to bother installing a new keyboard, your iPhone has it's own built-in iOS keyboard. It's the most reliable keyboard for your iPhone and it's already on your phone. It works great with voice dictation anywhere you can type on your iPhone, even in the lock screen or for inputting texts. It's great with word prediction based on context and tap-typing and the keyboard will suggest different words depending on if you're just texting a friend or writing an email to your boss. The few downsides to this standard keyboard is that it doesn't have tracing or themes to customize.

Some other keyboards you can choose from include Swype ($0.99), which is the original tracing keyboard. It also has word prediction, auto-correct, and themes. Another one is Adaptext (free), which has the majority of the features you want in a keyboard: auto-correct, tracing features, emojis, and themes. TouchPal (free) is a good keyboard if you're really into stickers. It has tracing, themes, emojis, and auto-correct as well. Fleksy ($0.99) is said to have the best auto-correct engine you can get. It has word deletion and themes but the only downside with this one is that it doesn't have tracing. Minuum ($3.99) relies mostly on word predictions and auto-correct for the most accurate words you're trying to type. The thing that is most unappealing about this is that all your letters are in one straight line and it pretty much just guesses on what letter you're attempting at typing. All of these keyboards are not as smart with word predictions as the SwiftKey and are not as reliable as Apple's keyboard.

The best bet for a smartphone keyboard all around would be Swiftkey, but the safest and easier keyboards would be to just stick with your already built-in iOS Apple keyboard. Not an iPhone user? Check out our post about The Best Keyboards for Android Smartphones!

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The Best Keyboard for Android Smartphones

Androids, in my opinion, are the best type of smartphones to get into. The devices come in all sizes, designs, and prices. The majority of them come with giant screens for you to browse the internet or Skype with friends or play games if you're bored and want to pretend like you have something to do while the rest of your friends are busy on their phones. Sometimes it may seem like a challenge to type on phones with tiny screens, but for years Androids have let you customize your keyboards. You can get keyboards that let your trace out your words, keyboards with non-standard layouts, you can even shrink your keyboards down to tinier sizes, or make them easier for you to put all those emojis that you go out of control with.

One of the better keyboards for your Android device is the Google Keyboard. It has a smart auto-correct and word prediction, a great tap-typing response, and a tracing feature that allows you to trace out your words for quick texts. In addition to that, it also has a voice dictation that gets smarter with word predictions the more you use it. Having it recognize and know your voice is great for when you don't have a lot of time to type out those long texts, so you can just tell your Android device exactly what you want your text to say and it will type it out for you. You can also customize your settings for sounds, vibrations, ringtones, and how accurate your auto-correct can be. A lot of Android phones already come with the Google Keyboard preinstalled, but if you have a HTC, Samsung, LG, or any smartphone with a custom keyboard, you can get Google's version of a keyboard from the Play Store, for free. And who can turn down something that's free with so many cool features?

A lot of people also go with SwiftKey on Android. It has tracing, auto-correct, and a bunch of different themes to customize the appearance. The word prediction with SwiftKey is better than with the Google Keyboard. It can get into your social media accounts; Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, as well as your texts and contacts list, to learn how you type and can better predict your words before you even type a letter. Just like with the Google Keyboard, the more you use SwiftKey, the smarter it can get. One of SwiftKey's weaker points is tap-typing. It doesn't seem as responsive as Google's version but that shouldn't really effect you if you mainly use tracing or word prediction.

Some of the other types of keyboards you can get are Swype ($0.99), TouchPal (free), Flesky ($1.99), Ai.type ($3.99), or Whirlscape Minuum ($3.20). Swype is the original tracing keyboard and is almost always preinstalled on the majority of your smartphones. Just like Swype, TouchPal, Ai.typ also has tracing, multiple themes and emojis to chose from, and auto-correct. But the downsides of all these is that their word prediction isn't comparably smarter than with SwiftKey and tap-typing isn't nearly as good as with Google Keyboard.  Flesky is said to have the best auto-correct engine, it manages to write perfectly legible sentences without you even looking at your phone. Whirlscape Minuum has got to be one of the lower quality keyboards in my opinion. It has all the letters on your keyboard laid out in a single row and guesses at what letter you are attempting at hitting, based on context.

