The "hold the space bar" method is entirely your keyboard's feature, not Android. Though it is a relatively common pattern in keyboards on both OSes, in its defense (iOS uses it too).
But I don't think I'd recommend Gboard to someone who needs a simplified experience. Gboard is very complicated.
> But I don't think I'd recommend Gboard to someone who needs a simplified experience. Gboard is very complicated.
Exactly. I'm not keen to attempt to explain the distinction between an input method and a keyboard language setting to a five-year-old or a reluctant 85-year-old. Nor am I keen to troubleshoot how they managed to get something as basic as a keyboard into a weird state.
Don't get me wrong, I personally appreciate the flexibility, use Android on my personal device, and I help my folks and some of my uncles when they run into an issue on their Android phones that they can't solve after a little searching. But through trial-and-error I've concluded that any family members who reach out to me at the first sign of trouble need to be in the Apple ecosystem.
Yeah, I broadly agree. Better accessibility tools and better built-in apps mean you can just lock it down tight and it's probably good enough without much more effort... and that's a big deal.
With Android... it depends on the manufacturer. But mostly it's much more complicated and you'll have to find long-term stable apps (good luck![1]) because the OEM probably bundled ad-ridden or obtuse stuff.
The "hold the space bar" method is entirely your keyboard's feature, not Android. Though it is a relatively common pattern in keyboards on both OSes, in its defense (iOS uses it too).
But I don't think I'd recommend Gboard to someone who needs a simplified experience. Gboard is very complicated.