Product Requirements:
Device:
Bluetooth enabled Pocket PCs and Smart phones

Most modern day PDAs have been designed to be entirely stylus driven. But
sometimes you really just need a good old fashioned keyboard to get your job
done. Enter the Stowaway Universal Bluetooth Keyboard from our friends at
ThinkOutside. While this product is
far from old fashioned, it is a keyboard and it will get your job done.

Package Contents

Universal Keyboard
2 AAA Batteries
Zippered vinyl carrying case
CD with drivers
Quick Start Guide

Hardware Specifications

18mm key spacing (horizontally and vertically)
3mm key travel – same as the best notebook computers
English QWERTY layout (4 rows of keys)
Powered by 2 AAA batteries
Closed 5.5”H x 3.9”W x .5”D (139mm x 99mm x 13mm)
Open: 9.9” x 5.8” x .5” (251mm x 148mm x 13mm)
Weight: 5.6 oz. (160 grams)
 

I’ve reviewed ThinkOutside’s famous folding keyboards all the way back to
their very first
model and have always carried one in my gear bag. Their products continue to
be innovative and made of the utmost quality, with the new Universal Keyboard
upholding that tradition.

This model is similar in size to their
XT Ultra-Thin
and Infrared versions and is a true
full-sized keyboard. It is constructed of a sturdy polycarbonate material.

Two included AAA alkaline batteries power the device by way of an easy to
access battery cover which is located on the back of the keyboard. The keyboard
does not include a power switch. It will automatically power off when not in
use. One set of batteries should last as long as 3 months with typical use.

The keyboard unfolds to reveal 51 keys and a popup PDA / Phone stand. The
keyboard opens left to right as if opening a book’s back cover. As you lift the
top section, the bottom section slides to the left. As you pivot the top section
180 degrees, it snaps flat in place. When the keyboard is fully opened, it can
be used on almost any surface including your lap. It feels quite rigid and
secure. A small button with near the letter P
is the release button when you want to close the keyboard.

To connect the PDA or phone, you just rest it in the desired
orientation on the stand which pops up ready for use when you open the keyboard.

The driver included with the
Bluetooth Travel Mouse
for the Pocket PC also includes the driver for the Universal Keyboard, so I
didn’t really have to do anything special in order to start using this accessory with
my PDA. It was just a matter of launching the Stowaway Keyboard preferences
application and pairing my HP iPAQ HX4700 with the keyboard. The key combination
to make the keyboard discoverable is CTRL, Left Function key, Right Function
key. A small green LED flashes above the letter
T when it is in this mode.

Bluetooth enabled Palm OS device owners will be disappointed to learn that this
keyboard is currently not compatible with your devices. Hopefully that situation
will be remedied soon.

In use, this keyboard is comfortable for a touch typist like myself. The keys
are large and have enough travel to feel like a standard keyboard. The only
problem is that there is not a separate row of number and punctuation keys.
Instead, the top row of keys have 3 to 4 characters each. The default characters
are the letters Q W E R T Y U I O P along
with Tab, -, + and Back Space. The additional characters are numbers 0 through 9
and the various punctuation symbols such as !@#$% and so on. Each set of
characters is enabled by pressing one of the function keys along with the
desired symbol or number. The characters are color coded to match the green and
blue function buttons on either side of the space bar.

Having to access punctuation symbols and numbers this way does slow you down
if you are a fast typist as you have to consciously seek out the function key
and associated button. Luckily, the most popular punctuation characters still
have their own keys… such as the . , / – ?
keys. International characters are supported using a combination of CTRL, ALT
key presses. Good luck memorizing the combinations if you need to use these type
of characters often.

Besides the top row of combo keys, the other keys have some dual functions as
well. Functions that launch the main Windows Mobile apps such as Pocket Word,
Excel, etc.

I spent a couple days typing to get a feel of just how easy it is to go from
a regular PC desktop style keyboard to the Universal. Like the original
Stowaway, this one is comfortable and easy to touch type with. The Enter key,
Backspace, Spacebar, and Shift keys are all located exactly where my fingers
thought they should be located. So, there wasn’t a learning curve. About the
only keys that I did have problems with were the
! and
@ keys as they required function key combo presses. Another key that
I had problems with was the / key
is located on the right side of the shift key, which I had problems remembering.
I’m used to having this symbol shared by the ?
key on standard keyboards.

