Droid 2: The Missing Manual

Chapter 2. Typing and Texting

For most people, the whole point of a smartphone like the Droid 2 instead of a 10-key cellphone is the keyboard. Once you get past voice calls and move on to text messaging, email, and web surfing, you need an easy way to enter text, and once again the Droid 2 comes through with flying colors. It gives you three keyboards: two onscreen ones—multi-touch and Swype—and a physical one that you can slide out whenever you need it.

This chapter is about all the things the Droid 2 lets you do with text. From basic typing, you move on to editing, searching, text messaging, and chatting. Warm up those fingers and read on.

The Three Keyboards

Whenever you tap somewhere you can enter text—like an email message, a text message, in the address bar of a web browser—a keyboard appears. The Droid 2 starts out offering you the simplest, most basic keyboard, the multi-touch. You can then switch to the Swype or physical keyboard if you prefer.

• Multi-touch. This keyboard is typically the one you see when you first turn on your Droid 2. It works as you would expect: Tap a key to enter it.

  Note

  If you’ve ever used another Android-based phone, you’re already familiar with the multi-touch keyboard. It’s the one built directly into the Android operating system, and so is pretty much the same on all Android phones.

• Swype. With this keyboard, you don’t tap individual keys when you want to enter text. Instead, you tap a key, and then drag your finger over each letter in the word you want ...