九方輸入法 ( Q9 )

What this Chinese keyboard is for

If you write in Chinese and English on an Android phone and want one keyboard for both, 九方輸入法 (Q9) is built for that. It is an input method, so it takes the place of the default keyboard in whatever app you are typing in. The listing describes a 30-day free trial of the full feature set.

The keyboard covers both traditional and simplified Chinese, so it suits anyone who needs to read or send in either form. Most of what it offers is specific to Chinese: several ways to build characters, lookup tools for characters you cannot easily write, and a way to move between the two character sets. The English side is more conventional, with suggestions, gesture typing and correction.

Building Chinese characters by stroke, shape or sound

The keyboard offers Q9 stroke input and shape input. Both build characters from their components rather than from a romanised reading. The listing names them for traditional and for simplified text, so you can use whichever one you already know.

If you think in sound, pinyin input is available for both character sets. Traditional Chinese also has zhuyin (注音) input, which the listing gives only for traditional text.

Converting traditional characters and finding homophones

Typing traditional characters can produce simplified output. The listing gives 體 becoming 体 as its example.

Homophone lookup works from sound in two forms: Cantonese (廣東同音) and Mandarin (普通話同音). It helps when you know how a word sounds but not which character is meant.

The keyboard also has associated characters, listed as either dynamic or fixed. They are a way to find characters linked to the one you are working on.

Typing English with suggestions, gestures and correction

The English layout offers word suggestions as you type, gesture typing where you trace a word across the keys, and auto-correction.

A setting blocks offensive words, so they are not offered or typed in the keyboard's English mode. The listing describes this as blocking objectionable words.

Emoji, voice input, toolbar and colour themes

Emoji are included, with colour support on systems that display colour emoji. Voice input is listed alongside them.

A toolbar sits above the keys. The Chinese and English characters can each be given a colour of your choice. Eight colour themes are offered, including the default and named options such as light sky blue, lime green, pink chrysanthemum red, lavender purple and bright orange.

The first time you use the keyboard, a short setup walks you through the basic settings. The listing calls this simple setup.