For someone who relies on spelling help, choosing a keyboard is also choosing support for what they want to say. In its March 21, 2017 announcement of the first Android O developer preview, Google described work to make arrow-key and Tab navigation more dependable. That addresses movement through an app; it does not, by itself, answer what assistance remains when a person starts writing. [google][ars]

Ars Technica’s Ron Amadeo supplied the missing question. Discussing existing Android keyboard limitations, he noted that apps including Gmail depended on the software keyboard for spell checking, and that switching to hardware could leave that help absent. His criticism concerned the existing Android experience, including the Pixel C, rather than a tested Android O failure. Ars explicitly said it had not yet tried the preview. [ars]

The practical tradeoff is therefore more personal than a feature list suggests. A writer may prefer physical keys yet still need the assistance associated with the onscreen keyboard. Our recommendation is to make continued spelling support a condition of a writing setup’s suitability, rather than treating successful navigation as sufficient. App makers can reasonably improve navigation in stages; they should also explain which writing aids remain available. Respecting a person’s choice means making that dependency visible, not deciding for them which benefit matters more. [google][ars]

Google’s preview offered developers an opportunity to investigate that question, not a finished answer for everyday writers. The company reserved this initial release for developers, requiring manual downloading and flashing, and said stabilization work remained. The narrow unresolved issue is whether the preferred keyboard and the needed spelling help can coexist in the intended app. [google][ars]

Source documents

  1. O-MG, the Developer Preview of Android O is here!https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/03/first-preview-of-android-o.html
  2. Google announces the Android O Developer Previewhttps://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/03/the-android-o-developer-preview-promises-better-battery-life-faster-apps/