The Minuum keyboard isn’t new, however we did see the v2.0 release arrive in the Play Store earlier this morning. This latest release not only had the keyboard officially exiting the beta period, but it also brought a 30-day trial version for those not yet ready to fully commit. Minuum regularly sells for $3.99, so having a free trial available seems like a solid perk.
Between the free trial, and promises such as more screen real estate and being able to “type fast without worrying about precision” — we decided to give the Minuum keyboard a look. We first installed it on a Moto X, then later installed on the Omate TrueSmart and we were pleasantly surprised. You’ll notice (in the video below) things weren’t quite as smooth on the watch, but that is due more to the particularly small screen than the keyboard.
We aren’t quite ready to call the Minuum keyboard our default just yet. For now that will remain as SwiftKey, thanks mainly due to their cloud setup which makes it easy to jump from device to device. But that aside, Minuum will be sticking around, and given some further use over the course of the next week or so. Who knows, it may end up being a go to option.
Getting up and running with Minuum is pretty simple, and just like any other keyboard option. You download and install it, then enable it and set it as your default. And nicely, once those items are done, Minuum offers a bit of a walkthrough to help you get started.
A few points to keep in mind — tapping with two fingers will allow you to switch between the Minuum and regular QWERTY layouts, and a tap and hold on the shift key will bring up further options to include voice typing, settings and more.
A swipe to the right makes a space, a swipe to the left takes you back and tapping and holding a letter brings up some additional options for that particular key. There is also an option to turn auto-correction on, or off. That can be found just above the Q when the keyboard is fully opened (traditional QWERTY layout).
Minuum, both the paid and free trial versions, can be found in the Play Store.
As some will likely point out, yes, our typing speed was VERY SLOW with Minuum. To that point, this was with less than five minutes of using it. We would expect to speed up as we gain more familiarity.
