11-17-2004, 04:00 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Brando's Bluetooth Smart Keyboard
For those of you looking for a Bluetooth keyboard with a number row, Brando has another choice for you.
What's cool about this keyboard is that it has broad device support -- not just Pocket PCs, but Palms and a number of Smartphones. Some PPCT members have been discussing the keyboard, and PPCT member tourdewolf unearthed an iPAQ HQ review of the unit.
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11-17-2004, 04:04 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 63
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speaking of keyboards, i have a question regarding battery life.
Which type of keyboard will eat up battery faster: IR keyboard or BT keyboard?
I own the new branded palmone IR keyboard (with number row) with my pda2k, and it works great together.
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11-17-2004, 04:14 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 482
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Well IR keyboards have a battery of their own, which means they use none of your PPC's battery, except that little amount that recieves the IR Beam. Bluetooth, on the other hand, takes up batter power comparible to WiFi, so I'm guessing the Bluetooth keyboard would definitely take up more battery power (or, I mean cause more battery power to be used)
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11-17-2004, 04:43 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,734
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by delfuhd
Well IR keyboards have a battery of their own, which means they use none of your PPC's battery, except that little amount that recieves the IR Beam. Bluetooth, on the other hand, takes up batter power comparible to WiFi, so I'm guessing the Bluetooth keyboard would definitely take up more battery power (or, I mean cause more battery power to be used)
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This is strange logic. Bluetooth keyboards also contain their own batteries, and recieving IR information also drains the battery (hence switching it off on your handheld saves battery power).
Bluetooth certainly does not consume battery power comparible to WIFI. It in fact uses much less. If not connected I can leave bluetooth on the whole day on my PDA and lose maybe 5% of battery power.
Lastly, a simpler way to understand this is that the keyboard would almost certainly use more battery power transmitting than the handheld recieving, yet it uses (i think) 2 AAA's which lasts one to two months).
In short battery power is not a big issue, so dont let it dissaude you from buying this keyboard.
Surur
(Sorry about the rant, but bluetooth often needs some defending)
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11-17-2004, 05:16 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 193
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Only $90 and a number row? I've finally found my BT keyboard 8O
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11-17-2004, 05:47 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 524
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toshiba e830?
Can someone tell me if it works with the toshiba e830?
I have bought two bluetooth keyboards and after a lot of time and contacting manufactuers I can tell you that the HP bluetooth folding keyboard and the thinkoutside bluetooth keyboard are both incompatible with the toshiba e830 internal bluetooth. I'm desperate for a keyboard for this awesome pocket pc!!!
I can't totally blame toshiba since I can use the bluetooth with my laptop and my mobile phone - no problem!
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11-17-2004, 05:51 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,389
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where's the bluetooth keyboard with the mouse like the targus IR keyboard? I want one of those.  I like how the stowaway keyboard drivers also support thiir new bluetooth mouse on you ppc but i really don' t like their layout (lack of number row) and i would rather have the mouse and keyboard as one. I love my targus IR keyboard and would love a bluetooth one even more! then i could use it with my home made mediacenter pc! ooooo!
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11-17-2004, 06:10 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 37
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Re: toshiba e830?
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Originally Posted by vector
Can someone tell me if it works with the toshiba e830?
I have bought two bluetooth keyboards and after a lot of time and contacting manufactuers I can tell you that the HP bluetooth folding keyboard and the thinkoutside bluetooth keyboard are both incompatible with the toshiba e830 internal bluetooth. I'm desperate for a keyboard for this awesome pocket pc!!!
I can't totally blame toshiba since I can use the bluetooth with my laptop and my mobile phone - no problem!
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Vector, are you telling me I can use the thinkoutside bluetooth keyboard on my desktop/laptop? That's what I'm looking for!
Anyone know if the Brando keyboard works on a desktop that has bluetooth? I would like to have that number row...
TIA
After Forever
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11-17-2004, 06:40 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 316
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by delfuhd
Well IR keyboards have a battery of their own, which means they use none of your PPC's battery, except that little amount that recieves the IR Beam. Bluetooth, on the other hand, takes up batter power comparible to WiFi, so I'm guessing the Bluetooth keyboard would definitely take up more battery power (or, I mean cause more battery power to be used)
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From looking at the ICs used to implement both IrDA and Bluetooth (which, again, was designed as a low power wireless communication scheme and alternative to IrDA), power consumption is approximately equivalent in the two technologies. Variations of course occur, and I have no idea which technology demands a higher CPU load (I suspect that difference is so small as to have no measurable impact on battery life), but the numbers indicate that SIR (which most PPCs use and all IR keyboards should) and Class 3 Bluetooth (which most Bluetooth keyboards should use) have similar power drains, as do MIR/SIR (which the remaining PPCs use--excepting CIR, which I haven't looked up but wouldn't be used for talking to a keyboard anyway) and Class 2 Bluetooth (which most PPCs and the remaining Bluetooth keyboards use).
End result? Your battery life should be shortened by the same amount, give or take 10%, when using IR or Bluetooth keyboards. I haven't done this test because I'm too clumsy to keep an IR keyboard lined up long enough to use it, but I would welcome the results of anyone who has. Surur? Bueller? Anyone, anyone?
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11-17-2004, 06:51 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 524
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Re: toshiba e830?
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Originally Posted by after_forever
Quote:
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Originally Posted by vector
Can someone tell me if it works with the toshiba e830?
I have bought two bluetooth keyboards and after a lot of time and contacting manufactuers I can tell you that the HP bluetooth folding keyboard and the thinkoutside bluetooth keyboard are both incompatible with the toshiba e830 internal bluetooth. I'm desperate for a keyboard for this awesome pocket pc!!!
I can't totally blame toshiba since I can use the bluetooth with my laptop and my mobile phone - no problem!
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Vector, are you telling me I can use the thinkoutside bluetooth keyboard on my desktop/laptop? That's what I'm looking for!
Anyone know if the Brando keyboard works on a desktop that has bluetooth? I would like to have that number row...
TIA
After Forever |
Well, you should be able to but let me be more specific. What I meant to say is I can't blame Toshiba's bluetooth on the e830 because I can use the bluetooth on the e830 to transfer files to and from my laptop using bluetooth and my mobile phone using bluetooth. In other words, I didn't mean to say the keyboard works with my mobile phone or my laptop.
Now, to help answer your question, I did try it with my keyboard and it did not work very well, to the point where it was unusable. The one catch is that I was using my usb bluetooth adapters software with xp service pack one and the human interface device driver it has is beta...so I'm guessing the problems I had with the keyboard (keys repeating, not working, giving the wrong character, etc - and all very often, not sometimes) were due to bad drivers. I will say that I'm using XP SP1 and I know that XP SP2 has it's own bluetooth drivers and those may very well work with the keyboard. I don't want to apply sp2 since I have activesync working over my current bluetooth configuration and I don't want to mess with that all over again.
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Linear Mode