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All these keyboards have their own style and most of them have the same features. It's on you to decide what you feel most comfortable with when searching the web, texting your friends, playing games, or being addicted to your social media accounts. Not an Android user? Check out our post on The Best Keyboards for Apple Smartphones!

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Google Debuts New Fi Wireless Service

Photo Credit: Kachwanya

Google finally announced their wireless phone service called Fi. The service will cost $20 per month for unlimited talk and texting plus $10 per gigabyte of data used. It's a little bit cheaper than your standard phone service plan.

The downside is that if you use 7GB or more regularly, then a normal phone plan with T-Mobile or Sprint would be cheaper than Fi. The upside is that Google will only charge you for the data you use each month, no matter which plan you end up going with. For example, if you were to pay $30 for 3GB and only use 1.4 GB, then at the end of the month you'd receive a refund for $16. No U.S. carriers offer these rebates, the closest you can get is going with rollover minutes with your standard phone carriers. Google is just trying to have a service that makes it easier on us to surf the web at a cheap price. Fi also works over Wi-Fi networks if there's no cellular coverage available.

Something I don't like about Fi is that you can't use your normal smartphones, like Apple or Samsung. These phones won't be compatible with Fi at first. The only phone you can get is a Google Nexus 6 phone that starts at about $649 or $27 a month for 24 months. Motorola did come out with a Nexus 6, with a 6-inch screen, which is bigger than your typical smartphone, but not as good of a phone as an iPhone or Galaxy S6. Still, Google's plans are cheaper than your standard services provided by AT&T and Verizon, two of the largest, broader network coverage carriers in the country.

The Fi service is also providing inexpensive international features, like unlimited international texting. Just like the U.S., data will cost $10 per GB in 120 major countries like Japan, Germany, and India. Also a plus side if you or anyone you know either travels a lot or is in the marines and also across seas.

Google is buying their wireless service from T-Mobile and Sprint, which isn't appealing to me at all. In my opinion, Sprint and T-Mobile are two of the worst phone carriers available. But I can see why they are doing it this way. It saves Google from having to buy an airwave license and start a national network from nothing. And for T-Mobile or Sprint, it gives them more traffic on their networks without having to worrying about any risks. T-Mobile shares were up 2.1% and Sprint 1.7% with Google shares up 1.3% after they announced the new Fi service.

The prices may not be as low as anticipated, but it still is a good plan to consider. Especially if you already have services with T-Mobile or Sprint and are willing to buy from the limited phones you have to choose from. For now, I'm going to stick with my AT&T service and basic smartphone. I'm sure this isn't the last we will hear of this. Next time around, they'll have more options, phones, and services to pick from.

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Prototype Haptic Interfaces Allow Touch Communication Between People

Touch-based interfaces are a modality the MIT Media Lab is working on. Haptics, the science of touch, derives from the Greek haptikos meaning “being able to come into contact with.” At MIT, the Tangible Media Group is researching and working on new materials for human-computer interfaces. Some change shape and rigidity based on digital inputs.

Some of the upsides of haptic interfaces is that they are very fast to read, they can be put into everyday objects or motions, and our sense of touch since it is the best way to express human emotion. MIT has made a Lumi Touch, which is a picture frame that sends a colored glow to the person who has the other picture frame, when you squeeze each side of the frame. Each color can have different meanings for whatever color-mapping you and your significant other create. Proverbial Wallets works with Bank of America, to make your ordinary leather wallet harder to open as you exceed your monthly budget. These are just 2 examples of their prototypes, but haptic interfaces will soon be for sale to everyone.

Smartstones are a more personal haptic interface, that looks like a smooth, palm-sized, river stone. It allows you and your significant other to communicate through gesture, touch, light, and sound. They're designed for any type of intimate relationship, say it be best friends, parent to child, elderly parents, or even caregivers. Our touch communication is designed for us to process information quickly, it allows us to talk without typing or speaking.

