Google has the most visited website on the planet. It’s search engine is arguably the best in the world. Its operating system Android, has the largest market share in smartphones. However, that is not enough for the company and it was to delve even deeper into your smartphones that it launched Gboard. Today, the company is expanding upon its smartphone keyboard’s capabilities in a major way.
Google has rolled out an update today morning wherein it has introduced a slew of new features to the keyboard. First up is GIF and emoji suggestions, which pop up even as you type. This is an improvement over the normal keyboards you would find out in the market, which offer emoji support as you type. You can also share these GIFs across other applications including Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, Hangouts, and Allo.
Now this particular feature is a deft bit of maneuvering on Google’s part. By allowing users to share the GIFs they discover, Gboard is also setting itself up as a competitor to the likes of Giphy.
Next up is the Google Translate feature. The new integrations will allow you to translate texts into other languages right from your keyboard. Simply tap the translate icon in the quick features menu and watch as Google starts working its magic on your sentences even as you type. So basically, your sentences are translated into other languages even as you type.
Again, you notice the logic here? Google is positioning Gboard as a one stop solution for translating stuff as well. So, no need to hop off to a translating tool, simply install Gboard and you are done. Oh and thanks to the fact that the Google Neural Machine Translation system is at work here, the sentences are likely to be much more cohesive and intelligible than what you would expect from most other translation tools out there.
The interface has been given a couple of tweaks so that switching between voice and text typing is easier than ever. You can also tap the “G” icon in the suggestion strip to access a variety of new search features, including web, GIF and emoji search capabilities.
You can download the new, updated Gboard for free from the Play Store.
