When comparing MessagEase vs Hacker's Keyboard, the Slant community recommends Hacker's Keyboard for most people. In the question“What are the best Android soft keyboards?” Hacker's Keyboard is ranked 6th while MessagEase is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose Hacker's Keyboard is:
Hacker's Keyboard is an open source project meaning that anyone can use the available code for free.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Fast input, quick full access to all symbols
Your hand(s) will memorize the gestures and soon you will reduce the information displayed (some make it blank). The number of combinations of the gestures allows a direct access to nearly all usual symbols (punctuation, accented letters, etc.).
Pro You can type almost everything a regular keyboard can
This keyboard has up, down, right, left, copy, paste, select all, hide keyboard, tab. And they're all one swipe on the main screen. And you can easily type things that usually require either a bunch of shifts, or are impossible, like ôǒöòó¿¡°[]{}1¹2²3³.
Pro Support of clipboard, macros, editing keys
Macros: define frequently typed sentences associated to an abbreviation. Type the abbreviation, the macro is listed in the word prediction area.
Tap-Drag-Go: on a gesture (hold on Num key, Tap), it displays icons on which you can move (Drag) and release (Go). It inserts a predefined sentence, like macros, but with a faster, more visual interface.
Clipboard: cut, copy, paste, select all Android commands available with a swipe. It has a memory of the last 10 clipboard contents.
Editing keys: swiping on the space bar allows to move the caret left, right, up or down. Swipe and return move by word. Swipe and return on the backspace key allows to delete a word on left or right.
Pro Highly customizable
You can choose your color (can depend on language), the rounding of keys, the position of characters, the size and disposition of the keyboard, etc.
Pro Supports lot of keyboard layouts and dictionaries
Keyboard layouts are adapted to each language, as they are based on the frequency of letters in this language.
Beside, it allows reconfiguration of the keys to better fit your preferences.
It also has good word prediction / correction.
You can configure several keyboard configurations (advice: better stick to one, the one you will use the most, as speed is based on hand memory) and several dictionaries, and you can switch with a simple gesture.
Pro Easy to type with one hand
Because the buttons are big, it's easy to type with one hand while holding it. That is, unless you have a giant phone or tablet. There aren't many keyboards that you can easily type with one hand unless it's lying flat.
Pro Exists on lot of devices
Including iPhone, smartwatches, car navigation systems, etc.
Pro Open source
Hacker's Keyboard is an open source project meaning that anyone can use the available code for free.
Pro Supports a lot of keyboard layouts and dictionaries
Hacker's Keyboard support 31 different languages and many different layouts such as AZERTY and QWERTZ.
Pro Mimics the look of a desktop keyboard
Including punctuation, arrow keys, special chars (tab, esc), etc.
Also gives access to Ctrl, Shift, etc. Particularly suited to terminal applications.
Cons
Con Breaks habits, needs some training
It is not a keyboard for everybody, it needs some efforts and training to be efficient.
Still, it is relatively intuitive: my 11 years old son used it without asking first how to use it.
It as a comprehensive help, lot of settings, and has a companion game to train in a playful way.
Con Poor auto correction
The auto correction on Hacker's Keyboard does not work that great, especially when compared to other offerings on Android.