Here’s another tip that’s only for iPhones: if you type your message and then tap the emoji icon, you’ll see words that can be replaced with emoji begin to glow orange. Tap on any sparkly word to replace it with the corresponding emoji.
Edit text easily
Your phone’s keyboard isn’t just for typing, it can also be used to select, edit, and navigate what you’ve already typed. Depending on the screen size of your device, this can be tricky to do.
A useful feature for the iPhone keyboard can help here: hold down the key Space and the keyboard will transform into a trackpad. You can drag your finger across this trackpad to move the text cursor more precisely.
On Android, the equivalent function can be found by tapping the three dots at the top of the keyboard and then choosing text editing. You then get keys to move the text cursor and quick access to copy, paste and select functions.
save time typing
Did you know that you can make your phone replace custom acronyms with longer text strings? So instead of typing “be there soon” over and over again, you can type “bts” and let your phone do the rest.
If you are using an iPhone, from Settings go to General, KeyboardY text replacement. You can then use the + Button (plus) to add new shortcuts. When you type these abbreviations, the replacements will appear as corrections above the keyboard.
On Android, tap the gear icon above the keyboard and choose Dictionary Y personal dictionary. Choose your language, and on the next screen you can tap on the + (more) to set up new shortcuts, which again appear as keyboard tips.
Text replacement shortcuts can save you a lot of typing time.
Google via David Nield
Use your voice instead
Another phone keyboard trick is to not use the keyboard at all, but to dictate text using your voice. You may find that it’s much faster, especially in situations where you don’t have both hands free to use on your phone.
Activating the dictation feature couldn’t be much simpler, whether you’re using an iPhone or Android phone. Just tap the microphone icon (below the keyboard on the right on iOS, above the keyboard on the right on Android) and start speaking.
You’ll soon learn how to do this, and you’ll be able to enter punctuation marks and other special characters just by saying them. To go back to normal, tap the keyboard icon (iOS) or tap the microphone icon again (Android).
Change keyboards completely
You’re not stuck with the software keyboard that comes pre-installed on your phone – on both iOS and Android, there are several different third-party alternatives to choose from.
SwiftKey is one of the most popular options: it’s developed by Microsoft and is available for iOS and Android for free. Its goal is to learn your writing style over time, making predictions and automatic corrections more and more accurate.
If you want to try something really different, try the Freemium Typewise for iOS and Android. It uses a unique honeycomb pattern, with plenty of customization options, and promises to increase your typing speed by up to 33 percent.
Source: www.wired.com