Customer Reviews

Think Outside Stowaway IR Wireless Keyboard for Pocket PC and Palm OS

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My system details: Sony Clié TJ37 with PalmOS 5.2, used constantly at Dartmouth College for all my note-taking, MP3 player, camera, and out-of-dorm internet needs; Debian Linux OS desktop computer used for HotSyncing;

Positives:

-I have to say that the keyboard portion itself is excellent. I am normally a desktop user, and switching to using this keyboard took absolutely no effort. The only keys that are in unusual places are the delete, slash, and backslash keys. Reviews for other IR keyboards had said the spacebars were weird - on this, the keyboard is split down the center, and is natural whether you normally hit it with your right or left thumb (I use both).

-The keyboard is also designed so that you should never have to use the stylus while it is connected. It takes a little getting used to be, but there are 'Fn+[whatever]' key combinations for almost every operation (from replicating the standard hard keys, to selecting text, to 'Done' and 'New' buttons).

-The connection to the PDA itself is excellent. I was able to move the infrared transmitter all over the place, and the PDA was still able to receive a very reliable signal. The transmitter itself is on a piece of plastic that rotates (no sliding, but you can just slide the PDA itself on the stand). None of those dumb mirrors to deal with.

-The software driver that you painlessly install also ads an application called 'Keyboard'. In it, you can tune absolutely everything - from how long the PDA should search for the keyboard when it first turns on, to how the repeat rate for if you hold down a key, to 10 customizable 'Cmd+[number]' keys. Also, those of you internationals will be pleased that you can also choose different keyboard layouts. US English, French, and German come installed by default, and it has the capability to have new layouts installed (I didn't investigate where you can get them or how many are available, though).

-The keys respond very quickly (you could certainly type at least 80 words per minute speed on it). The repeat speed (if you hold down a button) is somewhat slow but not much to complain about, in my opinion though.

-The stand to hold the PDA is very sturdy and holds the PDA well and securely. It does have a negative with the metal bar though (see below).

-There is a Windows .exe installer that should auto-run and be no hassle if you use Windoze. I, however, use Linux. I was very impressed, as I am with any company that does this, that the CD actually had documentation for installing the driver under a Linux system. The installation is simple for Linux (or Mac OS for that matter) users. Just install one little Keyboard.prc file.

Negatives:

-This keyboard does not have a lock to hold it flat, thereby making it somewhat difficult to type with the keyboard on your lap (the thing folds if you put much weight on it). You have to play a little balancing act to use it on any uneven surface. It is designed to be used on a flat surface.

-I like how this has a metal bar to hold the PDA on the built-in stand (more secure in my opinion than rubber strips, etc). However, the bar is situated somewhat too close (at least for my TJ37). It just fits in without any case or anything on it. The TJ37 is about 1.3 cm or 0.55 inches deep, so you can gauge you PDA accordingly. Being just a metal bar, you can just bend it out with some pliers, though. Not a particularly neat solution, but it works.

Notes:

-The installation instructions for Mac/Linux say to download the driver from their website. I have no idea why they say that as the most recent version of the .prc file is right there on the CD.

I really love this keyboard and wish I had bought it much sooner. I have a Toshiba e310 with PocketPC 2002 firmware upgrade and some of my comments are specific to this combination.

Setup was extremely easy and quick. After loading the program, my PocketPC recognized it without any problem. Weight, size & design are very attractive. The keys themselves are VERY comfortable, and I find no difference in typing speed versus a desktop keyboard. The metal front bar is slightly loose when holding my e310 (7/16" thick, bar has 10/16" space but only 2/16" room after accounting for protrusions, probably a snug fit for a 9/16" thick device).

Editing keyboard shorcuts are excellent! While using a Word or similar application, I can use control-X,C,V,Z for cut, copy, past & undo. I can move one word at a time (Control-arrows), to beginning and end of a line (GreeenFN, home/end), page up/down (GreenFN, arrows), select one word (Control, BlueFN, arrows) or line. Most, but not all, of these shortcuts are the same ones from the desktop computer, so it was easy to remember.

The keyboard recognized application-specific shortcuts (Control-S for save and Control-Q for save & quit in TreNotes). Also brought up Help file, Control-H, but I'm not sure if this is PPC2002 or an application shortcut. Other file/task shortcuts that were very handy were BlueFN-X (close file), Enter (open hightlighted file), and Alt-Tab (cycles through open apps).

Menu navigation shortcuts were not as good. Alt (don't hold down), arrows (or Alt & first letter of menu) allows movement among bottom menu items, but this was not as convenient as using the stylus because once the menu is selected, the only way to select the sub-menu (pull-down item) is to scroll among the choices. This is OK if there are only 3 choices, but some menu items had 10 choices. Some menu items do not have a first-letter: They only have pictures. The only way to select these are by scrolling with arrows. There is no keyboard shortcut for moving among TABs (ex. Task & Note tabs in Tasks editing mode).

