Google’s Gboard now adds phrase suggestions and a draw-an-emoji feature

Google’s Gboard is acquiring new smarts that will assist in saving typing time. The smart keyboard for android has been updated with plenty of features primarily tasked with recognizing the users’ intentions. Being an app supported by both Android and iOS, Gboard will get excellent additional features such as the potential of drawing an emoji, and phrase auto-completion. This move by Google aims at making apps even more intelligent or smarter.

Emoji feature

This feature is expected to be fun. The draw-an-emoji feature is one way of making texting easier while at the same time enjoyable. According to Google, to draw an emoji, one will just tap an emoji handwriting button, and then draw an emoji on the screen. However, its performance as compared to the other simple emojis such as the sad face or the happy face will be another matter.

Google has been trying to simplify emoji usage in Gboard over the years. Before the new feature, the Gboard has been supporting emoji search functions. For instance, a person can search for an emoji by either name, expression or sentiment without the need to browse to locate the correct one.

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Furthermore, Google has been for years researching and experimenting the drawing on the display screen as a substitute to the conventional typing. In 2010, Google had the Gesture search feature for Android that allowed letter drawing on the screen to surface contacts, apps, music, etc.

As of now, there has been a significant advancement in recognition of drawings. The AutoDraw is an app that was launched on April 1st and can turn doodles and squiggles into shapes and objects that appear more professional.

The draw-an-emoji feature is an exciting and fun feature in the Gboard app. However, it is most likely used occasionally as compared to the phrase suggestion feature whose purpose will more likely to be seen on a daily basis.

Auto-complete a phrase feature

Google’s machine intelligence has for years been advancing and updating the typing quality which eventually positively affects suggestion making and mistake auto-correction. For the end user, the changes in the typing experience will be seen through the new feature that suggests phrases to the individual as they type, and is not limited to words. In fact, the advancement lets a person predict a whole phrase instead of words only.

For an individual to make a complete sentence faster, the Gboard app feature will be suggesting phrases as one continues typing. Nonetheless, the feature is only available in English but will soon be available in other languages too.

Other significant Gboard features

The Gboard Search feature

A significant milestone in the Gboard keyboard has been the search feature that allows individuals to carry out Google search straight from their keyboard and consequently share the results with other users. However, the only setback with such an excellent feature is that only one search result is displayed. Therefore, the user would have to search using the conventional way if the search results shown are not satisfactory.

As the Gboard keyboard continues to make smart solutions through is machine intelligence, more and more updates are likely to be seen. For instance, the Gboard will begin to offer several results that a person can go through while running Google searches from their keyboard.

Improved Google Search functionality

Another anticipated feature on the Gboard is the improved Google Search functionality. This will display even more search results to make it easier for a person to find links to the relevant information. The move will hugely strengthen the Gboard’s app keyboard search capabilities.