Make it easier to type on the phone and leave the laptop at home

As summer officially ends, it’s back to work (or school) for many people; This could mean he can spend more time writing longer things, especially when he’s on the go. The smartphone has replaced the laptop for many tasks, but when it comes to text entry, tapping the tiny on-screen keys may make you wish you’d carried the computer just for its keyboard. Fortunately, your phone has several features that will make entering text much easier. Here are a few suggestions.

Visit Your Settings

Thanks to predictive text prompts, automatic punctuation, and other shortcuts (like pressing the vowel keys to see a pop-up menu of diacritical marks), typing on the little glass rectangles isn’t as difficult as it used to be. To find out what features are available for your phone, start with the Settings app.

Keyboard settings for Apple (left) and Google (right) control typing shortcuts, dictation functions, and many other tools to make entering text easier. – Apple; Google via The New York Times

On iPhone, tap General, then tap Keyboard.

On many Android phones, tap System, Keyboard, On-Screen Keyboard, then Gboard (usually the default app). Galaxy models often offer the Samsung Keyboard with similar options.

Enabling the one-handed keyboard function moves the keyboard to the left or right side of the screen to make thumb typing easier. —Apple via The New York Times

You should see options for spell checking, text correction (yes, Apple’s famous AutoCorrect feature just got better), and other help. For example, both the Apple iOS keyboard and Google Gboard (there’s also an iOS version) can display a compact keyboard for easier one-handed input.

To add a shortcut to settings, hold down the comma key on the Gboard keyboard or tap the four-square icon on the far left and select the One Hand button; the same menu allows you to resize or “shift” the keyboard on the screen if you wish.

Typing in a smartphone’s landscape mode with predictive text enabled makes the keyboard larger for two-finger typing, but smartphones have many other settings and tools to make text entry even easier. —Apple via The New York Times

Password manager tools prevent misspelled logins, and fewer taps can help prevent mistakes elsewhere. You can drag your finger across the keyboard with tools like Apple’s Slide to Type and Google’s Glide Typing; the software predicts the word you want; Note that results may vary.

The keyboard can also move the text insertion cursor. On iPhone, hold down the space bar until the keyboard turns black and then drag your finger to reposition the cursor on the screen. For Google Gboard, if “gesture cursor control” is enabled in the Glide Typing settings, you can move the cursor by sliding your finger along the space bar.

The Gboard keyboard includes shortcuts, including a one-handed keyboard layout. – Google via The New York Times

Apple and Google include keyboard layouts for typing or adding emoji in languages ​​other than English. You can add third-party keyboard applications, but be wary of software from companies you don’t know that may pose security risks.

Add Hardware

If you have a lot of text to enter, pairing your iPhone or Android phone with an external Bluetooth keyboard (including the Magic Keyboard made by Apple) lets you switch to traditional typing hardware. You can even use navigation buttons and shortcuts on an iPhone by going to Settings, Accessibility & Keyboards and enabling Full Keyboard Access.

Foldable Bluetooth keyboard that connects to the phone during flight. —JD Biersdorfer/New York Times

If you don’t want to lug around a full keyboard, consider a foldable model as it can easily fit in a jacket pocket but expand into something resembling a full-size keyset.

Travel keyboards, which typically fold into two or three sections when not in use, range in price from about $25 to $80, depending on size and features.

Speak Your Opinion

Speech-to-text technology, which converts the spoken word into an editable type on the screen, has been around for decades and has only become more accurate as software has improved. Many applications (including virtual assistants) can dictate. The Apple Notes app in iOS 18 can now directly record a live audio file and convert it to text.

To use this feature on iPhone, open Settings, select General, then Keyboard, and turn on Enable Dictation. The Auto Punctuation option automatically inserts commands, periods, and question marks as you speak, but Apple’s site has a full list of dictation commands for editing text and inserting emoji characters.

With dictation enabled on iPhone, simply tap the microphone icon on the screen and start speaking to type. —Apple via The New York Times

On Android phones that use the Gboard keyboard, open the Settings app, go to System, select Keyboard, and make sure Google Voice Typing is enabled. You can start speaking when you tap the microphone icon, or select the Information icon (a circled “i”) to see a list of voice commands that Gboard understands, including the Google Docs word processor. As with most dictation applications, you must specify punctuation by name, such as “question mark” or “new paragraph” and other formatting.

Dictation can be useful for transcribing many words quickly, but it may not be the best method for writing a confidential note in a crowded cafe or where your co-workers might hear, for example. Some dictation requests are uploaded to the internet for processing and require a network connection.

To enable your phone to convert speech to text, make sure dictation is enabled in settings. – Apple; Google via The New York Times

But no matter how you enter your text, be sure to proofread it (or have the AI ​​do it) before sending, because no matter how you get your words to the screen, typos have a way of sneaking in. – New York Times