virtual keyboard Q1 2009

**richard** · 10-22-2008, 01:59 AM

I was just looking over the freshly open-sourced Android stuff. It appears that the current roadmap is to release support for internationalization first in Q4 2008. Then in Q1 2009, IMF and IME frameworks! That means both virtual keyboards and input editors (T-9, etc.) will be supported natively by android. Pretty cool!

**joeyv821** · 10-22-2008, 02:01 AM

good thing these little things dont matter to me, or i would lose more hair then i did in this past month already. But this is gonna be great news for many, to know it will actually happen.

**A F 1 G 3** · 10-22-2008, 02:03 AM

Originally Posted by richard

I was just looking over the freshly open-sourced Android stuff. It appears that the current roadmap is to release support for internationalization first in Q4 2008. Then in Q1 2009, IMF and IME frameworks! That means both virtual keyboards and input editors (T-9, etc.) will be supported natively by android. Pretty cool!

Totally being a noob here and not being mean but, English please?

All I understood is, Q4 2008, and Q1 2009 a virtual keyboard will be out with T-9 support lol

**richard** · 10-22-2008, 02:11 AM

Originally Posted by A F 1 G 3

Totally being a noob here and not being mean but, English please?

All I understood is, Q4 2008, and Q1 2009 a virtual keyboard will be out with T-9 support lol

Basically, with a native IMF (Input Method Framework), a developer will be able to allow any app to pop up a virtual keyboard to allow input, anywhere in the device. The IME allows apps to use input editors, such as T9 and other forms of predictive text entry and/or correction. being supported natively, in other words, integrated tightly into Android, means that custom virtual keyboard layouts and custom text prediction and correction algorithms can be added, removed and switched out with the same ease as installing an app. Hope that helps clarify a bit..

**Darrell** · 10-22-2008, 03:14 AM

I was thinking about this last night, could it also possibly mean Multitouch is coming?

**richard** · 10-22-2008, 03:20 AM

Originally Posted by Darrell

I was thinking about this last night, could it also possibly mean Multitouch is coming?

Possibly. The hardware on the G1 as far as anybody know should support it. The original release of Android did in fact have support for multitouch. It was removed because of potential intellectual property issues, but they didn't remove the original driver stack for the synaptics screen.

Maybe Google isn't willing to test the waters with regards to the patents held on multitouch, but it's a pretty safe bet someone else probably will.

We'll see...