Dear Geek,
I hate typing on my Android phone, but with the amount of texting I do, I quite often have to. No matter what, autocorrect changes my words, and if I shut autocorrect off, I mistype quite a few words. Any tricks to help?
Thanks,
Helpp Meee
Dear Helpp,
Thanks for writing; that’s a problem I think almost everyone has. iPhones and Macs have this functionality built in, and since your question is about an Android phone, I’ll focus on them. I know mistyping/autocorrect while texting personally happens to me all the time, and depending on the situation, it can be pretty embarrassing. Thankfully, companies have noticed that this is a problem and there are some workarounds that can help out.
I use a program called Airdroid to help with this. It’s an app that is installed on my phone, and it links to my computer via a website. When I log into the Airdroid website I have access to pretty much everything on my phone (files, pictures, texts, and more). When a text comes in, you can see it and respond directly through the site. That means being able to type your texts with your computer keyboard, not on your phone’s screen. Same thing if you want to initiate a new conversation with someone; it’s not solely for responding to texts. This ends up being a great timesaver if you need to do other tasks on your computer while communicating via texts.
Because your devices are linked while using this program, you can also transfer files (likely pictures and videos) between your computer and phone, which can be quite convenient. A lot of people struggle with transferring these items, and this simplifies that process.
The free version of Airdroid lets you text and transfer files, while the premium version ($19.99 a year) allows for unlimited file transfers, remote access from your computer to your phone’s camera; it automatically takes pictures of people trying to unlock your phone (handy if it were to be stolen and someone tried to access it), has the ability to connect more than one device to your account, and more.
I have also used Mightytext and Pushbullet for the same texting from the computer/transfer files functionality, and they are great programs as well. Airdroid came out a little higher in some online reviews I read on some technology websites I rely on, so I opted for that one.
Hopefully I’ve responded fast enough to save you from some embarrassing communication. It happens enough in the world that there are actually books showing nothing more than mistyped or autocorrected conversations. I haven’t made it into one of those books yet, but when I do, I’ll let you know!
The Geek
Adam Darack is the IT administrator for the town of Edgartown. He writes regularly about the technological issues facing Island business owners. Got a question? Send it to onisland@mvtimes.com with the subject line “Dear Geek.”
