Google recently announced the new method of input to Gboard to iOS, i.e, Morse Code. After Google’s I/O 2018 keynote, Morse code was integrated into the Android version of Gboard.
What is Morse Code?
Morse code is a method of transmitting text information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment. It is named for Samuel F. B. Morse, an inventor of the telegraph. The International Morse Code encodes the ISO basic Latin alphabet, some extra Latin letters, the Arabic numerals and a small set of punctuation and procedural signals (prosigns) as standardized sequences of short and long signals called “dots” and “dashes”,or “dits” and “dahs”, as in amateur radio practice. Because many non-English natural languages use more than the 26 Roman letters, extensions to the Morse alphabet exist for those languages. (Source: Wikipedia)
Morse code input method is available for both Android & iOS
Now with the release of Morse code in iOS, enhancements have been made to the Android version too. When the input method of Morse code is activated, the keyboard is composed of two large dots and dash icons. As you tap the icons, word suggestions will appear at the top of the on-screen keyboard just as they do when you’re using the QWERTY version. Google claims that it can teach its users Morse code in under an hour by its Morse Typing Trainer game.
Tania Finlayson, an assistive tech developer who collaborated with Google on the Morse code project, wrote a blog post about how the communication system has been “revolutionary” in improving her own life:
Most technology today is designed for the mass market. Unfortunately, this can mean that people with disabilities can be left behind. Developing communication tools like this is important, because for many people, it simply makes life livable. Now, if anyone wants to try Morse code, they can use the phone in their pocket. Just by downloading an app, anyone anywhere can give communicating with Morse code a try.
Finlayson notes that Gboard for Android “lets you hook external switches to the device, so a person with limited mobility could operate the device.”
