Typing on a Smartwatch for Smart Glasses

Abstract

While smart glasses make information more accessible in mobile scenarios, entering text on these devices is still difficult. In this paper, we suggest using a smartwatch as an indirect input device for smart glasses text entry. With the watch-glasses combination, users do not need to lift the arm to touch the glasses nor need to carry a special external input device. To prove the feasibility of the suggested combination, we implemented two text entry methods: a modified version of SwipeBoard, which we adapted for the suggested combination, and HoldBoard, which we newly designed and implemented specifically for the suggested combination. We evaluated the performances of the two text entry methods through two user studies, and could show that they are faster than prior art for smart glasses text entry in a seated condition. A further study showed that they are competitive with the prior art also in a walking condition.