There was a big breakthrough in the foreign keyboard app world in the past few days. The Google Play Store released the input for Hindi which can be used for Android devices. This big step now allows speakers and writers of Hindi the ability to write naturally and have their input translated or made into Hindi.
Hindi is one of those languages that millions of people speak, but doesn’t usually get the coverage or widespread acknowledgement that other largely spoken languages get. This is not only a huge step forward in proving how important Hindi is to the masses, but is a very good gesture by Google and the Android world to show how they have not only not forgotten about their Hindi users, but are willing to go that extra step to cater to them.
The app essentially installs a toggle button to the keyboard. This button can either make the keyboard stay the normal default English one, or make it so that the keyboard will translate the English letters directly to Hindi as they are typed. The only negative about this app is that there is no actual Hindi plugin associated with it. If your phone cannot read Hindi then you need to either upgrade, or have a plugin downloaded to get that capability.
The same features with normal Android applies where the long press brings up alternate versions of characters and the paging button can help you navigate through longer texts. The thing about this app is that it detracts nothing from the regular, great Android interface it simply makes it more relevant and exponentially more useful for Hindi speakers.
Google Play: Google Hindi Input for Android
[Image Credit: Google Play Store]