Below we see the most useful tricks and shortcuts for iOS, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch mobile phones and touchscreen tablets and also for Samsung Galaxy S3 or S4, HTC One and all Android devices, to type faster using the keyboard . This is a quick guide on how to use the device keyboard so you can easily find special characters and to write messages, emails or anything else faster.
This guide contains the 12 most useful and hidden tricks, the ones that not everyone knows, which are incredibly valid for almost all keyboards used in smartphones and tablets.
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1) To write special characters with the accent, simply touch and hold the corresponding letter for a while until a list of accented characters appears to choose from.
You do not have to release the key before touching the letter to be used, otherwise the choices will disappear.
2) When you finish writing a sentence, double-tap the space bar on the keyboard to automatically insert a dot followed by a space .
The next letter will be capitalized automatically.
3) The keyboard on smartphones, both Android and iOS, is smart enough to add apostrophes automatically.
For example, if you have to write "year", the keyboard will automatically insert the apostrophe in the right place.
On an iPhone it is also possible to hold down the comma key to have the apostrophe without going to the numeric keyboard.
4) Currency symbols
The numeric keypad on iOS and Android shows the Euro as the default symbol.
If you want to write the Pound symbol or the Dollar symbol, just keep the € key pressed to see the list of currency symbols.
5) To change the style of the quotation marks or use a longer dash, switch to the numeric keyboard and keep the corresponding sign pressed.
In iOS, to type the degree symbol, go to the numeric keyboard and hold down the 0 key.
In Android, however, many other symbols, including that of degrees, are listed by pressing the key above ABC on the numeric keyboard.
6) Capitalizing is often considered impolite in messages and emails, but there may be instances where you may need to type a word or two in upper case.
By default, the keyboard on Android and iOS only writes one letter in uppercase and then lowercase returns.
You can activate capitalization on Android by holding down the key above 123 with the arrow up.
In iOS instead you have to go to Settings -> General -> Keyboard and then double-tap the Shift key to get the Caps Lock or Caps Lock .
7) In iOS, within the Safari browser, write the internet address of a site and then hold down the dot key to add the extension which can be .com, .org or .net.
8) Using the Mail app on iPhone or iPad, to write e-mail addresses quickly, while typing an e-mail address, after the @ press and hold the dot to get a list of common extensions such as gmail.com, hotmail.com etc.
In the Gmail application on Android the trick works but only to add gmail.com.
9) You can split the iPad keyboard in two and write faster with both hands.
With the on-screen keyboard visible, press and hold the keyboard icon on the bottom right and then choose the Split option.
If the option is not available go to Settings -> General -> Keyboard and enable or disable the split keyboard option.
10) A useful but undocumented iOS and Android keyboard trick that helps you quickly switch between the numeric (123) and the alphabetic (ABC) layout is as follows.
While writing something, if you have to enter an email address in the text and the "@" symbol is not available on the alphabetical keyboard, you have to switch to the numeric keyboard, touch "@" and then again switch to ABC mode.
Instead there is a faster way: press the 123 button, slide your finger to touch the "@" and then lift your finger by releasing the button.
This trick also applies to typing numbers, punctuation marks, signs, currency symbols and everything else.
11) On Android, press and hold the key located next to 123, it is usually the microphone, to be able to access the settings of the writing application .
12) Still on Android you can change the keyboard graphics .
This hidden trick can only be activated by adding an activity shortcut on the Android home screen.
The activity to add is called "Android Keyboard Debug Settings" which is the screen for choosing the graphic theme of the Google keyboard.
In this secret menu there are 6 Google keyboard themes to choose from.
In other articles I remember:
- App to change writing method on Android and keyboard on cellphones and tablets
- Write faster on Android smartphone or iPhone by touching the screen
