Introduction
Think
Outside's
Bluetooth Stowaway Keyboard is a QWERTY folding
keyboard that connects to Pocket PCs and other devices via Bluetooth,
a short-range wireless peer-to-peer technology. Two
AAA batteries provide two
or more weeks of use, depending on how
long the keyboard is used at any given time. With
the Stowaway Keyboard, your Pocket PC or smartphone becomes
not only a mobile word processing center, but
is also more functional for other common tasks
like e-mail and note taking.
The
Stowaway Keyboard takes advantage of Bluetooth
to ensure maximum compatibility across a wide range
of Pocket PCs and other electronic devices. A
hardware connection would require different keyboards
or adapters for each Pocket PC; Bluetooth
makes one keyboard compatible with many different
devices, irrespective of ports, slots or other hardware
connectivity concerns. Those
Pocket PCs lacking integrated
Bluetooth can often be upgraded by way of a CompactFlash
or Secure Digital card.
The
Stowaway keyboard ships with software, two AAA
batteries and a carrying case.
Design
Like
all PDA keyboards, Think Outside's Bluetooth Stowaway
Keyboard is designed to be as small as possible
when in travel mode, and more-or-less the size
of a standard keyboard when in use. The
Stowaway, when closed, is 5.5 inches wide and just
under 4 inches from front to back. When open, it's a laptop-sized keyboard with 3mm of
key travel.
As
folding keyboards go, the Bluetooth Stowaway
Keyboard is surprisingly sturdy. When closed,
the visible shell is a hard polycarbonate, a strong,
lightweight thermal plastic with an almost aluminum
feel. This
shell not only serves to protect the keyboard
when it's not in use, but also forms the foundation
of the keyboard when you type, helping keep the
keyboard from bending.
Unlike
some folding keyboards, the Stowaway has a single
fold down the center. This is a more
user-friendly design than that of the tri-fold
keyboards, but it does necessitate the unit being
a bit larger than its tri-folding cousins when closed.
Opening
the Stowaway is a three-step process. First,
you pull back the top clip, which acts
as the handheld stand when extended. Next, the
keyboard springs open by pressing a small
button on the left side. Finally, you pull
the top flap up and to the right and press down,
locking it into place.
The
overall design and quality of the Bluetooth Stowaway
Keyboard is impressive. It's attractive,
comfortable and stands up well to frequent use. Our
only design complaint concerns the stand that
folds out to hold a PDA or Smartphone. The
groove in which the handheld rests is a bit
thin, too thin to adequately accommodate some
Pocket PCs. The Dell
Axim X50v,
for example, doesn't seat very snugly when in
portrait mode. If you
flip the X50v on its side, however, it fits perfectly,
making contact with each of the rubberized
grips. Other
smaller Pocket PCs like the iPAQ
1945 fit very well,
however, in either portrait or landscape mode. Snug
or loose, all Pocket PCs and Palm
OS handhelds we used with the keyboard
worked with the stand, but some were better
fits than others.
Keyboard
Layout
The
layout of the keys themselves is fairly standard,
with 18mm spacing. This is similar
to many thin-and-light and ultraportable laptop keyboards. There
are four rows of keys, most capable of producing
two or three different characters. Alternate
key functions are activated by one of two Function keys
which flank the space key.
Because
there isn't a row of keys dedicated to numbers, typing
a number requires pressing the blue Function key
and one of the QWERTYUIOP keys along
the top row, each doubling as a number. This
may seem odd at first, but it's really no different
than holding down the Shift key while
pressing 4 to
get a dollar sign on a standard keyboard.
Keys
like Shift, Enter, Backspace,
and Tab are all in
the usual places, with the only odd key placement
being that of the Delete key, which is
in the lower right-hand corner of the board.
This
keyboard, like any non-desktop keyboard, takes
some getting used to if you're a touchtypist. But,
we can safely say that the Bluetooth Stowaway is
the most desktop-like PDA board we've used to
date.
|
|
Software
Like
all Bluetooth devices, the Bluetooth Stowaway
keyboard must be paired with your device in order to function. This process
is greatly simplified by the software provided
by Think Outside. The software
completely bypasses the Bluetooth Manager
software built into the Windows Mobile OS,
making connection a snap.
After
installing the driver software on your Pocket
PC, a soft-reset is prompted. Following
the reset, a Stowaway icon is part of
your input menu (left). This can be
selected when you wish to use the keyboard.
Setting the keyboard to Discoverable
mode requires pressing and holding CTL and
both the blue and green Function Keys. A
small LED on the keyboard begins
to flash. Tapping the "Connect" button
in the Pocket PC's software menu completes the
pairing process. |
After
the initial pairing, subsequent connectivity seems
to have no definite rhyme or reason. Many
times, after hours between use, the Stowaway
keyboard reconnects to the Pocket PC with the stroke
of a key; alternatively, sometimes powering off
the Pocket PC and Stowaway Keyboard for only a
short time requires repairing at the time of next
use. Luckily,
the software is simple enough to use that reconnecting
is only a matter of tapping a button or two.
Clickity-Click
For
some inexplicable reason the Think Outside software
causes a clicking sound to be played each time
a key is pressed on the keyboard. This was clearly done to help simulate the clicking sound
created by a traditional keyboard, but we
found it more than a little annoying. The
Stowaway software doesn't seem to provide an option
to out out of this sound, but it can be turned
off in the "Sounds
& Notifications" menu of the Windows Mobile
OS.
Bluetooth
v. Infrared
The
compatibility advantages of Bluetooth may not,
at first glance, seem above and beyond those of
Infrared. Infrared
keyboards - keyboards that beam keystrokes
to a PDA via Infrared - have been around
for a long time, and were designed with
liberal compatibility in mind. Since
all Pocket PCs have Infrared ports, while simply
a majority have Bluetooth, the compatibility advantages
of Bluetooth over IR might weak. This
is true, in a sense, but what
you do get with Bluetooth
is flexibility in addition to compatibility.
With
an IR Keyboard, there's usually an IR wand of some
sort which must be aligned with a Pocket PC's
IR port in order for the two devices to communicate. With
Bluetooth, the Pocket PC and keyboard don't
even have to be in the same room (not that you
wouldn't want them to be, but bear with us). With
a Bluetooth keyboard you can prop the Pocket PC
anyway, or even lay it flat on a surface. Also,
with an IR keyboard, the Infrared wand may not
have the flexibility to align with your Pocket
PC's IR port if you want to view the Pocket PC
in landscape mode. With
Bluetooth, this isn't a problem.
One
advantage, however, to Infrared over Bluetooth
is battery life. With Bluetooth active on
a Pocket PC, more power is required from the battery. An
IR keyboard, while still requiring battery power
itself, doesn't increase the power usage of the
Pocket PC. During our tests, we found the battery
life of the Bluetooth Stowaway Keyboard to be good
for about 18 days, with moderate use. If
you plan on using the keyboard very often, you
can always purchase rechargeable AAA batteries.
Bottom
Line
Although
Bluetooth is the latest way to connect a keyboard
and Pocket PC, we think it's also the best. Not
only can you purchase one keyboard for use with
multiple devices, but your investment is more likely
to be compatible with next year's devices as well.
Poor software could have made the Stowaway a real headache,
but the software provided by Think Outside is easy
to configure and to reconnect after periods without
use.
Of
all Pocket PC keyboards we've used, this one is the best.
|
|
| |
|
|
Stand Doesn't Fit all Pocket
PCs Well |
Attractive, Solid Design |
Increases Battery Drain
on Pocket PC |
Easy-to-Use Software |
|
Comfortable Key Placement |
|
| |
|