Using this keyboard with my HX4700 and ThinkOutside’s Bluetooth Travel Mouse,
really makes the whole combo feel like a mini laptop. Yes, you can use both the
keyboard and the mouse at the same time. AND, you can even use WiFi
simultaneously as well. It’s really very cool!

One kind of fun feature is the clickity clackity old school typewriter sound
that you hear as you are typing. If it annoys you, you can turn it off.

For HX4700 and other VGA PPC owners, flipping the display orientation has no
effect on the performance of the keyboard or mouse.

Other than the few symbols that I have problems accessing, I really love this
product. Now if only my HX4700 had a 60 gigabyte hard drive… then it would
truly be a laptop replacement!

Price: $149.99

Pros:
Wireless
Small, compact size
Comfortable full-sized keys
Can use on almost any surface

Cons:
Number and punctuation keys require function key combo press to activate
Not compatible with Palm OS devices
Expensive

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related, Wireless

Tagged: Bluetooth Gear, Folding, Keyboard, Pocket PC

ThinkOutside Stowaway Universal Bluetooth Keyboard Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 28, 2004 at 12:00 am.

Product Requirements:
Device:
Bluetooth enabled PDAs and Smart phones

ThinkOutside’s Stowaway
Universal
Bluetooth Keyboard now has a competitor.
Brando is selling a similarly sized
product named the Smart Keyboard. Priced $50 cheaper, what does this
keyboard have that might make you purchase it over ThinkOutside’s offering? Keep
reading…

Package Contents

Smart Keyboard
2 AAA Batteries
Zippered vinyl carrying case
CD with drivers
Quick Install Guide

Hardware Specifications

QWERTY keyboard layout with dedicated number keys. (5 rows of keys)
10 dedicated programmable hot keys.
Lock open for stability.
Dimensions folded : 140 x 95 x 19 mm
Dimensions Open : 280 x 95 x 9.5 mm
Weight : 205gm

Top to bottom: ThinkOutside’s Universal Keyboard, Brando’s
Smart Keyboard

Made of silver plastic with black accents, this keyboard has a sturdy robust
feel to it. Unlike the Universal Keyboard, it’s not that hard to immediately
figure out how to open. A black sliding latch located on the side of the
keyboard easily unlocks the keyboard so that it can open like a book. A slider
at the bottom of the frame pushes the left half of the keyboard over to meet the
right half. Another slider at the top locks the keyboard into an open flat
position. In this position, the Smart Keyboard is not quite as rigid as the
Universal Keyboard. That said, it will work perfectly fine on a flat surface.

Left and right sections apart

Left and right sections together

The two included AAA alkaline batteries can be installed by removing a cover
located at the top of the frame. A small power switch at the bottom left allows
you to manually turn the keyboard on or off. An LED under the power switch
blinks Green while the keyboard is in use.

Before you can use the keyboard with your Pocket PC, Palm or Smart Phone, you
will have to install the included driver.

After installation, it’s just a matter of activating the keyboard in the
driver, turning on the keyboard via the power switch and enabling Bluetooth on
your PDA / Phone. With my HX4700, the keyboard was recognized pretty much
immediately, and was ready for use.

For those of you that like to assign applications to function key
combinations, you can set up 10 different apps to launch when holding the Fn and
a number key.

The first time I went to use the Smart Keyboard with my Pocket PC, I was
annoyed by the lack of a stand for the PDA. It’s a good thing I went to Brando’s
site and happened to click on another review of this product. In the review the
author talked about the slide out stand. I was like "what slide out stand?!"…
But upon a little closer investigation, I found it. There’s a little lip on the
top right side that pulls out and swivels around to create a stand. Pretty nifty
design actually. The stand works well in both landscape and portrait
orientations.

The Smart Keyboard has one thing going for it that the ThinkOutside Universal
Keyboard does not. The addition of a dedicated numeric and punctuation key top
row. That gives this keyboard 5 rows instead of just 4 like the Universal
Keyboard. There are also a total of 63 keys.

The keys are definitely smaller than the Universal’s. Touch typists may find
them too small. I had a bit of trouble with them myself. Nothing I couldn’t get
used to though if I wanted to work at it. Hunt and peck typist should have no
problems at all with this keyboard.

