SPB Keyboard 4.0 review

The bundled touch screen keyboard of Windows Mobile is rubbish. Sure it does the job with a stylus and its compact but it doesn’t offer much else. There are many alternatives on the market. Up until using this, Resco has provided me with the best experience with it’s imitation iPhone keyboard. Obviously this is tested on a touch screen device. The software is a little pointless otherwise.

In recent times I have found myself using the onscreen keyboard more often as my slide out qwerty keyboard is extremely temperamental. I have tried a number of different keyboards from rom ripped translations from the likes of the Diamond keyboard to premium (trialware) keyboards from Resco. Resco was about the only one that was up to the challenge yet still had a number of typing problems given the recessed screen and my chunky thumbs finding the q’s and p’s difficult to hit.

Spb Keyboard 4.0 offers a straight up qwerty affair, with international options, with pointing and clicking on letters to action a key. None of this sliding, multi-tapping or gesture malarkey. No, this provides an easy to use thumb friendly keyboard to make a quick response. Whilst it still suffers from the recessed screen problems it compensates by featuring an easily accessible fullscreen keyboard with bigger buttons.

It is this keyboard that gives Spb Keyboard the edge over the competition. Spb have used this feature for a few years and it surprises me that other companies haven’t incorporated it into their releases. Whilst the entry box is quite small and only covers a few words as you type them it is an awesome utility for a quick text on the go. You can then use the smaller half screen keyboard when sitting down with the stylus out.

Options wise there isn’t too much to configure/play with. However a nice touch is the downloadable skins. In the few weeks I’ve been playing with this there was nothing to download, however the night before I wrote this a couple of skins appears sans previews. By the time you read this they will be downloadable. Thankfully they look to be free.

Overall the program is easily the most functional and handy of the onscreen keyboard’s available today. There is a lot to like and I struggle to think of any glaring errors. I’d heartily recommend this to anyone with no qwerty keyboard and those, like me, who struggle to use them.

You can download it and find more details here.