Nihilo Review – The best custom keyboard (NaNoWriMo special review)

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On November 6, 2011

App Type: Uncategorized

Nihilo Review – The best custom keyboard (NaNoWriMo special review)

Our rating:

By: Psyos Ltd.

Version #: 2.0

Date Released: 2011-10-23

Developer: Psyos Ltd.

Price: 0.00

User Rating:
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We are making a batch of reviews of great writing apps for November. Why November? Because NaNoWriMo is going on! What is NaNoWriMo? The National Novel Writing Month! You have a month to write a full novel, and the month is November. And the iPad could be your 2.0 typewriter.

Nihilo is a very nice iPhone and iPad writing app. I have been a happy user since 1.0, and I love the clean look and simplicity of touch gestures: slide your finger to select, tap to select word, double tap to select everything. Clean, simple, well thought. Better than Apple’s default selection methods.

The latest update has included a new, custom-made keyboard for both iPad and (with iOS 4.3, iPhone/iPod Touch), which is a little slower than the standard iPad on-screen keyboard, but offers an awesome array of options without needing to do anything fancy, just using the keyboard. For example, you write uppercase letters by smudging keys from bottom to top (like you are enlarging the key). Isn’t it brilliant?

Sadly, it is not completely compatible with the bluetooth keyboard: the on-screen keyboard does not disappear when using a bluetooth keyboard, which somehow beats the use of the iPad as a writing device when paired with the keyboard: having a big screen with a handy keyboard.

We hope the developer solves this in the next updates… For now, Nihilo is perfect if you don’t have an external keyboard, with the best custom-made keyboard we’ve seen in all writing apps in the App Store (except for the fact that it gets in the way of the bluetooth keyboard). And it is currently free!

Quick Take

Value:High

Would I Buy Again:Probably

Learning Curve:Medium

Who Is It For:Mobile writers

What I Like:The user interface

What I Don't Like:The lack of compatibility with the external keyboard

Final Statement:At its current price is a bargain. Get it.

Read the Developer's Notes:
an app for writing… and nothing else.

simple.
no buttons. no menus. no popups. no page layout. no formatting. no organizing. no corrections. no suggestions… no distractions. For writers who prefer to create out of nothing, nihilo is a minimalist writing app that is true to form. There is only one thing you can do: write.

subtle.
It's just you and your words. nihilo prefers gestures over buttons. Navigate manuscripts simply by swiping left or right. A blank manuscript will always be available and excess blank manuscripts will remove themselves. Select text simply by touching and dragging. No buttons needed. Nothing to hijack your train of thought. Even the insertion caret animates with a gentle pulse instead of the annoying blink. Compared to the convoluted word processing environment, nihilo is a psychological breath of fresh air.

personal.
Typography is personal. nihilo respects that. Set your preferences in the Settings App and the insertion caret, selection highlights and even the custom keyboard will be personalized to match your chosen color scheme and font. From steel blue monospace to hot pink handwriting, you can write in whatever mood you're in.

remember.
A writing app may not make you a better writer.
But it can get out of your way.

Article By

Ruben Berenguel is finishing his PhD in Mathematics while writing in mostlymaths.net about being a 'geek of all trades'. He also happens to be the senior editor in the What's on iPhone network: any complaints go to him!

ruben has written 174 awesome app reviews.

You can read other great content from ruben at https://www.mostlymaths.net