Flatten Out Your Smartphone Touchscreen Keyboard - Minuum

Unless you have a smartphone with a touchscreen larger than 3.5 inches, your floating keyboard takes up way too much space. It can take up half the screen and then you cannot see everything that you need to. For some, this is a source of frustration for them. It would be great if there was a way to get more real estate in the screen without having to resort to a Bluetooth keyboard. There is one product out there right now which does appear to give you that. It is called Minuum and gives you the added space by squishing that keyboard down to basically a single line.

The Minuum, a little keyboard for big fingers, is one that has been in beta for a while and is now available at the Google Play Store. And there is no iOS version of this. That is because of restrictions by Apple and they are hoping some developers will take this and get around those restrictions. Reviews are still coming in from users and it does seem to be receiving high marks for what it does in replacing the normal touch screen keyboard that we are used to using. The Minuum looks like it is going to become a replacement for many because of the small foot print on the screen when flattened out.

That's right, I said when it is flattened out. That is because they have added the ability to turn that squished row of letters back into a standard keyboard for when you need to type with speed or typing in a URL or something requiring other characters. That makes this meet a lot more needs. One of the concerns on seeing this the first time is that everything being on a single line for typing is going to create a lot of mistakes. And that would be a correct statement.

The key is going to be for Minuum to learn from you and determine what you intend to type. It learns over time so that you can pick up your typing speed. While you would think that mistyping all those words would make things slower trying to be accurate, you just have to get used to the idea that it will self correct for you. As you become accustomed to it, your speed will return.

Where this is a product in beta, you might think that it would be free until it completes that process. You would be wrong in that assumption. They are charging $3.99 to download the app and that is what it is going to be when it is generally available. They are able to charge that because of all the interest in this product. And they are continuing to make improvements on Minumm so that it continues to be a better product. If you need more space on your touch screen when the keyboard is visible, the Minuum may be your solution.