Days after Google unveiled the Pixel Tablet at its annual developer conference, the tech giant appears to be introducing a split keyboard for Android tablets. Last year, Gboard brought this feature to foldable devices such as the Galaxy Fold series and the Microsoft Surface Duo.
In a quick recap, the split keyboard feature splits his Gboard in half, with the same number of left and right keys. This option automatically enables Split Layout with Duplicate Keys, which duplicates some keys on both sides of the keyboard. When turned off, the left side has more buttons than the right side. It also includes toolbar tiles that allow users to quickly switch between the standard keyboard interface and the split keyboard interface.
According to a recent report from 9to5Google, the Gboard split keyboard interface was first spotted on the Galaxy Tab S8 running Gboard Beta v12.9.21. Google appears to be testing a new split keyboard on Android tablets, but the revamped toolbar spotted earlier this year hasn’t rolled out to users yet.
With his Gboard’s new split keyboard feature on Android tablets, users will be able to easily type in both portrait and landscape modes on the tablet. During the recently concluded Google I/O 2023 event, the company also announced that more than 50 of his apps have been optimized for foldable devices and tablets.
