This is how we will type on smart watches. It changes everything about what wearables can do and what they are for. See how it works with the Lunate keyboard extension.
To install the keyboard, go to
Settings->General->Keyboard->Keyboards->add new keyboard ->
install Lunate. If you don’t use the emoji keyboard, that’s a good
place to get rid of it: hit Edit and then delete on the emoji keyboard.
Now you can use the globe icon to switch between the Lunate keyboard and the regular keyboard.
Lunate is a pure swipe keyboard. There are no keys for letters; instead, the letters are arranged around a small circle and each letter is selected by a swipe. With practice, you can input an entire word in a single fluid motion. To type just a few characters using the hand holding the phone or tablet enables you to search for a contact, launch an app, order a pizza, or play a game, all while holding a briefcase or whatever in the other hand. But Lunate is powerful enough to conveniently handle full texts, emails, tweets.
How it works: Each hour mark on the watch represents a group of letters: abc, def, etc. To input a letter: swipe inward across the desired group. Then continue swiping left, straight across, or right, to select the left, middle, or right letter in the group as your swipe exits to the other side. The app preview gives you a quick look, but to understand better, watch the two-minute help video in the app.
You can choose the size of the circle. On the iPad, and in landscape orientation for the iPhone, you can double the circle, making one for each thumb. This makes it possible to type with one thumb, no matter how big the device itself is.
Even if you dont care about operating your iPhone or iPad with one thumb, you might enjoy using the Lunate app for what it can do even with just the regular built-in keyboard. The app is "central post" for all your most important private and public social networks. You go there when you need to write a bunch of messages, by text, email, twitter, facebook or whatever, but without the distractions of plowing through all the messages other people are sending you or making available to you on all those channels. In other words, use the app to send messages when you need to be alone to create. When you need to withdraw so you can give back more. Its a zen experience. You might like it. You might like it a lot. You might become entirely dependent on it and wonder how you lived without. Various in-apps are available to help you tailor your experience. For instance you can create a one-click hot button to send a message to your family, another for your significant other, and so on. The more you use a given outlet, the higher it is placed in the quick access bar placed just above the keyboard. So your most important outlets are most immediately available to you at all times. Saves a lot of app-switching effort.
About Lunate: The Lunate keyboard anticipates the day when the wrist, time and typing come together. Lunate is named after a small bone in the wrist, in the shape of a crescent moon. The orbit of the moon is a fundamental measure in the human experience of time, as the Lunate orbit of letters around the clock face will become fundamental to the design and function of smart watches and other wearables. Trademark and patent (design and utility) protection applied for. To discuss licensing opportunities, contact sales at eatoni.com.
About Eatoni: Eatoni has been inventing and selling text input solutions for handheld devices since 1998. The customers for its embedded software products have included many of the largest electronics manufacturers, such as Siemens, Philips and Panasonic. More recently, the company has diversified into iOS apps, including Triage(English and Nko script), Sèbèngbè (Nko), WPM, the Human Calculator (in 160 languages) and Lunate. Eatoni aggressively seeks protection for its intellectual property.