Gboard 6.1 beta refines voice input, GIF search

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 8 Mar 2017

st week we told you about some minor improvements coming to Gboard by way of the most recent beta: easier language translation a better theme picker. ll, ‘s not really to roll it out to the masses just yet. The latest beta of Gboard 6.1 adds some really welcome improvements to the way voice typing works makes looking for a GIF easier.

In the current Gboard, when you tap the little microphone icon to input text via voice, the whole keyboard disappears turns into a pause button. In the 6.1 beta, it now just lights up the microphone icon, leaves all your regular keys there. It’s a much simpler experience when you mix voice keyboard typing.

nexus2cee voice typing gboard Android lice

The keyboard no longer disappears when you start voice-typing.

has similarly streamlined GIF searching. The built-in GIF search is one of Gboard’s best features, it’s now supported by increasing number of messaging apps. But to get to it, you have to hit the emoji button at the bottom, then the GIF button. It’s just buried too deep.

In Gboard 6.1, there is now a GIF search item on the word suggestion bar. Type a word you’re one tap away from a related GIF search. For those that use GIFs a lot, like I do, it’s a faster more straightforward way to get what you’re after.

gboard gif search Android lice

The word suggestion bar now includes GIF searching, which really brings that feature to the fore.

Finally, one final minor tweak: en you begin a search by tapping the G icon in the upper left, you’re shown that day’s Doodle, if there is one. 

The best gets better: There are plenty of great keyboards on Android, but ‘s own Gboard is top of the heap. It has the best combination of speed, features, design. These are the sorts of tweaks necessary to stay on top, because Swiftkey others never stop innovating. Gboard is in public beta, which you can attempt to join here, though it usually says the beta is full. If you’re brave careful, you can sideload the A from AMirror.