What happened to the Xperia keyboard? o.0

[Michelasso]

I've just bought the XC (received it yesterday) and I noticed there was no Xperia keyboard. Swiftkey is the default. "Ok - I thought - I'll download it from Google Play". Well, doing a search it doesn't show. Which usually means an app doesn't support that phone.

I mean.. Really? Is Sony ditching its own keyboard for the one.. owned by MS? Or it is just the X Compact? 

[alex_ncfc]

Just got the Xperia X Compact today and the first thing I noticed was the horrible SwiftKey keyboard - I don't want this, but likewise, I don't want to be messing around with "Unknown sources" APK on my brand new phone!

Can somebody find out why Sony have blocked access to their own app?! Also, I had to do a factory reset after first setting up the phone and I am sure SwiftKey wasn't the default before the factory reset - can anybody confirm?

If I did install the Xperia Keyboard APK, will it be able to link to my Sony Entertainment Network account (on which I had saved all my words, settings etc??) Is this still a feature of the X Compact?

Thanks

[Michelasso · Accepted solution]

Judging from the new Theme Creator for Xperia I can confirm that Sony is indeed dropping the Xperia keyboard, in favour of Swiftkey. See yourself (the left keyboard is from Lollipop preview, the right from Marshmallow):

I suppose the Xperia keyboard will definitevely disappear in Nougat (Android 7.x). Personally I am not complaining. I had the Xperia keyboard's apk on my Xperia M2, transferred it to the XC, but I find Swiftkey to be quite better. 

[alex_ncfc]

I think the disappointing thing about this is that when I got my Z1 I noticed I could log in through the keyboard settings with "Backup and sync" options and I thought this looked very handy - it even said that this would ensure the same keyboard experience (settings, skins, dictionaries etc) across all your current and future Xperia phones - there's nothing worse than getting a new phone and finding it is changing all the words you had previously added to your dictionary getting auto-corrected, so this was a very handy feature. The SwiftKey one probably has these features too (haven't looked) but so far it seems pretty naff. I have contacted Sony to ask them to re-instate the old keyboard as an available download. Maybe if enough people do they will reconsider?

[Michelasso]

Yeah, I was disappointed about the lack of synchronization for my old Xperia dictionaries as well. I looked for it indeed. Apart that, to be honest, they were full of junk (codes from wakelocks, source codes and stuff like that. I don't even know how they ended there). But with my surprise, after enabling any possible synchronization in Swiftkey (gmail, SMS), many of my defined words were there. Maybe they came from the SMS. It's also true that I used Swiftkey already in the past (and I was always close to make the switch), so maybe it has got the words from there.

Still, at least in Italian, Swiftkey has a much better standard dictionary. Many of my words in the Xperia keyboard were declinations and/or plurals for the the verbs. In Italian there are many different tenses and the Xperia keyboard was just lacking them. Then Swiftkey learns faster and seems to give more priority the the last recently used or most used words. But I do understand some people may want the Xperia keyboard back. Although I wouldn't hold my breath, it seems like a big business decision to me.

[alex_ncfc]

Just bringing this subject back up because I can't stand the SwiftKey keyboard still, I've tried to get used to it but it's crap - and I want the previous Xperia keyboard to be re-instated by Sony. I've e-mailed them a few times about this but they say they have no plans to do so. I've never been more infurtiated by a keyboard app. The Xperia one was more than good enough, but this one is always changing words and I also can't find where the user-saved dictionary is, can anyone help me there?

It really is a dreadful keyboard and I don't know why Sony have made this move!

[UGLYDOLL]

I agree, I do not like it one bit... Has a negative effect on the user experience for me.
Yes you can install the awesome Google keyboard but I loved the xperia one. Confusing.

[Dragontrumpetar]

I just hate this darn Swiftkey-keyboard. I havent found a workin APK for sony-keyboard yet. I tried Google Keyboard, that was ok, but thats all. I tried other types of keyboards and they were just awful. Swiftkey biggest issue is (for me at least) its really bad at writing in swedish. I do write both in swedish and english, and I want swedish to be numberone language. And its not. Everytime I using swipe function or tapping it always choose a english word first. God, its annoying.

[ynk1]

http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/sony-mobile-communications/xperia-keyboard/xperia-keyboard-7-3-a-0-54-r...

This APK works fine, it's the one from the Play Store. However, I have one issue with it. With STAMINA enabled it is almost impossible to type due to bad touch response. At least on my X Compact. I don't have this issue with Google Keyboard and STAMINA so I think it must be something with the Xperia Keyboard.

[alex_ncfc]

I would suggest all contacting Sony support to let them know (as I did) that you are not satisfied with the app. Hopefully they might get the message.

As you have said ynk, you can get the APK - but with a new phone, I don't want to be having to tick "Unknown sources" just yet, and as you mention, it's not working properly in STAMINA mode, so this isn't ideal anyway. I wish they'd just give us the option to download it from the Play Store, rather than listing it as "Incompatible with your device"

[Riz-Mughal]

true....old keyboard was better... specially i always used numpad keyboard on small screen like Z3 C, but now unable to use numpad due to swift keyboard...