What PDA Keyboards do you have/recommend?

[gt24]

Being a PDA user who wanted a keyboard for quite a while for my e740, I started to look at various reviews of IR keyboards... however I didn't exactly find consistent reviews and I am still hesistant about purchasing a keyboard. So, I ask the following...

Please tell me any experience you have had with any keyboard (wireless, wired, bluetooth, wireless, ANYTHING), as in all positives and negatives of that keyboard. Tell me what type of keyboard it is as well as what device it was used with (OS version too). Also, if it is an IR wireless keyboard, tell me where the IR port is on your PDA.

While this thread will help me out, I am also hoping that it will serve to help out others in this forum to make the best decision about a keyboard. Story Time! :D

[hamishmacdonald]

I use a Stowaway XT with my iPAQ 2210. I love it. I know "love" is a strong word, but there it is. I wrote a novel on the frickin' thing.

My PC's keyboard just broke (the T is stuck down), so I decided to buy the Bluetooth Stowaway and use it for both my iPAQ and my PC, because ThinkOutside makes the most comfortable keyboards I've used, portable or otherwise.

[Zero101]

I have used a lot of keyboards over the years... starting with the GoType keyboard (http://www.landware.com/gotype/CASIO/index.html) for my Casio EM500. After that I went through a few others, including the original Stowaway keyboard for a Palm PDA, a weird off-brand rubber-keyed keyboard for my T-Mobile Pocket PC, and now I have the Stowaway XT IR keyboard.

I still think the original Stowaway (ie, the one that looked like this (http://muchy.com/review/shot/stowawaywithvisorset.jpg)) was the easiest to type on. Big keys, nice travel, and it folded up into a very small package.

I do like the XT though, alot. The wireless works much better than I expected, and it does fold up very nicely. The keyboard isn't quite as big when it's unfolded, and isn't quite as touch-type friendly. But I do like the IR, and it's nice to know I won't have to buy another keyboard even after I buy another PDA (which will be soon...)

So... in the end, it's a close call between the original Stowaway and my new XT, but I think the XT wins in the end. Doesn't type quite as nicely as the original, but the small size and IR make up for it.

[yankeejeep]

I have been very pleased with the Stowaway IR keyboard. It's small, has the typical good Stowaway tactile feel, and runs on standard AAA batteries. The only drawback is that it doesn't have a number-key row. The numbers are embedded in the keyboard and you access them using a function key.

[jkendrick]

I use a Stowaway XT with my iPAQ 2210. I love it. I know "love" is a strong word, but there it is. I wrote a novel on the frickin' thing.

My PC's keyboard just broke (the T is stuck down), so I decided to buy the Bluetooth Stowaway and use it for both my iPAQ and my PC, because ThinkOutside makes the most comfortable keyboards I've used, portable or otherwise.

Did you write your novel in PWord or TextMaker? Just curious which you found easier to create a lot of text.

[Zack Mahdavi]

I use a Stowaway XT with my iPAQ 2210. I love it. I know "love" is a strong word, but there it is. I wrote a novel on the frickin' thing.

Wow, a novel! That's really cool!

I'd also like to highly recommend any of the Stowaways Think Outside makes. I own the original Stowaway and the Stowaway XT, and they're both really well made and comfortable. I want to buy the new bluetooth version as well, but I'm waiting for prices to drop a bit.

[Brad Adrian]

If you've got an iPAQ, ThinkOutside has been selling their EXCELLENT XT keyboard for $39.99. It is nice and compact, but the primary qwerty key layout is virtually indistinguishable from a full-size one. They also have their larger, older models for $29.99.

A Bluetooth KB would be nice, but not at the going price, IMO.

[Sven Johannsen]

I've got the Dell BT which is apparently the new Think Outside BT one. Not particularly thrilled. I can get by the funky FN key to type a number thing, though it would bug the heck out of a touch typist, I would think.

What I really dislike is that the ends of the keyboard are up off the surface about a 1/4 inch. It rocks if you type with any force on the outside keys.

[hamishmacdonald]

Sorry for the delay. I'd forgotten to go back and look at this thread.

I wrote the novel in TextMaker. There were two main reasons:

1) It puts in proper 'curly' quotation-marks (not the little inch-marks we use online).
2) It handles large files well.

BUT... I had to stop using TextMaker for the copywriting I do at work 'cause the files I produced made my clients' Macs choke to death. I've been in touch with the developers, who say that they've managed to solve this problem, and the fix will be incorporated into the next version of the program.

Here's an update to what I wrote here before: I broke my iPAQ while travelling this weekend (scratched the screen badly), so I also needed a keyboard that would work with the new one (Loox 720 - yet to arrive).

I ordered a Bluetooth Stowaway XT a few weeks ago and it broke, so I returned it. But I bought another one. I have to have one of these, and it's time to step away from the cycle of buying a new keyboard every time I get a new PDA.

I'm writing with it now at my PC. One word: SWEET! This one seems perfectly solid, and it's such a joy to get to use the same keyboard on my PC as I do with my Pocket PC. So I'm back to giving a glowing recommendation to anything even remotely related to ThinkOutside.

[phs]

I've gone through several keyboards.

I used a cheapo ErGO keyboard with my iPaq 3850, worked fine but no way to charge and work at the same time. So when battery runs down you're out of luck. When I switched to 2210, connector won't fit.

Bought a cheapo Citipack IR. Worked with built-in apps, but refused to work with Textmaker. Trashed it.

Decided to splurge. Bought an HP brand keyboard. Charged while working. After a year a key (was it letter "C"?) died. Still hadn't gotten around to fix it.

Bought a Pocketop IR. BIG MISTAKE! Worked will all apps, including Textmaker, but slooow. Touch typists need not apply.

So I'm saving my money to get a notebook. But then there could be horror stories in that direction too.