So here’s the thing… There are only three real advantages that the Smart Keyboard has
over the Universal keyboard. One is the addition of the 5th row of keys. For someone
that plans to type a lot of numbers, or a lot of !@#$%^&*()_+’s, that might be a
deciding factor on the purchase of this input device. Another reason is that
this keyboard is compatible with with Bluetooth enabled Palm OS PDAs. The
Universal Keyboard currently is not. And the last reason is price.

For me personally, the
full-size keys of the Universal Keyboard keep me from making the switch to the
Smart Keyboard. If the
smaller keys don’t bother you, or you have a Palm OS PDA then the Brando Smart Keyboard is a good product
that can easily give your Pocket PC, Palm PDA or Smart Phone the data input
power of a larger bulkier computer.
 

Price: $99.00

Pros:
Wireless
Small, compact size
Dedicated numeric / punctuation key row

Cons:
Smaller keys
Slightly unstable to use on lap

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related, Wireless

Tagged: Bluetooth Gear, Folding, Keyboard, Palm, Palm OS related, Pocket PC

Brando Bluetooth Smart Keyboard Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 28, 2004 at 12:00 am.

Product Requirements:
Device:
Palm PDAs with the Universal Connector
88k PRC

The first thing that I think of when someone mentions PDA keyboards is the
Stowaway Folding keyboard from
Think Outside. It has been my personal
favorite from the very beginning. I have one for almost all of my PDAs. But, like
many products, there are always little things that you wish were changed or
better. The biggest wish of Stowaway users has been the ability to type on your
lap. Unfortunately the folding keyboard did just that, folded while trying to
use it on a non-flat surface. Well, Palm PDA users can now rejoice in the fact
that Think Outside listened to their wishes and has addressed them in their new
model.

The Stowaway XT Ultra-Thin keyboard, which is currently only available for Palm
devices that have the Universal Connector, has just become available. Thinner
and lighter than their previous model, this keyboard looks great! But does it
perform as good as it looks? Let’s check it out.

[Top to bottom: XT, original Stowaway]

The first thing I did was try to open it. This actually took me a few seconds
and I’m ashamed to say that I even had to look at the included instruction
sheet! The release button on the side blends in so well, that I didn’t see it.
Once I knew what I was looking for though, the keyboard popped open
effortlessly. It is actually easy enough to open and close with one hand.

The keyboard opens left to right as if opening a book’s back cover. As you
lift the top section, the bottom section slides to the left. As you pivot the
top section 180 degrees, it snaps flat in place. When the keyboard is fully
opened, it can be used on almost any surface including your lap. It feels quite
rigid and secure. A small button with near the letter
P is the release button when you want
to close the keyboard.

To connect the PDA, you pull out the connector / stand which pops up ready
for you to connect the PDA. I didn’t have any problems connecting my
Tungsten T to the XT keyboard even
using one hand.

Before you can actually use the keyboard you must first install the driver. This is
a 88k PRC file that allows you to manually enable and disable the keyboard as
well as changing the repeat rate, delay until repeat rate and audible key
clicks. You also have the option to change the keyboard layout from English to
English (Dvorak), German and Japanese.

The driver will not interfere with syncing the PDA to your desktop. You can’t
however use the IR port while the PDA is attached to the keyboard.

People were always commenting about the older version, that it might not be
very robust due to the folding design. I think this new design feels much
stronger and I don’t have a worry that it is going to wear out from opening and
closing. Like the original, this version also has a metal outer shell. I do
think that the original version is more tank-like when closed though. The XT has some
thinner plastic parts in the connector / stand area and spine area that do flex
and bend. It is important to keep the keyboard in it’s protective zippered slip
case when not in use. I wouldn’t want to just throw it in the bottom of a gear
bag for fear that an object might jam itself into the connector / stand assembly
by accident.

I never had a complaint about the size of the original Stowaway, so when I
first got my hands on the XT, I was pretty much floored at the small size. WOW,
is it thin! Comparing it to the original version:

Maybe the smaller size of this keyboard worries you..? I know that as a touch
typist, it did me. When I opened the XT and saw how small it was, I was
concerned if touch typing would still feel a comfortable as it was on the
original version. Guess what? You’ll be happy to know that the keys are the same
size. At 18mm, the space between the keys is only 1mm narrower than the original
version. Key travel is the same at 3mm.

