Looking for a Keyboard app for the iPad 2

[agencius]

There are a few, but they are very limited. You can not replace the system keyboard, so any keyboard app you get will be limited to use in that app. That being so, I've not bothered to even try any of them.

I believe there are keyboard tweaks available if you jailbreak. Go over to the Hacking area and read the sticky notes (at the top) for more info on jailbreaking if you are interested.

Hello, I just would like to request a correction to your statement as there is an iPad App that does facilitate use of its special character input in Pages, Numbers, iPF and others.

Check blog posts and reviews is out there, so look more thoroughly. My neighbor at the time, made the effort to write that iPad App after many discussions.

No jail-breaking required either is needed on your iPad.

He was lost to lung cancer last year, November 21, 2011. Big loss as he wrote three iPad App's and we shared a chance to debut his App on the MacApp store last year in January. Jeff truly loved Apple greatly and was inspired by the iPad to do more.

App names have been omitted deliberately per guidelines.

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[agencius]

Have a look at Cymbol, Uniconsole and Unicode map. These provide subscript and superscript as I teach science.

Sent from my one and only original iPad using iPF

All three of these tap into Unicode on your iPad. Compare how easily you can get the special text to where you need it. The better type of App should work quickly with short cuts to copy, save and paste elsewhere.

Unicode®¹ font extensions are surprising as what you may put into a document or SMS².

¹ Unicode fonts may need testing when dealing with interchange.
² SMS is short message or text messaging. Many special characters will work even texted from iPad to Android. But remember, the font completeness determines what your result will show on the receivers system.

[twerppoet]

Hello, I just would like to request a correction to your statement as there is an iPad App that does facilitate use of its special character input in Pages, Numbers, iPF and others. . .

Sorry, I don't see where I need a correction. Your information is useful, and appreciated, but those keyboards do not replace the System keyboard. They are limited to use inside the app that creates them. That is all I said.

You have to copy and paste the text into the final destination app. I am not denigrating the potential usefulness of these apps. They could be very useful for special character entry and might supply a better keyboard experience; but that is not what the OP was asking for. Or that is how I read the question.

[5teve]

How much would you pay for an App that gave you an exact copy of a regular keyboard with 82 keys.
It has all the letters fro A to Z and numbers from 1 to 0. Then it has all the symbols from ! to + and the arrow keys along with Fn, Ctrl, Option & Command. Not to mention, Shift, Caps Lock, Tab, Backspace, Enter and the Spacebar. It also has the keys that you normally see on a conventional keyboard for sound, brightness and common DVD player controls.
Just buy a Bluetooth keyboard for around £12 on eBay.
Simples.

[kurtosis]

Try the app "International Keyboard". It offers 5 rows with shift doing what you expect etc. it only works within its own App but you can easily copy.

Ony issue I found is the keys are a bit small and hard to hit.

[mikejb1]

Hi. THe standard Ipad virtual keyboard defaults to letters. So, if I want to use only numbers (sudoku etc) I have to keep pressing 123 button. Anyone kn ow a way around this? is there another keyboard that wojuld work with any app?

thanks all

[1ForeverKnight]

Is your ipad jailbrocken?

[f4780y]

I appreciate that jailbreaking is not for everyone, but as has already been stated, the only way to replace the iPad system keyboard is to jailbreak and install a keyboard tweak.

Remember, jailbreaking is not illegal and is relatively risk free. It can be achieved with more or less a single click of a jailbreak enabling application on your PC if you are running 5.1.1. There are plenty of folks around who only jailbreak to use one or two little tweaks such as this. Jailbreaking does not prevent you from using any of the standard features of your iPad and it continues to operate as you would expect of a stock device. You can simply install non-Apple approved apps on the device after it is jailbroken.

Here is a link to our "review" of iKeyWi, the 5 row keyboard tweak for jailbroken devices.

iKeywi HD for iPad - The new 5-Row Keyboard Tweak!

It costs $2.99 from Cydia (the jailbreak app store). This tweak allows you to completely reassign all keys on the keyboard and also provides the standard 5th row and arrow keys

Head on over to our Hacking Section if you need any more info.

[Spugnut]

While the Keyboard Apps may be limited, I found using an external Bluetooh keyboard helpfull when I need to do a lot of typing. I then also do not have the keyboard obscuring a part of the screen.