No typing here, instead draw with Microsoft's Android Wear keyboard prototype

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By Dan Thorp-Lancaster | Oct 10 2014 | 9:09 pm  | 50 Comments

Microsoft Research

Microsoft Research today released what they are calling an "analog keyboard" for Android Wear. The keyboard will allow you to input text by drawing letters onto the watch face. It is important to note that, as of right now, the keyboard only supports square screens with a 320x320 resolution, in addition to the Moto 360.

It is interesting to see Microsoft's continued willingness to support projects on other platforms. However, as our own Phil Nickinson has demonstrated, keyboards and wearables aren't necessarily good bedfellows.

Additionally, the installation of this prototype keyboard may not be for the feint of heart. It requires a rather complicated mess of procedures to get up and running on the Moto 360 due to its lack of a USB connector. Between this and the questionable use of keyboards on wearables to begin with, this might be worth skipping over for now.

Will you be installing Microsoft's bid for all of your wrist-tapping needs?

Source: Microsoft Research

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

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Reader comments

No typing here, instead draw with Microsoft's Android Wear keyboard prototype

50 Comments
Jerry Hildenbrand

Anyone trying this out will need this important piece of information left out of the installation instructions:

adb -e uninstall com.microsoft.research.analogkeyboard

"#SavedYouaDebuggerClick"

npco543

While the ability to uninstall is important, I'd be interested to hear how well it actually works. The handwriting recognition keyboard in Windows 8 (on the Surface) works astonishingly well. It nails everything buy my most egregious chicken scratch.

Jerry Hildenbrand

It's absolutely horrible. It tries to match the input before you're finished, and makes a complete mess of everything. A good prediction engine would help, but it doesn't have one.

meyerweb

Oh, puleeze! Just because something CAN be done doesn't mean it should be done. If you're going to type more than "OK," or "BYE" it will take less time to get your phone out of your pocket, turn it on, open an app, and type on the keyboard than to trace out a full email or text message this way.

littleemp

I can see some situations when this can come in handy... such as a meeting or similar where you're not at liberty to pull out your phone. But I agree with you for the most part.

eahinrichsen

I promise you, if you do this in a meeting, you will look much weirder and more conspicuous than if you were to just pull your phone out for ten seconds to type a quick message.

DJCBS

Lol can you imagine the uproar on WPC regarding this?

Posted via the Android Central App

eahinrichsen

It's a shame, because I really like a *lot* of things about WP's interface. It's just that the functionality isn't there.

boballistic123

Flesky on the the gear 2 isn't to bad, if you need to type a silent message on your watch.

Posted via the Android Central App

-V-

Android is about speech to text,...lol...not typing. Typical Microsoft and their "yesteryear" ideas.

meyerweb

You probably don't really want to write that out with one finger, either. Your phone would be easier.

MDMcAtee

No I won't be doing this or would be caught dead wearing something as butt assed ugly as this is either.

There comes a point where folks just need to say no.

Posted via Android Central App on my HTC M8

douglasbnorton

Actually I have had a few women ask me about my 360. My wife, who could give a shit about techy stuff, said it actually looks good and would wear one if they brought the dark gray strap back.

Posted with my MotoX, no case needed.

Evilnut

Just no. I could not even want to type anything on my Moto 360.....

Posted via a beautiful Ebony backed Moto X on Verizon or the amazing Nexus 10 using the Android Central App

Nick Tsiotinos

This looks interesting. I've installed the Minuum Keyboard which works surprisingly well for text messages that require a bit more effort than voice or where voice cannot be used.
I think I might try it.
People shouldn't knock this without trying it. You have every right to criticise when you've tried something, but until then ......

J T M

Because you might be in a quiet place, or have something you'd rather not say out loud. Silently writing or tapping on a screen would be better.

jamesrick

Thanks for your calming words about getting excited. I was about to run into the street in my underwear. Anyway, looks like a product to me. I just downloaded it. Trying it out now.

Where is this Enable Handwriting setting on my watch? I can't find it.

itinj6

I don't get all the commotion. This is not the only option for replying to messages but it is an additional option to those that can find something like this useful. If you don't like it, don't install it and you can still have your voice reply. I personally think this is a great idea and I can most definitely find use out of this. Not everyone has the same everyday, real world life experiences.

BTW, the keyboard for the Sony Smart watch ("SMS Composer") was an absolute life saver for me and worth every penny. Worked like a charm. If this is implemented properly, I bet it will do great. Same like the S Pen for the Note series.

Posted via Android Central App

eahinrichsen

Pretty much. It's kind of a neat idea, but not very practical. I'm just glad that developers, including large companies, are throwing around ideas about wearable interfaces. No one's gotten it right yet, but at this rate, someone will come up with something practical eventually.

ahmedjan87

I tried this keyboard it's definitely better than minuum since I use Swype a lot

Posted via Android Central App

SecondCopland

It may not be quite right or even very useful, but I like to see software developers trying new things. As long as they don't try and force us to use the thing that doesn't work well and acknowlege when they got it wrong.

fkpalm

It's good to have a keyboard option to answer a message I used fleksy on the gear 2 and it worked very well.

Posted via Android Central App

Gaurav

This looks like old school PalmOS graffiti from back in the day! Single stroke letter input worked pretty well back then and I personally had gotten very fast using it as had many others. I think there is a niche for something like this when thumboards are not the answer, especially on a small screen like this. It seems everything comes full circle these days...

erasat

As a Spanish speaker who lives in Puerto Rico where because of work and personal stuff we need to talk and write in both English and Spanish any help with a keyboard is great as we must decide the language we prefer in Google Now and if we use Spanish to be able to reply to most SMS and email we receive then we lose the option to use most if not all voice commands and if we use English then we basically can't use any reply option as I'm not replying a Spanish message in English.

Now that my reason for the use of this or any other keyboard is established then, can anybody tell me how am I suppose to invoke this? I mean, I followed the instructions to the T and everything was successfully installed and applied, I can see and use the dummy app but still don't have a clue how am I suppose to invoke this app when trying to reply to a message or create one. Does anyone have more information on the use of this or any link I can follow for it. Thanks.

erasat

Let me ad that I know that if I open an app (like a Browser) and go to an input box or URL it works, I can use it and I like it, but I think that the idea behind this is that we can use it for everything, in this case and most important to me to reply to an email or SMS.

Problem is that this apps by default on Android wear when you click reply it is waiting for a voice command, I can't find a way nor have I found anywhere that tells me how to use this keyboard with this apps instead of the voice, is this even possible?, did i understand the idea of this wrong?

SpookDroid

I agree. My gripe with current voice typing is just that, when you have to switch between to languages. Voice dictation on they phone automatically detects the language I'm using, why can't the watch? Bummer.

SpookDroid

I agree that keyboards on such a small device (that is touch-based) can be crappy, but unless voice dictation can actually work in all cases, this is something that we'll need.
Case 1. I carry conversations in mainly two languages. While voice recognition on my phone can now pretty easily distinguish which language I'm using automatically, for some reason the watch cannot and will almost always default to your primary language.
Case 2. Meetings! You can't quick reply something when you just can't speak out loud!