Typing on a Smartwatch While Mobile: A Comparison of Input Methods

The user experience of typing on a smartwatch was evaluated with three unique input methods (tap, trace, and handwriting) while standing and while walking.

Despite widespread development within the technology industry, smartwatches have had a relatively slow adoption worldwide compared to smartphones. One limiting factor of smartwatches has been the lack of an efficient means of text entry. The 2017 release of Android Wear addressed this issue by providing support for native text entry (i.e., tap, trace, and handwriting). Determining how user performance and subjective ratings compare across these input methods is essential to understanding their contribution to smartwatch user experience.

Twenty college-age individuals typed phrases using tap, trace, and handwriting input on a smartwatch in three different mobility scenarios (standing, walking a simple course, walking a complex course).

Participants typed faster with trace (30 words per minute; WPM) than with tap (20 WPM) and handwriting (18 WPM), regardless of mobility. Trace also outperformed tap and handwriting across all subjective metrics, regardless of mobility.

Trace input appears to be especially well suited for typing on a smartwatch as it was found to be objectively and subjectively superior to tap and handwriting regardless of user mobility. Objectively, typing speeds with trace are shown to be nearly two times faster than most alternative input methods described in the literature.

Results suggest smartwatch manufacturers should include QWERTY keyboards with trace input as a standard feature in order to provide the best overall typing experience for their users.