When comparing Gboard - the Google Keyboard vs Google Play Music, the Slant community recommends Gboard - the Google Keyboard for most people. In the question“What are the best Material Design apps?” Gboard - the Google Keyboard is ranked 13th while Google Play Music is ranked 15th. The most important reason people chose Gboard - the Google Keyboard is:
This keyboard is not a free trial nor will it hold back any new features to sell you a paid version. The keyboard is completely 100% free.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro 100% free from Google
This keyboard is not a free trial nor will it hold back any new features to sell you a paid version. The keyboard is completely 100% free.
Pro Learns preferred words
After using a gesture a few times and clicking the correct word, Google Keyboard learns that the gesture should result in the word you've manually selected as the correct word. Swype doesn't seem to learn this, so even after 100 times clicking 'this' instead of 'thesis', it still produces 'thesis', where Google Keyboard learns that you meant to say 'this'.
Pro Swipe support
The Google Keyboard supports swiping along the keyboard to spell out whole words.
Pro Minimalistic design
While other keyboard options may be very functional, their visual design tends to differ from the rest of your Google device. The Google Keyboard was designed by Google and it looks like it.
Pro Fast, low memory usage
Alternative keyboards tend to suck up system resources, often making them nearly unusable on older phones. Google Keyboard is very quick to open when typing and the keys rarely lag.
Pro Material Design
Google Keyboard has material design themes the user can skin the keyboard with.
Pro Has built-in Google search
The keyboard has button that allows searching Google straight from the keyboard, and use the search results in the currently used app.
Pro Suggestions don't get worse over time
Google keyboard does not promise to be as "smart" as other keyboards besides offering a personalized dictionary. Surprisingly this is actually a good thing for some because with many "smart" keyboards predictions and corrections actually worsen over time. With Google Keyboard the experience will remain constant because it requires you to manually "touch again to save" before it changes your personal dictionary. This prevents mistakes from becoming part of your personal dictionary.
Pro Dynamic floating preview
The dynamic floating preview appears while gesture typing. Most gesture keyboards only show the preview above the keyboard in the suggested corrections. The dynamic floating preview is great because it makes it easier to gesture type by keeping your eyes focused on what you are typing.
Pro Emoji search
The GBoard has an emoji search that's very convenient, saves time looking for a specific one if you don't know/remember what category it's in.
Pro One-handed mode
Makes it easier to type with no more than a thumb.
Pro Swipe to punctuation
Hold down the key in the lower left hand corner and a keyboard if punctuation appears. Swipe over to the one you want, lift your finger, and the original keyboard pops back. It's very fast, and makes it much easier to spot the punctuation mark you want - instead of trying to squint at the secondary symbols in the keys.
Pro Can use alternative layouts not just QWERTY
For those that are used to typing on a Dvorak keyboard or prefer not to need multiple key presses to access special symbols they can enable these as additional quick switch options. Using the English PC layout for example gives the user a number row.
Pro Upload library through browser
Google has added the option of uploading songs through the browser with the help of a Chrome extension download as well as directly through the desktop Chrome app.
Pro Instant mixes
Google Play Music can make smart recommendations for playlist by the user just picking an artist or song they want recommendations formed from.
Pro Free no advertisements
Google Play Music is a free service for storing and streaming ones library that has zero advertisements in the interface as well as the playing music.
Pro Also offers streaming service
GPM can be used as a normal music player but also as a streaming service like Spotify.
Cons
Con Very little customization
Google Keyboard allows you to enable or disable
vibrate on keypress
sound on keypress
popup on keypress
double space period
These are pretty useful basic settings but most other keyboards offer more options. Google also allows you to edit the personal dictionary.
Con Typing is not always smooth
Sometimes typing lags.
Con Horrible Word Prediction
Con Can't pop out keyboard
The keyboard can't float above an app and is instead docked to the bottom. Other keyboard apps allow for the keyboard to do this.
Con Symbol order is (slightly) different from full-sized QWERTY keyboard
Instead of the first four symbols being !@#$%^& (i.e. shift+1 through 7 on a QWERTY keyboard), they're @#$%&. This is fine if you know the symbols in your password, but if you're like me and you just hold the SHIFT key and type a long number, you'll have to consult a real keyboard to figure out your password.
Con Uses a lot of RAM
Con Prediction isn't as good as SwiftKey
Con Restricted customization (few skins)
Con Other languages not available in transliteration mode
Unlike Google Indic Keyboard where you can type by transliteration, compact, and handwriting, you only get the fixed layout for other languages.
Con Takes up a lot of storage
If you are using multiple languages and predictive text, the app can use up a lot of storage.
Con It doesn't have arrow keys
Several times it is much better to navigate through a long text using arrow keys than scrolling and tapping the place where you want the cursor to be. SwiftKey has arrow keys (via an option), Gboard has not.
Con Only 26 languages
While a keyboard available in 26 languages is nothing to be ashamed of, other keyboard options simply offer more. SwiftKey is available in 61 languages and Swype is available in 71. Fortunately, if your language is one of the 26, you're good.
Con Google, via the keyboard app, might be collecting data on us that it then sells to third parties which in turn can use that data to influence us
Con Status bar not sensitive nor customizable
There is no way to go easily go back a specific amount of time (for example: Audible has a button that allows you to go back 30 seconds).
The status bar could be more time specific. If you want to go back to a particular segment of listening, there is no way to know exactly where you will land. You have to do some kind of guessing and it is annoying. Lot of time wasted in searching in a blind manner.
Con Quality only as high as 320kbps MP3s
There is no option to listen to lossless music, even if that is what the user has uploaded. The highest quality is 320kbps MP3s. If a lossless track has been uploaded and the user then downloads the track at a later date the file will also only be a 320kbps MP3.
Con No way to start the app in ones library
The app offers no way to actually start up in ones library, either in the desktop Chrome app or the Android app. For those that only use this app for listening to their purchased or uploaded music this is pretty annoying as there s no real need for the front page of recommendations and activity. This doe snot necessarily need to be some social platform but just a way to listen to ones music, really the user should have the choice, especially if they are paying for this service through purchased music or their streaming service.