Newsletter
Google today announced a number of feature improvements that are now on the way to the Android version of Gboard. All of which are designed to improve the speed and level of interaction on offer with Google’s keyboard app. For instance, for those who often make use of emoji and GIFs, the latest update adds a more streamlined way to include those in your messages. As Google has announced that emoji & GIF suggestions will now start to appear as part of the predictive options, as you type. In addition to the emoji & GIF suggestion support, the announcement also details that GIFs can now be more easily shared through other ‘supported apps’ including Allo, Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, and Snapchat.
Gboard is also now gaining improvements to voice typing including an improved interface for quicker and easier switching between voice and regular typing. While the update also brings with it an increase in the number of keyboard themes that are available, including some new scenic view themes. Google does note that the number of available themes will continue to increase more often, going forward. For those who often message across international borders, the new update also includes integration with Google Translate so messages can be translated much quicker and easier, including, translating content to be more appropriately displayed for languages that are read from right-to-left. Translate features can now be accessed within Gboard by simply hitting the translate icon and choosing the wanted output language before typing out the message.
Some of these features were actually already noted becoming available as part of the beta version of Gboard prior to today. However, it now seems that after a short beta life, they are already making their way out to the main Gboard app. The respective Google Play Store listing for Gboard has already been updated to reflect the new features and so if you already have the keyboard app installed on your device, then you should see the update arriving soon enough over-the-air. If you have yet to install Gboard, you can grab the latest version of the app through the link below. You can also check out examples of some of the now-announced improvements in the images below.
