If there is a technological business that is not afraid to “break things” to improve them, it's Google. For better and for worse, Google has never stimulated your pulse to close the services or modify applications forever. For his defense, on several occasions, Google ends up making the right decision, but it is no less true that it also makes loose errors and that users eventually suffer; One of these’s latest novelty is.
And it is that the latest Gboard update has not yet reached all users, but it is already absurdly obvious that Google should cancel it as soon as possible; The reception that the beta version has had among the users who have already been able to prove that it is one of the worst that we remember. It is something particularly shocking, taking into account that it affects one of the vital parts of the system, The keyboard installed by default In a large number of Android mobiles and is used by millions of users per day.
Despite this, Google dared to change what was already working, with a New design for the keyboard keyboard which was published in the latest beta version of Gboard, in particular 15.1.05.726012951; Indeed, the company says goodbye to the classic rectangular design of the keys, in favor of a more daring aspect. It is easy to see why Google thought it was a good idea; The round keys go better with the rest of the Android interface, which adopted a rounded design. In conjunction with you, it is a more beautiful design and it corresponds better to the current Android philosophy; This does not mean horrible.
And in Google, they seem to have forgotten an essential element on a keyboard: usability. The first users who were able to try the new keyboard complain that they are now wrong during writing, because they press the bad touch or in the hole between the keys, which now occupies more space.
We might think that the good news is that Google has implemented an option to eliminate the edges of the keys; The result is a design more similar to that current, without edges between the keys but with a larger space dedicated to each.
New rounded design of Gbord, the Google keyboard
The free android
The problem is that The position of the keys has changed a little Regarding the current design to be able to put the rounded edges, and this new position is maintained even if we delete the edges; So eliminating the edges does not really solve anything, and there is no way to go to the current keyboard.
If we are used to writing messages at maximum speed without looking at the keyboard, Let's be wrong yes or yes. The frustration among the first users who was able to try the new keyboard is obvious in places such as Reddit or X; The lack of transparency of Google either helps, which has not only announced this change, but tests two different versions of the new keyboard: one has round keys, and in the other, they are more oval, but the problems are the same.
The good news is that, for the moment, the new keyboard It is only available in the beta version of Gbord; And the fact that Google knows two different conceptions tells us that the company itself is not sure of the path you want to follow. It is therefore perfectly possible that Google achieves the negative reaction among users and decides not to launch the new keyboard for users of the stable version of Gboard, which are the majority. We will have to wait to find out.
