Potrait QWERTY Keyboard for Symbian^3 - Baidu Input Potrait v1.02

The alphanumeric keypad on N8 is excellent for one hand usage. But power users who are not familiar with it, regard it as a letdown. For some people, portrait QWERTY is a must.

There are some instances where you need to do quick text entry, and this require one hand usage using the T9 method. On some other occassions, when long text entry is needed, I prefer to have a portrait QWERTY, and by default, there is no portrait QWERTY in Nokia N8. To solve this problem here is Baidu Input.

Options & Functions in Baidu Input:

– Easy method to Select all, copy, cut, paste, delete – texts in all area
– Dictionary, predictive texts
– Can be used in both portrait and landscape
– Easy to enable and disable dictionary
– The QWERTY can be dragged / moved around the screen
– The QWERTY is skinnable.
– It has it’s own alphanumeric implementation, based on gestures.

Installation steps:

1. To configure Baidu Input, you need to download the sisx file and install it on your Symbian^1 or Symbian^3 devices.

2. After installation, please REBOOT your device. This is very IMPORTANT!

3. After reboot, you can launch it from the application launcher. It’s easy to recognise it because it’s the only app with Chinese name on Nokia N8

4. The next step is to enable Baidu Input systemwide. It will be used as the main text entry method in all text areas in all applications. When you launch Baidu Input, you will be presented with a list of 8 options. Select the first one as highlighted in the screenshot (the one on the right) above.

5. A new screen will be opened. Again, please select the first item in the list where AknFEP is displayed. A pop out selection will appear. Select the one that’s written in Chinese. This method also can be used to disable Baidu Input if you dont want to use it or you want to uninstall it from your device.

6. You can now exit Baidu Input configuration. But before using it, you need to understand how it works. When you use it for the first time, the portrait QWERTY is not displayed. Instead, a Chinese keypad will be displayed to enter text. Dont worry. You can change that to QWERTY. Tap the icon (that is marked in orange – refer to screenshot above, on the left). A pop-up will appear, select the one with number 26 in the beginning, screenshot on the right.

7. After that, select another icon (also marked in orange) to change text method to English. The keypad will change to English alphanumeric. To change to QWERTY, press and slide your thumb (or finger) from left to right on any part of the keyboard. This is kinda hard to explain by text. Actually, changing text entry method in Baidu Input from alphanumeric to QWERTY vice versa is easily achieved using gestures. Left to right or right to left.