New iPad, Weird (Virtual) Keyboard

[jordii]

i just bought an iPod Air 5 and sold my iPad 8th gen.

Keyboard is very different. Not foreign language, just all the buttons in weird places compared to what I’m used to. And this iPad is running the same iOS 15 as my previous one. I probably instituted some hack on the old one to preserve some earlier keyboard style, but I can’t screenshot the latter because it’s already enroute to a lucky eBay buyer.

Here’s a screenshot of the new iPad’s keyboard. If it looks normal to you guys, then, yeah, I somehow modded the old one and no idea how (not jailbroken)

 

[0128672]

That's a standard looking iPad QWERTY keyboard, yup. What was different about your old one?

 

[jordii]

That's a standard looking iPad QWERTY keyboard, yup. What was different about your old one?

All the grey keys were in totally different positions.

i went through all my third party keyboards, and that’s not it.

 

[0128672]

All the grey keys were in totally different positions.

i went through all my third party keyboards, and that’s not it.

It might simply have to do with the screen size difference between the two devices.

 

[jordii]

Interesting.

All my settings and prefs and data transferred nicely except for this. Which makes me think it's some sort of hardware diff, e.g. your proposal. But if so, I'd expect more online complaints. This time it's just me, which usually means I'm doing something dumb, or had some obscure config.

I sure wish I'd held onto the old iPad so I could compare (all I've got now is stumbling and cursing as I attempt to navigate the unfamiliarity).

 

[0128672]

Interesting.

All my settings and prefs and data transferred nicely except for this. Which makes me think it's some sort of hardware diff, e.g. your proposal. But if so, I'd expect more online complaints. This time it's just me, which usually means I'm doing something dumb, or had some obscure config.

I sure wish I'd held onto the old iPad so I could compare (all I've got now is stumbling and cursing as I attempt to navigate the unfamiliarity).

Well, perhaps some nice member will post a screenshot of their iPad 8th gen keyboard.

 

[jordii]

Google and ye shall find.

Here's a comparison. Does indeed seem to be using the extra screen space. But it's quite an adaptation. OTOH if they simply blew up the key sizes to fit the screen, that, too, would require adaptation. This, I suppose, is the sort of thing that gives engineers ulcers.

 

[0128672]

Oh cool you found it! I understand it bugs you, but to my eye the gray keys layout doesn't look substantially different. We are an adaptable species so I would just give it some time.

 

[jordii]

Here's a comparison. Any thoughts?

 

[jordii]

Oh cool you found it! I understand it bugs you, but to my eye the gray keys layout doesn't look substantially different. We are an adaptable species so I would just give it some time.

That 123 button gets a lot of use. And when I reach for it at its former location, I'm suddenly in Spanish Keyboard Land or Emoji Keyboard Land, which is not where I want to be when trying to type a parenthesis, etc.