I’ve been wanting to switch from the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem for a while. I bought an iPhone, which I quite liked and wanted to buy an apple watch. I decided to go for the SE as I have no reason for more.
But now I’m refunding it since apparently it doesn’t support an on screen keyboard even though I paid extra for the larger 44mm. But I have to pay EVEN MORE for a Series 9 to get a SOFTWARE FEATURE.
Why?! It’s not like it costs Apple any extra to put a bunch of pixels on a screen. Not being able to reply to texts is a crucial feature for me on the apple watch.
And no, dictation doesn’t cut it. It’s awful in my language and creates unnecessary noise. Scribbling is painfully slow and makes you look like an idiot. And of course whipping out your iPhone to write defeats the whole purpose.
On my Galaxy Watch 5 Pro (which despite its Pro name cost me about as much as the SE) I was able to install Gboard and use swipe type which lets me write multi word sentences pretty quickly. Don’t tell me that the 3 trillion dollar company can’t figure it out.
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Hmm. That is strange. I don’t think of Apple as doing much artificial gating. This may be that (and I’m not opposed to charging for software), but it is notable that the Apple Watch keyboard does a lot of prediction. It works surprisingly well and clearly does a lot of guessing and prompting to deal with the fact that a finger is like 4 keys large. I don’t know much about the SE, but I wonder if they found the experience or be worse there. (If they’re going to give dictation it wouldn’t make a ton of sense not to give a keyboard if it were an option I’d think.)
Question: what language do you speak that dictation works poorly in? Just curious. I only recently tried it (dictation) and I was blown away by how well it works in English.
The series watches have bigger screens to fit the keyboard. It won’t fit properly on the SE/SE2
Well… you went from a pro model watch to a budget model watch. I’m fairly certain you answered your own question in the post.
Small ass screen
I don’t completely disagree with you, but the fact is, if you want the full feature set. You just gotta pay for it.
have you tried any of the predicted responses underneath the text message? I upgraded to an Ultra and never use the keyboard. if it takes more than tapping a quick reply to email or text, I reply on the phone. even with a big flat screen and keyboard it’s less efficient to reply in detail on the watch unless you’re dictating, which you said you don’t do.
I’ve had an Apple Watch since series 5 and I think I used the keyboard twice when I first got it. Haven’t used it since. Quick replies are good enough - no one is writing much on their watch if they are busy working out.
It’s certainly annoying, and as far as I can tell, the only reason is to have a feature on the more expensive models. That said, you could try a used or refurb Series 7 or Series 8. Both of those will have the keyboard.
The 41/45 mm models have a larger screen. While the 44 mm could handle the on-screen keyboard, the 40 wouldn’t do so nearly as well and they’re not going to have it missing from just one model.
So you’re complaining about a software feature is directly tied to hardware considerations and justifiably absent.
I got a refurbished series 7 from apple for £50 more than a new SE2, it has full keyboard typing too. I’d see what the price difference is for you I think it’s worth it for the keyboard and aod
Apple will say the screen is too small, really they want you to pay for more features.
You know the drawing it’s not so bad after ya get used to it. I bought a keyboard but after I got used to the draw I hardly ever use it.
Holy shit just take out your phone.
What if you’re out and about abc your battery goes to 0%. What if …. That 1/2 the reason peope get these.
Sounds like you have a reason for more, if you want the on-screen keyboard.
That’s weird. I’m pretty sure my Watch 3 had it.
I cannot fathom the idea of actually using an on screen keyboard on a watch. If I’m going to type something, I will pull out my phone. I have an SE1 and the dictation works just fine. Also the predicted responses work just fine as well as the emojis. I did not know any watch had an on screen keyboard, and for the life of me, could not imagine myself ever using it. I am sorry that you have such an emotional response to this seemingly completely useless feature not being included. I hope that you can find a way to be happy with a phone and watch combination in the future.
I don’t use it much, but it actually, very surprisingly, works quite well. It does more prediction and gives you more options as you type. I think it does more inference regarding your fat fingers and what they could possible mean. I was actually impressed.
Still not something I do much, but impressive.
There’s an app that works as a keyboard but only for Messages: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flicktype-watch-keyboard/id1359485719