Stock Jelly Bean Keyboard Now Available on Google Play

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WithoutWeakness

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Nov 7, 2012
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I'm really glad Google is doing this to bring some newer features to users who have devices that aren't being supported on the newer versions of Android. I do think it's a little shortsighted to only support v4.0 and higher though. There is still ~40% of the Android community that has been trapped on Eclair and Gingerbread (v2.2 and v2.3) by their manufacturers and carriers. If Google were to support these versions of Android as well it would bring new features to users who are unable to upgrade their devices. As it stands, only users who are using Ice Cream Sandwich (v4.0) are going to be able to use this. Everyone on 4.1 and 4.2 already have this keyboard built into the OS. ICS (v4.0) makes up ~25% of the Android usage share but that 25% who can use this keyboard could grow to 65% if Google added support for users back to v2.2.
I know it's a lot of work but I also know Google has the resources to make it possible. Hopefully those users on older devices have options for custom ROMs that can bump them up to v4.0+.
 

Mark H Harris

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I have about five keyboards on my 4.2 system (Galaxy SII from Samsung). They are all necessary for one reason or another, mostly due to the requirements of some app or other... for instance TerminalIDE requires the TerminalIDE keyboard (full ansii qwerty) for the app to function properly... so no, one keyboard fits all will not work... even if Google wants to make it so...
I do agree with the first comment that features of 4.x should be propagated down to Eclair and GingerBread. My phone was stuck on Gingerbread for more than a year due to instabilities that were not fixed until 4.1.2
I do like the new android keyboard; but its not a perfect fit for everyone.
Cheers
 

lamorpa

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The answer to legacy Gingerbread phones is - buy a New Phone! What, did you think this was a lifetime purchase? The new, basic phones are 5X faster and come (obviously) updated. Do you complain when your car is not working as well as a new one when it's 8 years old, or you have to go every year for your annual physical? That's the nature of life cycles. How many iPhone 3's do you see? At least Apple has solved the problem by convincing their congregation they must have the latest and greatest handset to be cool. Get with the Jelly Bean program after 2 years. Is it that confusing?
 

lamorpa

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Apr 30, 2008
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The answer to legacy Gingerbread phones is - buy a New Phone! What, did you think this was a lifetime purchase? The new, basic phones are 5X faster and come (obviously) updated. Do you complain when your car is not working as well as a new one when it's 8 years old, or you have to go every year for your annual physical? That's the nature of life cycles. How many iPhone 3's do you see? At least Apple has solved the problem by convincing their congregation they must have the latest and greatest handset to be cool. Get with the Jelly Bean program after 2 years. Is it that confusing?
 
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