14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s Hub Keyboard that was launched in February has just been released on yet another platform, as the company is trying to make it available to as many people as possible.
And before you put your party hats on, here’s something you need to know: the “yet another platform” is not Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile, as Microsoft seems to be more interested in iOS these days (in fact, judging from the number of apps launched by its Garage team, it seems like it has always been so).
The Hub Keyboard that’s all about sharing files is now available for iPhone users too, so anyone on iOS can fire up the App Store and download it right away.
Some features missing
Basically, the whole purpose of the Hub Keyboard is to make it easy to share Office documents stored in the cloud, contacts, or items that are copied to your clipboard.
The iOS version, however, is lacking some functionality pretty much because Apple doesn’t allow developers to access certain features of iOS because of security reasons, for Hub Keyboard on iOS cannot show the previously copied text items. What you get instead is a list with the most recently copied items.
Also, if you were hoping to use the automatic translation feature on your iPhone, you’re out of luck because it’s missing too. This option enables users to type in a language and have the text automatically translated to another.
Hub Keyboard also offers Office 365 integration, which means that an account is necessary, so you can easily share documents with your contacts using cloud power.
A new project by Microsoft Garage
Created by Microsoft Garage, the Hub Keyboard was specifically developed to improve multi-tasking because it’s something difficult and takes a lot of time to switch between apps to copy text and share files, such as Office documents. And it gets even more difficult to share documents that are stored in the cloud.
“Personally I don’t like switching between apps to do different things on my smartphone. But all these different apps on a smartphone, they have to conform to rules of a keyboard and that got me thinking about the project as an interesting idea I wanted to explore more. We’re giving users a wider gamut of tools,” says Steve Won, a senior designer on the Office team who created the app, explained.
In case you’re wondering, no, Hub Keyboard is not yet available on Windows Phone and there’s still no sign that it could ever land on this platform. Judging from Microsoft’s increased focus on iOS and Android, the chances are that it will never be launched on Windows Phone.
