Reverting back to Appium 1.7.2 (which uses AndroidUiautomator2Driver (v0.11.0)) and using setValue() just clicks on the slement, and calls /value, and UiAutomator2Driver just sends the keys instead of clearing using adb, instead of sending to UiAutomator2 (sendKeys() with Uiautomator2Driver v0.11.0 still clears)
2018-07-10 16:42:03:492 - [HTTP] --> POST /wd/hub/session {"desiredCapabilities":{"appActivity":"com.samsung.android.app.memo.Main","appPackage":"com.samsung.android.app.memo","autoGrantPermissions":true,"automationName":"UIAutomator2","browserName":"","clearSystemFile
s":true,"deviceName":"ce0117115d52a73f04","disableAndroidWatchers":true,"ignoreUnimportantViews":true,"platformName":"android","resetKeyboard":true,"server:CONFIG_UUID":"43f16879-8ba4-4084-aded-92da2b18373d","unicodeKeyboard":true},"capabilities":{"desiredCapabilities"
:{"appActivity":"com.samsung.android.app.memo.Main","appPackage":"com.samsung.android.app.memo","autoGrantPermissions":true,"automationName":"UIAutomator2","browserName":"","clearSystemFiles":true,"deviceName":"ce0117115d52a73f04","disableAndroidWatchers":true,"ignoreU
nimportantViews":true,"platformName":"android","resetKeyboard":true,"server:CONFIG_UUID":"43f16879-8ba4-4084-aded-92da2b18373d","unicodeKeyboard":true},"firstMatch":[{"browserName":"","platformName":"android","server:CONFIG_UUID":"43f16879-8ba4-4084-a
2018-07-10 16:42:03:493 - [debug] [MJSONWP] Calling AppiumDriver.createSession() with args: [{"appActivity":"com.samsung.android.app.memo.Main","appPackage":"com.samsung.android.app.memo","autoGrantPermissions":true,"automationName":"UIAutomator2","browserName":"","cle
arSystemFiles":true,"deviceName":"ce0117115d52a73f04","disableAndroidWatchers":true,"ignoreUnimportantViews":true,"platformName":"android","resetKeyboard":true,"server:CONFIG_UUID":"43f16879-8ba4-4084-aded-92da2b18373d","unicodeKeyboard":true},null,{"desiredCapabilitie
s":{"appActivity":"com.samsung.android.app.memo.Main","appPackage":"com.samsung.android.app.memo","autoGrantPermissions":true,"automationName":"UIAutomator2","browserName":"","clearSystemFiles":true,"deviceName":"ce0117115d52a73f04","disableAndroidWatchers":true,"ignor
eUnimportantViews":true,"platformName":"android","resetKeyboard":true,"server:CONFIG_UUID":"43f16879-8ba4-4084-aded-92da2b18373d","unicodeKeyboard":true},"firstMatch":[{"browserName":"","platformName":"android","server:CONFIG_UUID":"43f16879-8ba4-4084-aded-92da2b18373d
"}]}]
2018-07-10 16:42:03:494 - [debug] [BaseDriver] Event 'newSessionRequested' logged at 1531240923494 (12:42:03 GMT-0400 (EDT))
2018-07-10 16:42:03:494 - [Appium] Merged W3C capabilities {"desiredCapabilities":{"appActivity":"com.sams... into desiredCapabilities object {"appActivity":"com.samsung.android.app.memo.Ma...
2018-07-10 16:42:03:495 - [Appium] Creating new AndroidUiautomator2Driver (v0.11.0) session
2018-07-10 16:42:03:496 - [Appium] Capabilities:
2018-07-10 16:42:03:496 - [Appium] appActivity: com.samsung.android.app.memo.Main
2018-07-10 16:42:03:496 - [Appium] appPackage: com.samsung.android.app.memo
2018-07-10 16:42:03:497 - [Appium] autoGrantPermissions: true
2018-07-10 16:42:03:497 - [Appium] automationName: UIAutomator2
2018-07-10 16:42:03:497 - [Appium] browserName:
2018-07-10 16:42:03:498 - [Appium] clearSystemFiles: true
2018-07-10 16:42:03:500 - [Appium] deviceName: ce0117115d52a73f04
2018-07-10 16:42:03:500 - [Appium] disableAndroidWatchers: true
2018-07-10 16:42:03:500 - [Appium] ignoreUnimportantViews: true
2018-07-10 16:42:03:501 - [Appium] platformName: android
2018-07-10 16:42:03:501 - [Appium] resetKeyboard: true
2018-07-10 16:42:03:501 - [Appium] server:CONFIG_UUID: 43f16879-8ba4-4084-aded-92da2b18373d
2018-07-10 16:42:03:501 - [Appium] unicodeKeyboard: true
2018-07-10 16:42:03:501 - [Appium] udid: ce0117115d52a73f04
...SNIP...
