Samsung has finally released its best ever Keyboard designed for the landscape mode of your galaxy phones. This keyboard is rolled out with the recent One UI update for Samsung galaxy phones released in September 2020.
The split keyboard was earlier released for the Samsung Galaxy Fold phones and the Samsung Tablet after which Samsung decided to roll it out for the Samsung Galaxy phones as well based on the users feedback for the large screen Samsung flagship phones especially Samsung Galaxy S10+, Note 10+, S20 Ultra and Note 20 Ultra.
Why is Split keyboard released?
If you own a large screen phone, phablet or tablet, you would have struggled to type on your device using the standard default keyboard since the standard keyboard on your device is the QWERTY keyboard with keys starting at a margin from the borders of your device screen on left and right hand side (see below)
Hence, in your phone's landscape mode you need to stretch your thumbs to reach to the middle keys of your QWERTY keyboard and most of the time ending up holding the phone with your one hand and pressing the keys with your other hand by raising it.
The split keyboard eliminates this pain by dividing the keyboard in two halves and placing each half close to the borders of your phone in landscape (horizontal) mode so that the keys are accessible from your thumbs and you don't have to stretch your thumbs to reach the mid keys.
How to enable the Split Keyboard in Landscape (Horizontal) mode?
1. Switch your phone to Auto rotate mode through quick access panel.
2. Open any app (example messaging, WhatsApp, YouTube, browser) where you want to use the keyboard.
3. Now rotate your phone from Portrait (Vertical) mode to Landscape (Horizontal) mode.
4. Select the three dots on your keyboard screen.
5. Select the keyboard modes
6. Select Split keyboard
That's all, enjoy the swift type without any thumbs pain or inconvenience of typing in landscape mode of your large phone screen.
Other Useful Keyboard Modes
Samsung has designed the other keyboards worth mentioning here which you can use especially in the Portrait (Vertical) mode of your phone. You can enable these modes by following the procedure as mentioned for the Split Keyboard.
1. One-handed Keyboard:
This keyboard is best used in the portrait mode of your phone using which you can type with just one of your hands by holding the phone with your one hand only. This mode shrinks the keyboard making accessible by thumb of just your one hand and you don't have to worry if you are left handed since you can shift the position of the keyboard by using the button highlighted below.
2. Floating keyboard:
This keyboard can be enabled in both portrait and landscape mode of your phone screen. Enable this keyboard to drag and place the keyboard anywhere on your phone screen. This keyboard allows you to display any part of your phone screen while by moving the keyboard across your screen.