The Samsung Keyboard supports glide typing, voice dictation, multiple languages, and deep customization through Good Lock. On paper, it’s a very capable and perfectly functional keyboard. However, it’s only when I started using it that I realized great features don’t necessarily translate to a great user experience. Here’s every problem I faced with the Samsung Keyboard, and why I’m permanently sticking with Gboard as my main Android keyboard.

Google’s voice typing doesn’t cut me off mid-sentence

Fewer corrections, fewer cutoffs, faster dictation

I might be a professional writer, but I hate typing—whether it’s on a physical keyboard or a virtual one. I type slower than I think, which I suspect is true for most people. That becomes a problem when I have multiple ideas in my head and need to get them down fast. It’s happened far too often: I start typing one idea and forget the other. Since jacking my brain into a computer isn’t an option (yet), I’ve been leaning more and more on voice typing as the fastest way to capture my thoughts.

Now, both Samsung Keyboard and Gboard support voice typing, but I’ve noticed that Gboard with Google’s voice engine is just better at transcription accuracy. It picks up on accents flawlessly and manages to output the right words. In my experience, it also seems to have a more up-to-date dictionary. When I mention a proper noun—something recently trending like a video game or a movie name—Samsung’s voice typing fails to catch it, but Google nails it.

That said, you can choose Google as your preferred voice typing engine inside Samsung Keyboard, but it’s a buggy experience. I’ve noticed that the transcription gets cut off while I’m in the middle of talking—even when I haven’t taken a long pause. This can be a real problem when I’m transcribing hands-free.

Gboard offers a more accurate glide typing experience

Google accurately maps my swipe gestures to the right words

Voice typing isn’t always possible, especially when you’re in a crowded place and want to be respectful (or secretive). At times like these, I settle for glide (or swipe) typing. It’s generally much faster than tapping on the keyboard—provided the prediction engine maps your gestures to the right word. If it doesn’t, you have to delete that word, draw that gesture again, or worse—type it out manually.

Now, both Samsung Keyboard and Gboard support glide typing, but I’ve noticed Gboard is far more accurate. That said, when I researched this online, I found a 50-50 divide—some people say Gboard is more accurate, others say Samsung is. I do have a theory on why this happens.

Before my Galaxy S24, I used a Pixel 6a, before that a Xiaomi, and before that a Nokia 6.1 Plus. All of my past smartphones came with Gboard by default. I believe Gboard learned my typing patterns over time—what word correlates to what gesture, which corrections I accept, and which ones I reject. After a decade of building up that prediction model, Gboard knows what I mean when my thumb traces a particular shape. Samsung Keyboard, on the other hand, is starting from zero on this Galaxy S24—leading to all the prediction errors. At least that’s my working theory.

There’s also the argument for muscle memory. While glide typing, you need to hit all the correct keycaps for the prediction engine to work. If you’re even off by a slight amount, the prediction model might think you meant to hit “S” instead of “W.” Now, because of my years of typing on Gboard, it’s likely that my muscle memory is optimized for its specific layout and has trouble adapting to Samsung’s.

Related

Is Swiping Really Faster Than Typing on a Phone Keyboard?

Which typing method reigns supreme?

I mix three languages in one message, and Gboard just gets it

Predictive multilingual typing doesn’t get any better than this

I’m trilingual—I speak English, Hindi, and Bengali. When I’m messaging my friends and family, we’re basically code-mixing—jumping between languages in the same sentence using the Latin alphabet. Now, my friends and I have noticed that Gboard handles code-mixing much more seamlessly than Samsung Keyboard.

If you just have the English dictionary enabled, neither keyboard can guess that you’re trying to transliterate a different language into English. It’ll always try to autocorrect everything, which breaks the flow. The only way to fix this is by downloading a transliteration dictionary like Hinglish (Hindi + English) or Bangla (Latin). Both Samsung Keyboard and Gboard support these dictionaries, but the problem with Samsung Keyboard is that it can only use one dictionary at a time.

Let’s say I’m writing something in Latinized Bangla and suddenly drop a Hindi phrase. Samsung Keyboard will attempt to autocorrect those Hindi words. Gboard is more context-aware. Since my Hinglish keyboard is already installed, I don’t have to manually switch to it. Gboard can detect that I’m using a Hindi word even with the English or Bangla keyboard enabled, and it won’t try to autocorrect what I’m writing. This also works flawlessly with glide typing, which is a huge quality-of-life improvement over Samsung Keyboard.

Gboard looks good without me spending an hour on it

I don’t have time for manual customization

Samsung Keyboard is hands down the more customizable option, especially if you combine it with the Keys Cafe module inside Good Lock. You get granular control over almost every aspect of the keyboard—key colors, keycaps, gesture animations, and a whole lot more. While for some users, this is heaven, I just find it too overcomplicated and a massive time sink.

I don’t have the patience to sit and adjust every visual detail of my keyboard. Sure, it gets stale after a while, and you’d want to freshen it up, but I don’t want to spend the better part of an hour tweaking a virtual keyboard. This is where Gboard wins (at least for me) by doing less.

Android 16 brings Material 3 Expressive, which automatically themes your system apps using your wallpaper’s color scheme. With Gboard, all you have to do is change the wallpaper, and the keyboard updates to match—no Good Lock, no manual color picking. It’s a cleaner, more seamless way to keep your phone looking good without putting in the extra legwork.

The keyboard you don’t think about is the one that’s working

I didn’t switch to Gboard because Samsung Keyboard was broken. I switched because Gboard made typing feel effortless. If you’re a Samsung user who’s never tried it, it’s a free download and a five-second switch. You might not go back either.

Related

I Tried the Weirdest Android Keyboards So You Don’t Have To

Can strange layouts and gestures beat the good old-fashioned QWERTY?