// the take
An IME (input method) keyboard purpose-built for Android TV / set-top-box remotes, written in Java on top of Android's leanback framework. It's for anyone running a FireTV-class device who wants D-pad-driven text entry without Google Play Services or root, or for developers curious how a TV-focused IME is structured.
The language system is a real plugin architecture — KeyboardFactory/AddOnsFactory/ApkKeyboardAddOnAndBuilder let extra languages ship as separate installable APKs instead of bloating the core app, which is a sensible way to keep the base install small while supporting 20+ locales. It's built around leanback's D-pad navigation model from the ground up (LeanbackKeyboardView/Controller) rather than a touch keyboard with remote support bolted on. No GMS dependency and no root requirement actually matters here, since cheap set-top boxes frequently lack Google services.
Test coverage is the default auto-generated ExampleInstrumentedTest stub — there's no real testing for an IME service, which is exactly the category of code that breaks silently across Android version updates. The README's license badge reads 'MIT' while the surrounding text calls it 'MPLv2 License' — that's a real inconsistency, not just a typo, and leaves actual licensing unclear without reading the LICENSE file directly. There's no CI configuration in the tree, so releases are presumably built and signed by hand with no automated check before publishing an APK. It's also listed on Google Play, but the documented install path is ADB sideload only — the README doesn't explain why you'd choose one over the other, which is confusing for anyone just trying to get a working keyboard.
We read the README, the directory tree and a key source file in October 2026. Nobody pays to be listed. How we judge →