Just install SwiftKey, Kii Keyboard, Swype, etc. Far better for completion and UI in my opinion at least.

There are four themes for the builtin keyboard now:

- Material Light (the default, the one that's shown in the article);

- Material Dark (the same but dark);

- Holo White (the old one);

- Holo Blue (the old one with blue accents)

sweet! can you post a shot?

Sure, this help?

http://i.imgur.com/WDLz0Ju.png

Thanks for taking the time.

The new keyboards look different but polish, would definitely give it a try

The menu sequence to change this is: Settings / Language & input / Google keyboard / Appearances and layouts / Theme

I agree, the new keyboard sucks a lot, there is no visual distinction between the letters and it is very easy to make a lot of typos, it is very painful. Went back to Swiftkey immediately.

What's odd for me is that I feel like I should be making more typos with the new keyboard, yet I'm actually making fewer. I'm not sure if that has to do with the keyboard mapping being more accurate or me focusing slightly more while typing due to the "buttons" blending together.

Yes the keyboard theme can be changed.

Settings > Language & input > Google Keyboard > Appearance & layout