Coming from a HTC Hero to the Nexus One, I have missed the HTC Keyboard. Well that is all over thanks to the work over at xda-developers. We now have an apk that can be easily installed once put on your memory card. You can snag the apk file HERE, and see screen shots below.

I love Open Home fro Android. It really lets you do anything to your home screen you want. They have just released and update, 4.3 to be exact, which actually brings some Android 2.1 features to any Android device. Check out the full details below from Better Android’s blog:

Yes, we released an update today again

It has the same screen indicators as you would find in Android 2.1’s default Home screen. Long pressing the indicators will also give you a screen switcher just like in Android 2.1. We also added a fancier animation to home switcher to make it look even cooler. Enjoy!

We are pleased to announce that Open Home (full version) is not now at its 4th major version v4.x . Here is a list of note-worthy changes/enhancements/features/bug fixes:

- Allow users to set the default fonts to any home screen widgets. Please note that only default fonts are changed because some widgets have custom fonts and we don’t want to give override them. (menu/more/font & color/Widget font)

- Performance enhancements from android 2.1, now home screen scrolling is much smoother, force close issues are gone for Motorola Droid and HTC Nexus One

- More home screen animations and effects, including an experimental 3D cube transition effect  (menu/more/Open home setting/3D cube)

- Live Wallpaper is now supported on Nexus One

- Home Chooser’s default setting check box now works as it should  (menu/more/home chooser)

Enjoy!

From the developers:

Better Keybaord is an enhanced version of the English keybaord you found in Android 1.5.

Key features:

- Change the look of the keyboard by applying skins

- Bigger keys and enhanced sensitivity & accuracy

- Long press key to access alternate key (shifted keys)

- Gesture controls, swipe up/download to close, swipe left/right to shift

Review:

With the new Android 1.5 update, us G1 users have gained a great new feature, the virtual keyboard! Well not even a day after the update is out, developers Better Android have released their latest application called Better Keyboard. It basically improves on the standard keyboard by giving you larger buttons, skins, swipe gestures and long press control. Better Keyboard costs $1.99 in the Android market and is worth every penny if you use the virtual keyboard or you like to customize every aspect of your phone. Better Android’s keyboard gives you all of the same features of the standard android keyboard like text correction, auto capitalization, space twice for period, and auto correction. I have been using it pretty heavily for the last two days and have had no issues with it at all. I am really looking forward to seeing all of the skin options in the future. Check out the video below to see Better Keyboard in action!

Pros:

More features than standard Virtual Keyboard
Larger Buttons
Skinable
Gestures

Cons:

None