In a classic perceptual psychology experiment, pairs of strangers were tested on communicating emotions through touch alone. One person from a pair was given one of 12 emotions, therefore when the decoder would be touched on the forearm, they'd have to tell you what emotion they thought their partner was trying to communicate. Some examples of how emotions were expressed; fear was associated with trembling, sympathy was associated with stroking and patting, disgust was associated with a pushing motion, and anger was associated with hitting and squeezing. The outcome of the experiment showed that people could interpret fear, disgust, anger, love, sympathy, and gratitude at above-chance levels.

Just a simple touch of hands between my boyfriend and I, can send emotions or communication between us. Our skin processes subconsciously. Smartstones have the potential to give off the same messages at a distance, decreasing social isolation and lets not forget, being a slave to your smartphone.

Photo Credit: TechCrunch

MIT products are great examples of the mass improvement from smartphone apps to haptic interface objects. Human-computer interfaces have improved with anywhere from WiFi-connected thermostats and mirrors, to bluetooth jewelry and light bulbs. What's having every product company consider a cloud-connected product is the falling cost of microchips, WiFi being available just about anywhere, and the continuous income from converting objects into services.

Nowadays, most commonly used for logging or visualizing data is social media. Smartstones is the next step up in communicating at a more personal and close level of non-verbal communication. As touch interfaces develop, they will provide us with more sense of a safer, closer, nonverbal communication from a distance, with a speedy and effective outcome.

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More Storage Space for iPad Mini, iPhone 6 with Mophie's Space Cases

Since the release of the "Space Pack," Mophie has put out a new line of products for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPad Mini. They've also came out with a new battery pack called the "Spacestation." They all look pretty much like any of the already existing battery solutions, but they range anywhere from 32GB to 128 GB of flash storage, which is good for those who have a 16GB iPhone or iPad Mini. The iPhone Space Packs and the Spacestation start at $150 for 32GB of storage, and jump up to $200 for 64GB and $300 for 128GB. The iPad Mini pack, meanwhile, runs from $200 to $400.

The new cases still work with the Mophie's Space app, just like the old one, which lets you store and play media. The app allows you to create playlists with media on iOS devices and the Space case, as well as the company updating the app for iPhone uses to manage files you already have.

The iPhone 6 case will double your battery life, while the iPhone 6 Plus case will give you 50 percent more of a battery, which is basically giving you the same option with the new cases. If you'd prefer not to get a case, the Spacestation still can fully recharge an iPad mini and plug into multiple devices and smartphones.

If you're familiar with Mophie's products then the new cases and battery packs won't feel any differently to you. Personally, the Spacestation's metal case is the best feeling case in hand. The company's first battery case for a tablet was the iPad Mini Space Case, which only added a little thickness to the Mini. If you use a lot of media storage on your iOS then this is one of your only options for additional storage without going to wireless hard drives or the cloud for help.

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The Best from Mobile World Congress 2015

Mobile World Congress took place a couple of months ago, debuting the newest devices from some of the biggest mobile phone manufacturers in the world. This year's conference was a little underwhelming compared to previous years, though there were some major announcements from big companies, specifically HTC and Samsung. Other companies, like Blackberry, Microsoft and Huawei also unveiled new smartphones though they paled in comparison to things like the One M9 and the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. So let's check them out.

HTC One M9

When you first lay eyes upon the HTC One M9 you'll probably think to yourself, "Man, that sure does look a lot like the previous model." And that's what a lot of people think at first. However, HTC realizes that the current style of the phone is working and that a full-blown aesthetic revamp wasn't necessary. That doesn't mean, however, that nothing's changed because, actually, a lot of things have changed.

First off the new version is slightly narrower, shorter and fatter and also comes with wider left and right edges. A dual anodization process allows for different finishes and color, making it look really nice. A Snapdragon 810 is included along with 3GB of RAM, which helps keep things running smoothly. A metal lip runs around the edge of the phone, which some users found irritating despite the fact that it's purpose is for you to have a better grip.

