ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD OF CHANGING A KEYBOARD

1 . A method comprising:

on a display of an electronic device, displaying a first virtual keyboard of a set of available virtual keyboards;

detecting a touch;

when the touch is associated with a keyboard changing function, providing previews of virtual keyboards of the set of available virtual keyboards;

detecting selection of a second virtual keyboard of the set of available virtual keyboards; and

displaying the second virtual keyboard in response to detecting the selection.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the touch comprises one of a multi-touch, a gesture, and a hover.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the touch comprises a hover including two locations of touch contact.

4 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the touch comprises a multi-touch gesture.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the virtual keyboard comprises one of keys of a character set associated with a language and a gesture pad associated with a language.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein providing previews comprises displaying images.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the images are changed, in response to detecting a gesture associated with the images.

8 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the images are displayed on virtual surfaces of a graphical carousel, and the images are changed by simulating a movement of the graphical carousel in response to detecting a gesture associated with the graphical carousel.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the movement of the graphical carousel comprises one of: rotating a graphical prism of surfaces, flipping a graphical stack of surfaces, spinning a graphical cylinder of surfaces, flipping a graphical book of surfaces, and advancing a graphical band of surfaces.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second virtual keyboards are displayed in portrait orientation.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second virtual keyboards are displayed in landscape orientation.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein providing previews comprises displaying images of the virtual keyboards and an image including selectable features to add or to remove keyboards from the set of available virtual keyboards.

13 . The method according to claim 1 , comprising providing selectable features to add or remove keyboards from the set of available virtual keyboards.

14 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising adjusting the plurality of images by removing less frequently used virtual keyboards from the previews.

15 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising ordering the previews based on a frequency of use of the virtual keyboards.

16 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising ordering the previews based on an active application or activity.

17 . A computer-readable medium having computer-readable code executable by at least one processor of a portable electronic device to perform the method according to claim 1 .

18 . An electronic device comprising:

a touch-sensitive display;

at least one processor coupled to the touch-sensitive display and configured to, on the touch-sensitive display, display a first virtual keyboard of a set of available virtual keyboards, detect a touch, when the touch is associated with a keyboard changing function, displaying previews of virtual keyboards of the set of available virtual keyboards, detect selection of a second virtual keyboard of the set of available virtual keyboards, and display the second virtual keyboard in response to detecting the selection.