This is because there are other places where we call setInputType(). If you call it here at the constructor, then later when another setInputType() is called, it will be overwritten. If you look at handleKeyboard() in TiUIText.java, you will see that we append a bunch of options then set them towards the end of that method. For instance, if I create a TextArea with "autocorrect: false", this fix wouldn't work.