The latest Android update; Android L(rumored as Android Lollipop) is expected to land on certain devices within the next 90 days. HTC has specifically mentioned that this update will be available to its 2013 and 2014 flagships; the HTC one M7 and M8 between periods of July and August. The HTC team called this ‘The HTC advantage’. However, the keyboard prototype for the Android L now exist as a standalone app in the Google Playstore.
Developer Shen Ye has managed to swipe the official Android L keyboard and modify it to run as a standalone keyboard app for any device that runs Android 4.0 Jelly Bean or higher. Shen Ye says that the app is free and features no ads and no bloat, which means that they’re not making money from Google’s code. The app, which incorporates elements of Google’s new Material Design Philosophy has been getting strong reviews so far and has an average reviewer score of 4.6 stars out of 5.
Installing the app is quite simple. Once you have downloaded it from Google Play you just need to go through the standard three steps to enable the keyboard, switch the input method to the new keyboard, and configure any additional languages, if necessary.
Technically Android L Keyboard is just Google Keyboard 3.1.20006 with the Material theme installed. This means it should work as well as the current Google Keyboard and should be stable enough for every day use.
