Thumbs-On With The New Minuum Keyboard, The Next Best Thing For Android Typing?

Two months ago, Toronto-based Whirlscape went to Indiegogo to get their new Minuum virtual keyboard made for Android. The premise was simple – compress the entire keyboard into a single line that didn’t take up 40% of your display’s real estate – but it was obvious there was a lot of masterful engineering required behind the scenes, much of it done in time for their pitch. Despite the Play Store’s best attempts to hold it back, the beta keyboard is now finally getting out and about and I’ve now had my time with it. So how does it work?

How This Is Different

This Minuum keyboard is well-built, but boy does it have a learning curve. See, while the keys resemble their original locations in a standard keyboard, they’re moved into a location where muscle memory doesn’t quite serve. It’s kinda like learning how to use a virtual keyboard again, but not quite that drastic. Minuum brags that you can be pretty sloppy and mash those keys in, but you’ll have a fun time mashing some of those keys in as you re-remember where these letters are supposed to be that. Make no mistake: the algorithms and guessing that Minuum does carries the bulk of the keyboard’s weight, but to its credit it does a pretty fantastic job when you get your stuff together. While you learn, or if you need some help, you can long-hold for more precise controls. Long-holding also grants you access to symbols and other more specific stuff. Also, the shift key needs a haptic trigger. Just a tip for ya, Whirlscape.