Hacker's Keyboard: A Proper Keyboard for Your Android Device

Productivity Sauce

Despite its name, the Hacker's Keyboard Android app is not limited to hackers and coders. This keyboard replacement replicates the regular keyboard layout, so it is perfectly suited for users who depend on the arrow, punctuation, Tab, Ctrl, and Esc keys in their daily computing. Moreover, Hacker's Keyboard boasts the Fn key which evokes a separate layout containing a numerical keyboard and a function key pad.

Hacker's Keyboard works particularly well with the ConnectBot SSH client app, and the keyboard supports a wide range of layouts, including English, German, French, and Russian. Switching between layouts is done by swiping to the right or left on the Space key, which is a very nice touch, indeed. In addition to that, you can download additional completion dictionaries (the English dictionary is included by default) for use with Hacker's Keyboard.

To deploy Hacker's Keyboard on your Android device, install the app from the Android Market, and open it. Tap on the Configure input methods button and enable Hacker's Keyboard. Tap then on the Hacker's Keyboard item to tweak the app's settings (the User's Guide page provides descriptions of all available configuration options). Return to the Hacker's Keyboard app, tap on the Input languages button, and enable the keyboard layouts you want to use. Return to the Hacker's Keyboard app, press the Set current input method button and select the Hacker's Keyboard item. Finally, use the Get dictionaries button to install additional dictionaries.