As part of their ongoing efforts to explore the future of wearable typing, UTEST grad Whirlscape released a demo of the Minuum keyboard working on a Moto 360 smartwatch.

This news builds upon Whirlscape’s activities in the wearables space; the company had previously announced a partnership with Omate Smartwatches that was covered in TechVibes.

This news was covered in the Los Angeles Times, Tech Crunch, Droid Life, Mobile Syrup, Digital Trends, SlashGear, Android Community and GigaOM. See also this article speculating on possibilities for the future of Canadian mobile wearable technology, also by Mobile Syrup.

Why would you need to type on a smartwatch? CEO Will Walmsley addressed the topic on input, the Minuum blog:

But why would smart watches even need a keyboard, you might ask?

Simple: as useful as voice recognition might be for some situations, it will always remain insufficient when it comes to noisy environments and private message replies. One of the best use cases of the smart watch is the quick message reply when in a meeting, or in class; and I’m sure your boss/teacher wouldn’t be too pleased with you talking to your watch. And don’t get us started on URL/password entry . . .

So for smart watches to truly be smart, they need a keyboard. Smart watch owners seem to agree; we’ve have had thousands of e-mail requests for the smart watch version of Minuum – if you’re using an Android-based smart watch right now, email us at free@minuum.com to try for yourself.

Also this week, Whirlscape released a new round of bug fixes, an improved emoji panel, and Dutch language support. Read about the updates on the Minuum blog.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, director of marketing and communications.