Google’s Gboard keyboard app for Android is throwing foldable phone users (or at least beta users of the app for now) a bone with a split keyboard mode. It aims to make typing less awkward and a little more ergonomic on the large, extended screens of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 or the Microsoft Surface Duo 2.
Split keyboard mode cuts the keyboard in half, placing all the keys near both sides of the foldable phone, much closer to where your thumbs might naturally rest while holding the device. And while Samsung’s keyboard app already offers this feature for Z Fold phones, some Android users prefer Gboard’s typing experience and autocorrect implementation.
Android Central was the first to pick up on the r/GalaxyFold subreddit, discovering the feature’s silent inclusion. If you’d like to try this out for yourself, sign up for the beta by visiting the app’s page in the Google Play Store on your device. 9to5Google notes that this feature will arrive with the 11.9.04 beta. However, if you don’t see it in your app, you may have to wait for Google to flip a server-side switch before you can access it.
You’ll know you have it when the toolbar above your foldable’s on-screen keyboard shows a split keyboard icon (I’ve marked it in the photos below in light orange). Pressing it will split the keyboard and that icon will be replaced by an icon that can put the two halves of the keyboard back together.
You can see two photos of the split keyboard in action on foldable phones above. One of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 (left) and one of the Surface Duo 2 (right), a device that, despite arriving with a bang at the end of 2021, received enough improvements to be much more compelling in 2022. And now, it’s easier than ever to write.
Add Comment