Samsung is adding new features to its Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic, and one of them is a full QWERTY keyboard very close to Apple’s Watch Series 7. The upgrades are part of Samsung’s One UI Watch 4.5 software, which will launch in the third quarter of this year, the company said in a press release.
“To make it easier to interface with the watch, One UI Watch4.5 adds a full typing experience on screen. Whether you’re making searches or responding to messages and emails, you can take advantage of the new full QWERTY keyboard with Swipe to type in addition to dictating and handwriting, making communicating from your watch easier than ever,” the company states in a press release.
First and foremost, the Korean Tech company wants users to easily swipe to type words while forming a sentence instead of spending an eternity typing each letter.
The company says you can also quickly switch to other input methods like voice dictation and handwriting through rotating bezel gestures. For instance, if you’re dictating a text aloud, you can then switch to handwriting for extra privacy.
Secondly, the upgrade will allow users to adjust the audio and visual settings, including color adjustments and rebalancing stereo audio.
For users who may have a hard time distinguishing colors, the update will allow them to tweak the display with various color filters. Samsung is also introducing settings so users can increase contrast to make fonts more readable, disable transparency and blur effects, and remove any animations.
People who are hard of hearing will be able to adjust the balance between left and right audio outputs to a Bluetooth headset. However, Samsung says in the fine print that this feature won’t work during phone calls.
The company will also let you extend how long touchscreen taps last and disable repeated taps, and the update allows users to decide how long volume controls and notifications appear on the screen.
Samsung is consolidating accessibility options into one menu so they’re easier to find. If there’s a feature you commonly use, you can also forgo the menu entirely and program a shortcut to the watch’s home button. Speaking of streamlining menus, Samsung will let you create a “favorites list” of your preferred watch faces for faster access.
Lastly, if you’re juggling two phone numbers, One UI Watch 4.5 will allow you to manage them through the watch. The software is getting support for dual SIM configurations. The watch will prompt you to switch between numbers when making calls or sending a text message, so you don’t have to bother whipping out your phone.
Samsung was the second-largest wearable device maker in the world as of the first quarter of 2022, according to the International Data Corporation. It held 10.3% of the global market share for that period, but Apple placed first with 30.5%.
Samsung’s announcement comes as the company is expected to introduce its next-generation Galaxy Watch in August. It is rumored to release the watch in two versions: the Galaxy Watch 5 and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, which would replace the current “Classic” model.
The addition of a body temperature sensor and a larger battery are expected to be the biggest improvements.
