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.
Okay so the real reason is, according to Apple, the Series 7 which introduced the keyboard has more space for the keyboard.
If you ask me, the actual reason is there are not enough features to differentiate the S7 from the S6, so Apple kept that feature exclusive intentionally. The AW starting from S5 through S9 has been mostly the same. You get some new sensors in newer models, some slicker bezels starting from the series 7, but not enough features from my point of view. I am still okay with a series 6.
That’s why you get the s7 my dude.
40mm SE is too small, and Apple didn’t want to give it to 44mm so they decided to make it exclusive to S7 and up. Unfortuantely Apple sometimes does stuff like that and gives you no freedom to choose whether you want to enable it or not. It should be an option in settings with a warning available for all models.
I don’t completely disagree with you, but the fact is, if you want the full feature set. You just gotta pay for it.
Probably because using the on screen keyboard on small display is very bad
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.
Apple will say the screen is too small, really they want you to pay for more features.
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.
That’s weird. I’m pretty sure my Watch 3 had it.
If it is that important to you, would you not research things before buying them?
Pretty reasonable to expect a keyboard to be there.
The series watches have bigger screens to fit the keyboard. It won’t fit properly on the SE/SE2
Sounds like you have a reason for more, if you want the on-screen keyboard.
I don’t work for Apple, so can’t say if it’s just Apple gatekeeping features for higher-end watches or there is really a technical reason. However, I think you overthink too much about the keyboard feature. I’m using an S7 and I would only use the keyboard to do really short replies and will take out my phone for anything longer than a few words.
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