[rgribbons]

I have a 2215 and the HP foldable keyboard and it works a dream. Recently travelling I had my laptop with me (15" screen) and tried to open it to start writing a report but could not lay it out on the tabletop (thanks to the huge space afforded in economy!!). Anyways I took out my ipaq and keyboard and the rest as they say is history. I wrote the entire thing on my PPC and when I got back to the office copied it across to my PC, formatted it and job done.

Very handy. The other great thing about the HP one is that you can hook the charger to it while you work.

[StickyPenguin]

Just got my new Think Outside Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard last week. I'm using it with an Ipaq 4150 and so far I'm fairly impressed.

I'm able to bang out text at a fair rate and keys are fairly responsive (using it right now).

It takes a bit of getting used to, having to hold down function keys to get numbers, brackets, etc.

Also find hitting the split spacebar I often manage to jab my finger/thumb in the middle and end up with two spaces instead of one.

Also experienced a few problems with the bluetooth connection. Sometimes connecting in secure mode results in the keyboard becoming unusable (lags and inserts multiple instances of a charachter per keypress) which is normally resolved by disabling the keyboard and reconnecting.

Using the keyboard results in a fairly big drain on battery life as well. Though so far I've mainly used it to send emails and post messages to forums which (for me) means using the wifi at the same time which exacerbates the drain.

Hopefully it'll tax the battery less when just using bluetooth.

[Andy Whiteford]

Sorry for the delay. I'd forgotten to go back and look at this thread.

I wrote the novel in TextMaker. There were two main reasons:

1) It puts in proper 'curly' quotation-marks (not the little inch-marks we use online).
2) It handles large files well.

BUT... I had to stop using TextMaker for the copywriting I do at work 'cause the files I produced made my clients' Macs choke to death. I've been in touch with the developers, who say that they've managed to solve this problem, and the fix will be incorporated into the next version of the program.

Here's an update to what I wrote here before: I broke my iPAQ while travelling this weekend (scratched the screen badly), so I also needed a keyboard that would work with the new one (Loox 720 - yet to arrive).

I ordered a Bluetooth Stowaway XT a few weeks ago and it broke, so I returned it. But I bought another one. I have to have one of these, and it's time to step away from the cycle of buying a new keyboard every time I get a new PDA.

I'm writing with it now at my PC. One word: SWEET! This one seems perfectly solid, and it's such a joy to get to use the same keyboard on my PC as I do with my Pocket PC. So I'm back to giving a glowing recommendation to anything even remotely related to ThinkOutside.



Hi Hamish,

I didn't realise there was someone on this forum that lived so close to me!
How did the Bluetooth keyboard break? I'm looking at getting one of these to replace my Pocketop - I prefer the idea of Bluetooth over IR althouh the IR keyboard has served me quite well.
I'm just curious as to the durability of these new keybaords from Think Outside. The original Stowaway I had for my jornada was a great keyboard, just a shame about the lack of a locking mechanism and also the fixed connector.

[gt24]

Also, a random addition... with anybody with an IR or bluetooth keyboard that released before an OS upgrade (like when 2003 was out, but not 2003 SE), tell me how the keyboard works in the latest OS (if you have the latest OS, of course) and how long it took for the manufacturer to release an updated driver.

Thanks!

[hamishmacdonald]

The fault was a little tiny one, but crucial: the little metal bit that holds the keyboard shut when it's folded came off completely. It was critical enough to make me send the unit back, and I'd already been wavering on having spent that much money. Now I've got one, though, I'm happy I made the leap. (And I had to get this, really, since I want it to work with an F-S Loox.)

This one's working perfectly, and the clip is fastened snugly.

Initially, I found the iPAQ slipped around too much on the keyboard's little cradle, particularly when I tapped the screen. When the cradle's detached, though, it holds the iPAQ securely, and it's just as easy to assign hotkeys to programs so I'm not tapping the iPAQ so much.

Now I'm just waiting for my Loox from Clove.co.uk... impatiently, of course.

[STW]

The USB port on the hp1945 is flipped upside down from other models (I guess to fit the features into this small footprint ppc--it also has a mini-sized headphone jack :roll: ), and so the cradle-able HP keyboard won't work with this model. I'm trying the Pocketop folding IR keyboard with mixed results. I do occasionally get the slow performance another poster mentioned--closing the doc and reopening returns it to regular speed (as fast as cradleable keyboards I've used). I like the small size of the pocketop, both folded and opened. And the key feel is good, and my hands adjust pretty well to the downsized layout for touchtyping. Having to hit function keys to get numbers and punctuation really slows things down though, and is for me the biggest slow-down, but I'm a 30-40 wpm touchtypist--faster typists might be slowed down more.

My main hesitation about a wireless/IR keyboard was clutter on the work surface with two unattached units, and battery drain. (I've used pda keyboards steadily from the gotype with palmIII, Vx, stowaways with 505, ipaq3650, and have a drawerfull of obsoleted keyboards.) However, I find that work surface is better to me with two units--because I don't have a teetery half balanced ppc on a keyboard--the GoType was the only pda keyboard that made a secure enough single unit with pda in cradle. Two separate units on the table is better I find that one unstable one. I can put the keyboard and 1945 on a book on my lap and work away without feeling I have to carefully balance the thing, or worrying about toppling it.

The battery drain on the 1945 is noticeable, and I'd like to compare it to the drain on a cradled 1945 in an HP keyboard, but not an option. The IR drain on the 1945 is not as fast as the stowaway keyboard drained my ipaq3650 with its pathetic battery. The AAA battery in the keyboard seems to go forever.

For me, ppc plus a decent keyboard makes a laptop relacement for writing docs anywhere carrying only a few onces in a pocket. I take notes in meetings all the time with this combo.