Other changes and innovations are planned for the Gboard. Google’s keyboard app will be bigger and better in the near future.
Google can’t just let its own keyboard app be just a keyboard, as the company has repeatedly proven with numerous additions in recent years. In the future, however, there will be even more, as revealed by the corresponding text modules and strings in the source code of the current Android version (beta). Google will soon be rolling out its completely new version of Google Assistant to Germany, and then there will also be integration into the Gboard.
It’s not yet clear exactly how Gboard and Assistant fit together, but the integration appears to be related to the on-device version of the voice assistant. On-device ensures that voice commands are processed directly on the device, therefore almost in real time. This allows Google to directly control apps and app functions. So that’s probably the reason for the new connection with the Gboard? The following strings appeared:
- Ask Assistant button
- Ask Assistant
Google recently integrated Lens into the keyboard and gave up simple web searches for it.
New feature for autocorrect and suggested answers
Another string in the source code again points to the auto-completion that Gboard should receive for chat apps. A bit like the smart replies in the notifications starting with Android 10.
Last but not least, there would be a shortcut to undo an auto-correction. Here the following string is already in the source code of the app: “Use the backspace key to return to the original text after an auto-correction”. Is it clear what that means?
Teardown of current app versions
In a so-called teardown, the source code of a current app version is analyzed. Text modules and other information about new functions often appear at an early stage. At this point, however, it is rarely possible to say when and if the innovations discovered will actually be made available to users.