In summary, when I am doing most of my heavy typing, the keyboard allowed full access to editing shorcuts and enough of the application/menu shortcuts, so that I did not need to stop and get my stylus. When I am doing heavy file manipulations, I use the stylus. Since these two types of activities were carried out at slightly different times, I did not notice the less-useful menu naviation features. I did notice the lack of a Tab-navigation feature, but it was a small matter.

My only wish is that there was another Blue FN key somewhere on the right bottom or top of the keyboard for quickly entering numbers while typing mostly letters. When I am entering a number on the left side of the keyboard, I have to awkwardly use my right index finger to press the left-side BlueFN key.

Split Space Bar: The stange split in the middle takes getting used to. My thumb lands about 25% of the time right in the crack. (Once in a while my thumb lands on the plastic protrusion, a little to the right of the crack, but it does not hurt my finger as a reviewer on Amazon has said, I do not hit it very hard). Most of the time, my right AND left thumbs seem to land on the LEFT space bar (I am right handed and my right thumb is habitually below my left thumb).

Toshiba e310 specific: Certain functions do not work on e310. FN-ESC did not work in contacts. FN-Delete does not toggle insert/delete. Numbers/letters toggle function when NumLock is engaged does not work. FN-Enter does nothing, but Enter by itself selects files, etc. The bold blue masks (bottom ones, ex. Z-key has "today" and "OK" masked on it) seem to be designed for a phone, and does nothing. Similarly, the blue ribbon mask on the Control key does nothing.

General Comments: Battery - long lasting. Body - rocks, right side not flush against table (paper used to stabilize). Backrest not adjustable (box used to raise viewing angle). Comes with a beautiful heavily padded leather case. Smelled heavily of rubber/chemicals - but is dissipating. Key action feels really good (not solid click like an IBM laptops, but soft airbubble click like a Toshiba laptops, which I prefer). Can turn off keyboard sound.

I've got a Treo 600, SE 900 and several iPAQs. I have a drawer full of older PDAs and keyboards as well. The thing i love about this keyboard is that it works with everything! I can use it with any of my phones or PDAs and it works like a champ.

The thing is also very durable - I've dropped it, stepped on it and had my kids play with it and it just keeps working. Battery life is great too, still have the original batteries in it after 6 months.

On the downside, you have to get used to using the FN key to enter numbers but after a week or so i was just as fast as using a keyboard with dedicated number keys.

I bought this after doing a lot of research about Think Outside and IR keyboards. Turns out Think Outside makes keyboards for the biggies like Palm, Dell and others.

I highly recommend it!

I have been using this keyboard for several weeks now, and I simply love it. It works extremely well. It's easy to set up, easy to use, feels great, has many shortcut keys integrated, and is lightweight. If I type lightly, I can even use it on my lap, though I would imagine it's not stable enough for most users to do so.

My only complaint is the backrest (which holds up the PDA) can slip if not used on a hard surface. I tend to work on the back of my backpack (the flat side) when commuting to work, though this little stand sometimes slips and wants to fall.

However, I have no other complaints. It's allowed me to (almost) ditch my laptop for research papers and essays.

I have only good thigs to say about this keyboard. It folds and unfolds easily and comes with a nice pouch to store it in. The keys feel like a real keyboard and are pretty quiet when typing. This is important to me, since I'll be using it for taking notes in class. The keyboard folds out flat and stays in place thanks to rubber inserts in the back. The synchronization works perfectly with my Zire 31. I would recommend this keyboard to anyone looking for a compact and effective way to enter data into their PDA.

Really amazing keyboard-- the typing is just perfect, and so is the way it folds. Battery life is also simple and great. This keyboard makes it possible to write papers and proposals on my Pocket PC while I travel. Since my laptop died, I decided to just use my Pocket PC for this purpose instead. I bought this keyboard and a mouse, took it on the road for a week and it worked fine. It was great to travel so light (you really do feel a lot lighter compared to even an iBook).

Ergonomically it was quite comfortable for me to type on this keyboard and use a mouse while looking at the Pocket PC screen on the stand. The only downside in that respect is that you can't see too much text at once on screen, so I felt the need to make printouts of my documents (at hotel business centers etc.) a little more often than I normally would with a laptop, to review the draft I was working on "as a whole".

There are a few caveats to be aware of if you're contemplating a PDA with this keyboard as a replacement for a laptop, because the resulting setup is missing a few things that one takes for granted with a laptop:

- I needed the mouse too. It's too hard to stop typing on the keyboard and pick up the stylus, and although there are keyboard shortcuts for many things, at least in a week I couldn't get the hang of them. Stowaway's Bluetooth mouse works perfectly for this, and is a great product also. Because the whole setup is so compact, I could even use it with the mouse on an airplane tray table in coach, where normally a mouse won't fit next to a laptop; on the plane this setup felt -more- comfortable than a laptop to me.

