Review: Thinkoutside's Palm Wireless Keyboard

[bbny]

I've been using a Palm Wireless Keyboard with my Tungsten T3 for several months now, and I'm HOOKED! Since the T3 comes with Documents To Go 6 (for MS Office-compatible word processing and spreadsheet creation), the keyboard allows me to consign my laptop to the desk. Since there is no physical connection between the Palm, the keyboard is perfect for using the T3 in extended-screen landscape mode, allowing me to view more columns on my spreadsheets.

What I find really great about this keyboard though is the fact that IR is a near-universal standard for PDAs and many smartphones, making the PWK compatible with a very wide range of products. I've successfully tested the keyboard with the ff:

1) Palm Tungsten T, T2, T3, Zire 71, Vx (upgraded to OS 4.1), m130
2) Sony Clie NR-70V
3) Sony Ericsson P800 (with the plastic keyboard removed)
4) Nokia 3650, 7650, 6600
5) Handspring Treo 600

What's more, since the Palm Wireless Keyboard is identical to the ThinkOutside Stowaway Infrared Keyboard for Pocket PCs (except perhaps for what's printed on the keys), the PWK works well with any Pocket PC OS unit, including Phone Edition units like the XDA II.

Pros:
1) Near-universal compatibility - not just for Palm OS units. Won't easily become obsolete.
2) The 2 AAA batteries that it uses lasts for months
3) Can be used in landscape mode with a T3
4) The keyboard's IR wand can be positioned so that you can use it with your Palm while it is charging in its cradle (useful for long projects)
5) Fairly inexpensive, compared to Ultra-thin and Bluetooth Keyboards

Cons:
1) A bit bulky (i.e., slightly too large to fit comfortably in your pants pocket);
2) IR use decreases PDA's battery life (but not as much as would a comparable Bluetooth keyboard)
3) No dedicated row of number keys, making it a bit more difficult to create spreadsheets
4) Grey plastic finish not particularly appealing

[Brian]

Great mini-review!

Add the Tapwave Zodiac to the list. Another plus: The Palm Wireless Keyboard is designed by Scott Summit, one of the most respected industrial designers of mobile technology around. He recently redesigned web page allows you to follow a design from conception to the final product.

[ignatz]

For those interested:

PWK at Palm website

and a very good Brighthand review

Nice review, I didn't know this was out there. You can find it on Froogle for ~$45. When I get my next PDA I need one of these. Hell with a laptop!

Bit of constructive criticism: please include links in your review. It's so much easier than doing a search, and readers appreciate your work that much more.

Ballistic, that website is amazing! Summit's work is breathtaking...

[bbny]

Ignatz,

Point well taken about including links. I should've made the effort.

Here's a pic of the Palm Wireless Keyboard being used with a Nokia 3650:



You can download freeware drivers (not developed by Palm/ThinkOutside) to use the keyboard with Symbian Series 60 OS smartphones (e.g., Nokia 7650, 3650, 6600, 7610, etc.) or Symbian UIQ OS phones (e.g., Sony Ericsson P800, P900) here. The driver also works with the Pocketop IR keyboard.

[ignatz]

Great stuff, thanks. Do you have any links to using this with a PPC? [Edit]: I see what you mean, it is identical to the Stowaway. I think I may look into getting it now, but I may be getting a PPC in the next few months, so I want to make sure it's compatible...

[ignatz]

I swear I'll freakin' shut up now. Just found that Stowaway makes a nearly identical bluetooth keyboard, though the price is more than double. Still, that's pretty damn cool.

[ignatz]

I ordered one of these last night from ebuyer. It came to just under $50 with shipping. I haven't ordered from ebuyer before, but their epinions reviews are pretty good. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[Francesco]

Ignatz, your "one of these" link does not work. It takes me to eBuyer's frontpage.
BTW, I ordered a PWK with my new T|T3, they're arriving this weekend!

[ignatz]

Works for me. It's just a link to the PWK on ebuyer. Not sure what the problem is...

[Francesco]

It has to do with cookies, I guess.

[bbny]

Here's a thread that I started last month on Mapalad.Org (the Palm User's Group in the Philippines, where I am from) that shows the various ways by which you can use the Palm Wireless Keyboard in conjunction with your cradle or USB sync cable (combined with a USB-to-AC adapter) to get around the T3's problem of short battery life. These methods are particularly useful for heavy-duty word processing.

I suppose that the use of a Power-to-Go sled would also extend battery life without tying you to a power cable, but I am not sure whether the T3+sled combo would fit in the wireless keyboard.

You can find the link to the thread (which includes photos) here.

-Bon

[ignatz]

Got mine last night and I'm very happy so far. After a little more experience I'll add my take to this review.

[johnsoax]

I ordered mine from Amazon on August 17 for $44 including shipping. It was delivered on the 18th (yes the next day), even though I took the free shipping option. And it works great with a Sony Clie NX-60.

[ignatz]

I've been using my PWK quite a lot lately and I LOVE it. It took me just a little while to get used to the keys (I'm not used to laptop keyboards) and using a function key to get the numbers (though if you are entering lots of numbers into a spreadsheet there is a number lock), but now I can hammer out text on there almost as fast as on a full-sized keyboard. I think that with this guy and a PDA you can do 90% of what you can do on a laptop with a fraction of the weight. I carry the keyboard around all the time in my bag with my Palm and whenever I have an idea worth jotting down, or just have a minute to write in my journal, I pop it out and have at it. It also works great for taking notes when meeting with clients or when I take a client's call on my cell when I'm in some random place. I can get it all documented right away and won't forget anything I said that I'd do!

It has quite a lot of shortcuts on the keyboard, like key combinations for the basic app buttons on your Palm. Also some applications (like DayNotez) are specifically setup to work with the PWK. With some practice you can navigate around much of your PDA without having to resort to the stylus at all.

Not only does it work great, but it looks great and packs up tiny. The design is spectacular; a pleasure to look at. And though it is a bit big for a tight pocket, it will drop in any bag, purse, or pouch and barely be noticed.

The only negatives I have seen may just reflect my lack of experience (and perhaps the fact that I haven't read the manual!). You can set your Palm to check for input from the keyboard for the first X seconds on power up and usually this works for getting started with it and keeps you from having to keep IR receive active all the time. You simply navigate to the application that you want to type in, turn off the Palm and turn it back on. Occasionally though, it doesn't work and I have to go to the driver app and trigger it manually. Not sure why this happens. Also once in a while it seems to skip a character. But I may not be hitting the keys hard enough and it hasn't happened enough for me to tell if it's my problem or the keyboard's. So overall I have very little bad to say.

This keyboard has changed my whole PDA experience, because the area that was the weakest link for me, text entry, has become one of the strongest. I didn't see before how a PDA could effectively replace a laptop, but with tools like this one combined with a wireless PDA, I don't see why you'd need a laptop...

[cbarnett]

And this is compatible with PPC's? Hmmm.... need to check this out. I already have an infrared keyboard I used with my Clie, but the drivers never seemed to work for the PPC, then the keyboard broke, and it's not under warranty. I nice, _robust_ replace for the ipaq would be very nice...

Craig.