The volume button has been split into two buttons and the power button has been moved to sit right under the volume buttons on the phone's right edge. A pop-out microSD slot is located above these buttons. One of the BoomSound speaker grilles on the front of the device has been reduced in size to make room for a slightly larger front-facing UltraPixel camera but other than that there's not really a lot that needed fixed from the M8.

Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge

The last time Samsung was at Mobile World Congress it debuted the Galaxy S5 with that bandage-style back that you either loved or hated. This year the company brought with it the S6 and S6 Edge, smartphones that show you that the company has decided to slim down and push a few buttons.

These two devices are basically exactly the same in every way that matters. Both phones support bodies made of aluminum that is stuck between two layers of Gorilla Glass 4 and come with a 5.1" Quad HD Super AMOLED screens. Both come with Samsung's latest octacore chipset that are paried with a quad-2.1GHz processor with a quad-1.5GHz one and 3GB of RAM. LTE cat. 6 is supported by both phones and both are currently available.

Both phones look amazing but the Edge is the one that's going to draw most of the aesthetic attention. It is easily the best-looking, best-feeling smartphone Samsung has ever made. The screen gently curves away from you on both sides of the phone, leaving just enough room for the power and volume buttons. None of the wraparound apps created with the Note Edge SDK will work on the S6 Edge though you can swipe through notifications and news but there isn't much more to it than that.

Both devices run very smooth and feel nice in your hand. There are also a lot of new features that come with these phones, like the ability to multitask and run multiple apps at the same time, which is very nice. You can also open the camera app from any screen, even the lock screen, by doubletapping the home button.

Conclusion

Mobile World Congress 2015 wasn't the best conference by far but it did give us a look at some really exciting and new phones, especially the HTC One M9 and the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. When it comes to Android, these two phones and companies will definitely be the leaders of the market in 2015 and Apple has some serious competition.

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New Aluminum-Ion Battery from Stanford Charges in One Minute

Let's not lie to ourselves, we're glued to our smartphones. We have to have them on us at all times, no matter where we are or what we're doing and that can be a serious drain on our device's battery life. When the battery dies we have to charge it but even that can be a chore as it takes time to charge our batteries, time that our fast-paced, technology driven society would probably rather spend on something else....like more smartphone usage. If only there were a way to have our smartphones charge in super fast, like in a minute or something...

Well that desire is now a possibility thanks to researchers at Stanford University, who have created an aluminum battery that charges smartphones to full capacity in just a single minute. The scientists say that the technology has the potential to replace many of the batteries used in mobile devices today. The findings themselves were detailed in an online edition of the Journal Nature and a press release was also made available.

Instead of the lithium-ion batteries that we use today, this new aluminum-ion battery is a much safer alternative as it is less of a fire hazard than its lithium counterpart. The prototype is also a better option for the environment disposable alkaline batteries like the ones you use in most other electrical devices, like a remote or a game controller.

The prototype battery was developed by Hongjie Dai, a chemistry professor at Stanford, along with some student colleagues. According to a statement from Dai, "We have developed a rechargeable aluminum battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames. Our new battery won't catch fire, even if you drill through it."

The battery itself will last through 7,500 charges, which is extremely impressive due to the fact that previous experimental aluminum batteries lasted only 10 charge cycles. For a comparison, a typical lithium-ion battery only lasts about 1,000 charge cycles according to current research.

Aluminum is becoming a more appealing material for batteries mainly because it's affordable, doesn't catch fire too easily and has a high charging capacity. The only real challenge that faced aluminum batteries has been "finding materials capable of producing sufficient voltage after repeated cycles of charging and discharging," according to researchers, though that is no longer a problem.

The battery itself consists of a negatively charged aluminum anode and a positively charged graphite cathode. In addition to that, the battery is also very durable and is even capable of bending, which severely increases its potential use in electronic devices. Researchers will still have to work on improving the voltage of the battery as the current model is only capable of producing half the voltage of a typical lithium battery.

This is definitely a monumental development in smartphone and mobile technology. Battery life is a key component to any smartphone, tablet, laptop or mobile device and being able to fully charge your device in a single minute is almost unfathomable. Check out Stanford's video below for a closer look at what they have created.

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