2018-07-10 16:42:25:165 - [HTTP] --> POST /wd/hub/session/3ca5d001-a73a-4e5c-9354-3ea126534bb9/element/88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247/click {"id":"88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247"}
2018-07-10 16:42:25:166 - [debug] [MJSONWP] Calling AppiumDriver.click() with args: ["88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247","3ca5d001-a73a-4e5c-9354-3ea126534bb9"]
2018-07-10 16:42:25:166 - [debug] [JSONWP Proxy] Proxying [POST /element/88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247/click] to [POST http://localhost:8200/wd/hub/session/2a2bdcbf-0437-4659-a735-037b2e96d3ef/element/88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247/click] with body: {"element":"88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247"}
2018-07-10 16:42:25:255 - [debug] [JSONWP Proxy] Got response with status 200: {"sessionId":"2a2bdcbf-0437-4659-a735-037b2e96d3ef","status":0,"value":true}
2018-07-10 16:42:25:256 - [debug] [MJSONWP] Responding to client with driver.click() result: true
2018-07-10 16:42:25:256 - [HTTP] <-- POST /wd/hub/session/3ca5d001-a73a-4e5c-9354-3ea126534bb9/element/88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247/click 200 91 ms - 76
2018-07-10 16:42:25:267 - [HTTP] --> POST /wd/hub/session/3ca5d001-a73a-4e5c-9354-3ea126534bb9/appium/element/88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247/value {"id":"88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247","value":"Test"}
2018-07-10 16:42:25:269 - [debug] [MJSONWP] Calling AppiumDriver.setValueImmediate() with args: ["Test","88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247","3ca5d001-a73a-4e5c-9354-3ea126534bb9"]
2018-07-10 16:42:25:271 - [debug] [JSONWP Proxy] Proxying [POST /element/88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247/click] to [POST http://localhost:8200/wd/hub/session/2a2bdcbf-0437-4659-a735-037b2e96d3ef/element/88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247/click] with body: {"element":"88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247"}
2018-07-10 16:42:25:836 - [debug] [JSONWP Proxy] Got response with status 200: {"sessionId":"2a2bdcbf-0437-4659-a735-037b2e96d3ef","status":0,"value":true}
2018-07-10 16:42:25:837 - [debug] [ADB] Getting connected devices...
2018-07-10 16:42:25:848 - [debug] [ADB] 2 device(s) connected
2018-07-10 16:42:25:849 - [debug] [ADB] Running '/Users/bedouglas/build_tools/android-sdk-macosx-r24.4.1/platform-tools/adb' with args: ["-P",5037,"-s","ce0117115d52a73f04","shell","input","text","Test"]
2018-07-10 16:42:26:586 - [debug] [MJSONWP] Responding to client with driver.setValueImmediate() result: null
2018-07-10 16:42:26:586 - [HTTP] <-- POST /wd/hub/session/3ca5d001-a73a-4e5c-9354-3ea126534bb9/appium/element/88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247/value 200 1319 ms - 76
2018-07-10 16:42:27:604 - [HTTP] --> POST /wd/hub/session/3ca5d001-a73a-4e5c-9354-3ea126534bb9/appium/element/88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247/value {"id":"88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247","value":" Thi"}
2018-07-10 16:42:27:605 - [debug] [MJSONWP] Calling AppiumDriver.setValueImmediate() with args: [" Thi","88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247","3ca5d001-a73a-4e5c-9354-3ea126534bb9"]
2018-07-10 16:42:27:605 - [debug] [JSONWP Proxy] Proxying [POST /element/88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247/click] to [POST http://localhost:8200/wd/hub/session/2a2bdcbf-0437-4659-a735-037b2e96d3ef/element/88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247/click] with body: {"element":"88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247"}
2018-07-10 16:42:27:700 - [debug] [JSONWP Proxy] Got response with status 200: {"sessionId":"2a2bdcbf-0437-4659-a735-037b2e96d3ef","status":0,"value":true}
2018-07-10 16:42:27:700 - [debug] [ADB] Getting connected devices...
2018-07-10 16:42:27:712 - [debug] [ADB] 2 device(s) connected
2018-07-10 16:42:27:713 - [debug] [ADB] Running '/Users/bedouglas/build_tools/android-sdk-macosx-r24.4.1/platform-tools/adb' with args: ["-P",5037,"-s","ce0117115d52a73f04","shell","input","text","%sThi"]
2018-07-10 16:42:28:378 - [debug] [MJSONWP] Responding to client with driver.setValueImmediate() result: null
2018-07-10 16:42:28:379 - [HTTP] <-- POST /wd/hub/session/3ca5d001-a73a-4e5c-9354-3ea126534bb9/appium/element/88e8a680-145d-4931-99b4-3b31eb189247/value 200 775 ms - 76