Typing using any kind of remote control that doesn’t include a full QWERTY keyboard is a nightmare, and everyone knows it. I still enter text into my Xbox One using the gamepad, despite its support for external keyboards and despite the availability of the Xbox SmartGlass app, because I enjoy punishing myself. But there could be a better way coming to your smart TV devices soon. Above, you… Read More
Toronto-based startup Whirlscape has secured $500,000 in seed funding in a round that included Y Combinator, FundersClub, BDC Venture Capital and more, the company announced today. The startup created Minuum, a software keyboard that reduces occupied screen real estate to a single line, and that works with a range of devices, including wearables with small screens – or no screens at all.
The company launched its Minuum beta last year, and then made the software available to all on Google Play as a paid app later on. The 10-employee team has not only shown the value of its software on traditional hardware like smartphones, but also on devices breaking new ground in emerging categories, such as the Samsung Galaxy Gear, as seen in the video below.
Minuum made its debut on Indiegogo, where it managed to raise $87,354 over the course of its crowdfunding campaign, or almost nine times its original $10,000 goal. There’s a clear continued interest in alternative input methods for mobile devices, as evidenced by the success of others including Fleksy and SwiftKey. Growing interest in wearable tech, and the prospect of devices from major players like Google and Apple on the horizon have only served to fuel additional interest in alternative input methods for text and numbers.
“We’re working with a number of wearable device partners to try and really demonstrate the potential that Minuum has on their devices,” explained co-founder and CEO Will Walmsley in an interview. “I can’t get much more specific, but definitely there are a couple of smartwatches that we’re working with, and a couple of devices beyond smartwatches, too.”
Besides building wearable integrations, Whirlscape is also going to focus on growing its Android user base and engagement stats, leading up to the YC demo day in March, after which point Walmsley says they’ll probably turn their attention to bringing on new talent to add to the existing ten-person team.
There will be a big reward for the first company to make it easy to do text input on a tiny, wrist-borne screen if the interest in smartwatches from big OEMs continues, so Whirlscape is smart to be trying to solve that problem early on.
As smartwatches become a device category that most major hardware makers are turning their attention to, there’s a question of how much smartphone utility we’ll be able to translate to the wrist. One big convenience hurdle is making it possible to reply to texts and emails quickly from the wrist, and that’s where Minuum‘s go-anywhere software keyboard comes in.
The Minuum keyboard from Toronto-based startup Whirlscape is an alternative input method originally prototyped on smartphones that makes it easier to type naturally without using much of the screen. It launched previously in beta on Android, and has done well on smartphones, according to user reviews.
Whirlscape had always designed their keyboard to be usable on any number of connected devices, including wearables, the founders told me in the past. Today, they’ve got proof: As you can see in the video above, Minuum running on a Galaxy Gear smartwatch manages text input much more conveniently than you might imagine possible from a screen so small. It was filmed in a single take, too, according to the Minuum team, without any fancy camera tricks.
For now, Minuum says this is just an “in-house demo,” at least until Samsung opens up the Gear platform, but the company also tells me that it’s already in talks with other smartwatch manufacturers who can put the software on shipping devices “in the upcoming months.”
The virtual keyboard is one aspect of smartphones that does take some getting used to, and while the first generation of virtual keyboards proved to have quite the learning curve (steep or otherwise is subject to the user’s interpretation – as you can never quite tell whose thumbs and fingers are too huge for it), there has been enhancements made in the past and up till now, where one is able to install a third party app which will take over the role of the virtual keyboard, letting you glide your finger over the keyboard to form words, and the artificial intelligence within has done a pretty good job so far. I have been using Swype all the time on my Android device, and have been more than happy with it all this while. The Minuum keyboard is another player to the Android market, where it intends to be the keyboard standard for future devices – wearable technology included.
Minuum has remained in a closed beta for quite some time already, but it has just rolled out for all Android users yesterday. Being a public beta app, do not be surprised if you come across any kind of bugs or issues. One ought to take note that Minuum has been optimized for all Android screen sizes, and it will play nice with any version from Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread and above. A new tutorial has been thrown in to this public beta, where it will cost you $3.99 a pop to run – or free should you have been a Kickstarter backer.
Minuum Keyboard Arrives On Android original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Ever since touchscreen displays have become the norm for smartphone and subsequently, tablet users, there are still some of us out there who are not too happy with a virtual keyboard. After all, there is nothing quite like the feel of having your fingers dance all over a physical keyboard, no? The transition to a virtual keyboard is even harder for folks so used to the QWERTY keyboard as well as BlackBerry devices, and weaning oneself off such mentality can be quite a difficult thing to do. Sure, there has been advances made to ensure that virtual keyboards are easier and smarter to use such as Swype, and here we are with another contender – the Minuum keyboard.
Basically, the Minuum is a new keyboard for the Android environment that will squeeze the whole QWERTY layout into a single line of letters, where this is an attempt to help solve the issue of limited viewing area on smartphone devices. Of course, I don’t think that this is an issue if you so happen to own one of the larger screen devices like phablets and the like, but not everyone would want to carry a serving tray in their pockets. Minuum intends to make use of advances in predictive text typing so that it will enhance your productivity. How will it perform? Only time will tell, so let us wait and see.
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Phone and tablet keyboards are humongous, relative to the screens they live on, and admittedly adhere to an antiquated typewriter metaphor. Minuum is a new way to think about how to make a digital keyboard—tiny and forgiving, mostly—but also highlights just how damn hard it is to come up with something better. More »
The accuracy that virtual keyboards are able to offer on our smartphones are important, especially since this is all we are able to type on. iOS users are stuck with the default iOS keyboard, which in all honesty is pretty good. Android users on the other hand are able to choose from a variety of virtual keyboards, such as Swype and SwiftKey just to name a few. However the drawback to regular virtual keyboards is that no matter how accurate or convenient they are, they end up taking up a fair bit of screen real estate which is where the Minuum keyboard comes in. (more…)
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