Virtual keyboard have largely replaced physical keyboards on smartphones in recent years… but device makers are skipping the keyboard altogether on smaller screens. Like most smartwatches, the Samsung Gear 2 doesn’t even have a virtual keyboard. Instead you can use swipes, taps, and other gestures as well as voice commands to interact with the device.
But some folks figure that leaves an opening for third-party keyboard apps. Fleksy is the latest keyboard app maker to make a play for smartwatches. The company’s new Fleksy Messenger app is now available for the Samsung Gear 2.
Fleksy Messenger lets Gear 2 users type and send text messages from their wrist.
Of course, there’s not a lot of room on the watch’s 1.63 inch, 320 x 320 pixel display. But like most modern keyboard apps, Fleksy uses predictive text to figure out what words you’re trying to type — so when you tap the wrong key, it’ll attempt to auto-correct.
Swype and Minuum are also working on bringing their keyboard apps to smartwatches. But Fleksy is the first to support Samsung’s new Tizen-based watches… even if that support only works in Fleks’s own text messaging app.
Fleksy Messenger isn’t a system-wide keyboard app. There’s no support for those on the Gear 2 or Gear 2 Neo smartwatches. But since one of the times you’re most likely to be entering text on a smartwatch is when you’re responding to text messages or sending new messages, building a keyboard into a third-party SMS app makes sense.
Reminds me of my old Casio Databank watch.
Good times!