- Because the built-in stand is necessary (you can't very well hold the PDA while you type, plus the IR transmitter is attached to the stand), you can only put your PDA in certain positions:

--- In portrait orientation, the position of the PDA's power connector at the bottom of the PDA prevents you from charging the PDA while you type-- which can be a problem since, although keyboard battery life is great, the PDA runs out of juice after a couple hours if you're using it like you would use a laptop (typing, mousing, listening to music at the same time, etc). Plus, if you have an extended battery pack for your PDA, the extra protrusion in back prevents the PDA from seating securely in the stand, although it could kind of rest on it if I wasn't in a bumpy environment like a train or plane. As a result, for me when my standard battery pack would run out, things would get a little sketchy.

--- Landscape orientation is possible, but only in one direction not the other (due to the location of the Stowaway's IR transmitter). On my PDA that orientation on the stand prevented me from using headphones (because the jack winds up on the bottom). I could charge the PDA while it was in this position, but the protrusion of the charging connector to the right again made the PDA rest insecurely on the stand, at a weird angle.

- This detail didn't really bother me but figured I'd mention it. This keyboard, I think unlike the Bluetooth version from the same manufacturer, needs to be used on a rigid tabletop (not your lap). Otherwise, the keyboard folds back into a "V" under the weight of your hands. Basically, it's perfectly solid in a hotel, on an airplane, on an Amtrak, but don't expect to use this setup on a commuter train with no tray table! But I can't really imagine how you would arrange the PDA to look at it comfortably without a tabletop anyway.

So, while everything worked great technically and even ergonomically, beware of unexpected physical constraints. After I got back from my first trip, I decided to return this keyboard and order the Bluetooth version, which communicates with the PDA via radio rather than invisible light, and which is also compatible with my PDA. I'm waiting for it to arrive. Since the mouse is Bluetooth, I figured it makes sense to get the Bluetooth version of the keyboard as well. Maybe it will lengthen battery life on my PDA a little since Bluetooth needed to be activated to use the mouse anyway, and now I can turn off the PDA's infrared sensor. And I'm hoping that the stand for the Bluetooth version will be more flexible since there's no need for a line-of-sight IR transmitter.

FYI, my PDA is a Dell Axim X30 with Bluetooth.

As a freelance copywriter I used to do 100% of my writing in my desktop. I used my Palm Tungsten E basically for reading and Calendar. But now things have change, with the Think Outside wireless keyboard, I'm doing half of my work in my Palm. It's light and easy to use. It tooked abou 40 minutes of practice to get used to the keyboard, after that it was downhill all the time. A few days ago I tooked it to the doctor's office and while waiting I wrote a lot. Since it's not design to rest on your lap, I took a hard cover book and rested the keyboard on it: Voila, that did the trick. What can I say? I'm in love with my Palm-Stoway combo...best buy I've done in this year. The only thing missing: while resting on the keyboard base, your Palm can't be connected, neither to the charger not to the hotsync cable.

The day I got my Tungsten T3, I knew I needed a keyboard, as the buit-in keyboard is extremely difficult, especially when the T3 is sideways. After reading several positive reviews on this keyboard, I decided to give it a try.

This device was very easy to set up, required a very quick PC installation and then a HotSync. Used it for a few minutes and found that the response was very fast, the hotkeys wonderful to have if a bit difficult to get the hang of, and the key size large enough to type normally.

Annoyingly, there are FIVE function keys: ctrl, cmd, alt, fn1 and fn2. Each one does something different, and it can get hard to keep track of. This is especially annoying because you have to hold fn1 to type numbers, and fn2 to type symbols.

The other problem, which kept me from giving this 5 stars, was that when the Tungsten T3 is being used sideways, the IR transmitter doesn't line up with the port on the T3! Fortunately, the range of the transmitter seems to be a few inches, so it works almost flawlessly with the handheld next to the stand instead of on it.

I read somewhere that the T3 could not be used sideways on this keyboard because the screen flipped upside-down. However this is easily overcome, simply switch the handedness to left-handed, or, using the keyboard, hold alt and press the delete key to rotate the screen.

Overall, nice device, feels well-made unlike some other portable keyboards I've seen. Easy to set up, and recommended for most handhelds.

In use with the Palm Treo 650 and TX,I had major problems with lag between striking the key and the character appearing on the screen. For anything beyond very slow hunt-and-peck typing, this fault renders the Stowaway IR keyboard unusable in my opinion.

The Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard with the same two units is flawless. High-speed typing is eminently feasible and, one other plus, the Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard locks, so you can use it on your lap, something not possible with the IR version.

Yes, the Bluetooth version costs more than twice as much --- and it's worth every penny.

Jerry

Two years ago, I bought the Pocketop keyboard, which was the very best in the market at that time. Around last week, my pda hard-resetted, and Pocketop said it was $10 to purchase the driver. Instead of buying a new one (the keyboard wasn't working as well as I'd like too), I decided to look at updates. This was supposed to be the best Wireless Keyboard on the market. I could say now that I've used it that it certainly is. I can type up to 60 wpm with this keyboard, and it feels like a normal keyboard. It works with my Ipaq. I am happy. Thank you, ThinkOutside and Amazon.