Send a text by jerking your wrist

Users of so-called “phablets” will be able to text by jerking their wrists – even while holding an umbrella – thanks to a new technique devised by Scots boffins.

The growing popularity of phablets – mobile devices with large screens – and also small screen wearable devices, such as smartwatches, is making interacting with them with one hand increasingly difficult.

Computer scientists at St Andrews University say this is especially true when trying to input text with one hand.

They have come up with a solution – a tilt-based gesture keyboard text entry technique that supports entering one word per gesture.

Called “SWiM”, or Shape Writing in Motion, it allows users to tilt the device to control a pointer ball which traces a path for a gesture keyboard to input text.

Postgraduate researcher Hui-Shyong Yeo, who led the project, said: “SWiM is based on the shape writing technique commonly referred to as a gesture keyboard, which we extend to support input by tilt. Instead of using a finger to draw over the on-screen keyboard, we use wrist motion of the dominant hand to trace an input to perform shape writing.”

Computer Science Professor at the university Aaron Quigley said: “The design of both wearable and large mobile devices assumes both hands are free, however one-handed use of devices, regardless of their size, is now commonplace. Indeed, if you are reading this on a mobile device, ask yourself, are you holding the device with one hand or two?”