Excerpt
Master the Galaxy Keyboard
If you are not used to typing on a phone or tablet, using the tiny keyboard can seem like a challenge at first. However, the keyboard found on most Samsung devices has been evolving and improving ever since the first touchscreen phone appeared. If you just want to type a quick email, it can be as simple as it needs to be but explore a bit further and you will see that it is packed with features designed to make it easy to use.
Essential Keyboards Tips
The keyboard is updated almost every time Android is updated, so the exact features you have access to on your device might vary, depending on the version you are using. Here's a guide to the newest version.
Tip 1 – Hide or Reveal
Tap anywhere you can enter text, such
as the text box in the Messages app or the Search field in just about any app, and the virtual keyboard appears. If you want to hide it again, tap the down-pointing chevron at the foot of the screen, which has replaced the Back button and it disappears.
Tip 2 – Toggle Caps Lock
To type a capital letter in any app, tap the Shift key once. The next letter you type will be upper case, after which it will automatically switch back to lower case (this is Sentence Case) as you type. If you need to type all in upper case, either tap and hold or double-tap the Shift key.
Tip 3 – Selecting Text
To select a single word or section of text, touch and hold or double-tap on screen within the text. The word will be highlighted, with a tab at each end of the selection. You can then drag the tabs to increase the text selected. To place the cursor within a word, just tap where you want it to appear.
Tip 4 – Capitalisation
To change the capitalisation of a word you've already typed, you can simply select it (see the Selecting Text tip) and tap the Shift key once to capitalise the first letter, or twice to capitalise all the text. You're offered the capitalisations as replacements in the strip above the keyboard.
Tip 5 – Using Emojis
Most Samsung device keyboards now have a dedicated emoji icon in the quick access bar along the top but there might also be an emoji key on the keyboard. Each section of the emoji menu will have multiple pages, swipe left or right to move between them. Different apps feature different emojis.
Tip 6 – Alternative Words
Android will try to guess which words you are typing and show them as suggestions above the keyboard. You can speed up your typing by tapping the correct word as it appears, to insert it into the text. Tap the small arrow (or the three dots icon) to see a bigger list of alternative words.
Tip 7 – Gesture Typing
You may need to enable this feature in Settings > General management > Samsung Keyboard settings > Swipe, Touch, and feedback > Keyboard swipe controls. You can then slide your finger across the keyboard instead of tapping the keys. Lift your finger when the word appears.
Tip 8 – Voice Typing
On Samsung devices, you can input text by speaking. To type with your voice, tap
the mic icon above the keyboard and say what you want to type. In some languages, you can enter punctuation by saying it, for example "comma", "full-stop", "question mark" or "exclamation mark".
Tip 9 – Stickers and GIFs
The newest Samsung keyboard gives
you quick access to several additional elements with a bar across the top, including animated pictures to use. Tap the three-dots icon, then select GIFs and choose what you want to add to the keyboard. You can then add GIFs to your text messages and more.