geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Shmak on Fri, 11 September 2009, 15:04:18
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I've just acquired a samsung omnia i900 through a friend (free!), and I really hate typing on the touchscreen. However I think it could be great with a folding bluetooth keyboard or something similar. Sure, most super portable keyboards are crappy, but anything has got to be better than the small virtual touchscreen keys.
The real dilemma is there appears to be only 2 keyboards of this type on the market:
• The Matias Folding Keyboard (http://www.matias.ca/foldingkeyboard/) which appears to be way to large,
• And The HP iPAQ Folding Keyboard (http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06c/A10-51210-69998-329254-69998-344660-3299513-3309955.html) which appears to be horribly overpriced.
If anyone knows of a nice folding bluetooth board that isn't discontinued or at least somewhat available, I'd love to see it.
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The HP keyboard above is manufactured by Freedom Input Inc and only supports Bluetooth SIP profile. Freedom sells a newer version (not marketed by HP) that features SIP and HID profiles selectable by a switch on the keyboard. This is called the Freedom Universal Bluetooth Keyboard and is preferable to the HP version. (I have an HP for sale if you want one though.) The HP has the advantage that the Windows Mobile keys are engraved on the keyboard. Both HP ant Freedom Universal do not have the function row keys directly accessible. The Matias features a full keyboard with better keys but it is way too big when folded, meant as a companion to to your notebook computer rather than a PDA.
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Well, I wouldn't say this is a QUALITY portable keyboard, but it satisfies the cheap and small requirement you're after.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/gamer/5a7f/
Talk about a REAL rubber membrane board...