Google has updated its Android keyboard with a collection of handy new features, including a one-handed mode that makes it easier to type on large-screen devices such as Nexus 6P.

The one-handed mode of Google Keyboard is accessible with a long-press on the comma on the search/enter button as well as in the settings. The handedness of the keyboard can be changed with the arrow button. There is also a button for going back to full-screen mode. The alt/number layout also has new buttons for quick access to the numpad and emoji keyboard now. They are located on either side of the space bar.

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A new number icon next to the spacebar opens up a traditional phone-style number pad that is far easier to thumb at quickly. Users now have the choice of sharing snippets of input with Google to enhance the Google Keyboard for everyone. Most probably, it ties into the keyboard's suggestions and making word prediction smarter. The keyboard's height can now be adjusted between five different choices ranging from short to tall, with normal as the middle point between them.

New gestures can be found in the Google Keyboard as well, such as deleting the entire word with a quick left swipe, and moving the cursor by swiping left or right on the space bar. It will slowly highlight one word at a time. There is also a new cursor control gesture, letting user tap and drag left and right to move the cursor. Anything that pops up in the suggestion bar (gesture or not) can be long-pressed and dragged to a trash can if the user wants to remove it.

Google Keyboard 5.0 is rolling out now and user can also download the .apk directly from Google Play.

TagsGoogle, Google Keyboard, Nexus 6p, Google devices, Google Keyboard One-Handed Mode