From The Tips Box: Better Android Keyboards, Splitting Chrome Tabs

Readers offer their best tips for improving the Android keyboard, splitting Chrome tabs into multiple windows, and stopping people from stealing your lighters.

Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favourites. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments or send it using the contact tab on the right.

Use A More Traditional Keyboard In Android Jelly Bean

Aatif discovers a better keyboard hidden in Android 4.1:

So I found a new type of keyboard called the PC Keyboard in Android 4.1 and 4.2. You can find it under Android Keyboard Settings > Advanced Settings > Add Style > PC. It offers both left and right hand Shift keys, and extra row of numbers at the top, and commonly used punctuation marks always on the screen.

Check out Aatif’s blog post over at Unleash the Phones for more info.

Separate Multiple Tabs In Chrome With Ctrl And Shift

Nathan Snyder shares a handy Chrome shortcut:

I saw your post about Tab Scissors, but I wanted to point out that, at least for me, an easier way is to select multiple tabs by clicking one, holding Ctrl or Shift, and clicking another. Then you can pull them all out into a new window, use Ctrl+W to close all of them, or do anything else.

It’s a really useful tidbit that I’ve found!

Sadly, Firefox doesn’t seem to let you do this.

Hang On To Your Lighter By Using An Oversized One

Pojken stops lighter thieves in their tracks:

Smokers are notorious lighter thieves. To prevent that, buy an oversized or vintage lighter. The one pictured has lasted two years without being pocketed.