[XT on top of the original Stowaway]

Since the keys are the same size, how the heck did they shrink the overall
size so much? Well, they did it by removing the entire top row of number /
punctuation keys and the separate application launcher keys. To access them, you
have to use a function key combo. This is probably my only gripe about this
keyboard. It’s not a super big deal, but it does slow you down when you need to
type a number or a punctuation character as you have to consciously seek out the
function key and associated button. Luckily, the most popular punctuation
characters still have their own keys… such as the
. , / – ? keys. International
characters are supported using a combination of CTRL, ALT key presses. Good luck
memorizing the combinations if you need to use these type of characters often.
It would be nice to have a popup window that you could scroll thru and select
the character needed.

I spent a couple days typing to get a feel of just how easy it is to go from
a regular PC desktop style keyboard to the small XT Ultra-Thin. Like the
original Stowaway, this one is comfortable and easy to touch type with. The
Enter key, Backspace, Spacebar, and Shift keys are all located exactly where my
fingers thought they should be located. So, there wasn’t a learning curve. About
the only keys that I did have problems with were the
!, @ and
/ keys as they required function key combo presses.

I also found that I still needed my stylus close by. This keyboard does not
allow you to be totally stylus free unfortunately. The onscreen pointer feature
is not yet available for OS 5.

I have tried quite a few different PDA keyboards in the past few years, but I
still pick the keyboards from Think Outside as the ones that put in my gear bag
every day. They know what they are doing and keep doing it. If you touch type,
don’t look any farther then the XT.

Price: $99.00

Pros:
Small, compact size
Comfortable full-sized keys
Can use on almost any surface

Cons:
Number and punctuation keys require function key combo press to
activate
International characters require combo key presses
Still need a stylus to select items

Filed in categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: Folding, Keyboard, Palm, Palm OS related

Stowaway XT Ultra-Thin Keyboard Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 29, 2002 at 12:00 am.

Product
Requirements:
size="2">Device:
Sony
Clié T Series PDAs

I was tremendously excited
about the impending arrival of the
Belkin G700 PDA
Keyboard for my
Sony Clié T615C (Belkin Part Number:
F8Y1501):
I
had been following its progress across the US via the UPS tracking
site,
and even left work early the day I learned it had been
delivered to my doorstep.
Finally, I imagined, I could fulfill my
dream of using the T615C as a laptop
replacement, much as I had its
predecessors, the Apple Newton MessagePad 2100
and the Palm Vx —
each of which had an external keyboard added as its first and
most
essential accessory. When I bought the T615C a few months ago, I was

unaware that none of the third-party manufacturers had yet supplied
a keyboard
for the Sony T-series Palm Powered PDAs. Think Outside promised a
Stowaway
keyboard for the T-series by mid-to-late-August (now,
"fourth quarter 2002"),
but when I read that Belkin had a
keyboard for sale in early July, I leapt at
it.

Well, you
might save yourself the trouble of reading any further if I tell you

that I am NOT writing this review using the G700 keyboard. Despite
some very
clever engineering design and reasonable keyboard feel,
the G700 is unusable,
and I will be returning it to Belkin soon.
Darn.

The G700 arrived in a blister package with a CD-ROM and
an adaptor to allow you
to charge the Clié while it is
sitting in the keyboard (a nice touch by Belkin).
After opening the
package, I played with the keyboard to see if I could open it

without resorting to the instructions. Soon, I had the keyboard
sitting flat on
the table with the PDA rest/cradle open to a
comfortable angle.

width="466" height="350"/>
width="394" height="350"/>

Closed, the keyboard measures 9.5 by
14.8 cm, about twice the overall size of
the T615C, and weighs about
198 gm. I do not find the moderate size too
objectionable, however,
since most often I would carry the keyboard in my
briefcase or
knapsack rather than in a pocket (with the Palm Vx I carried a

GoType keyboard, that was quite a bit larger than the PDA
itself).

The keyboard opens and closes with a clever butterfly
pull, reminiscent of some
of IBM’s older Thinkpad designs, almost
doubling in width to 25.2 cm. It took me
a few minutes to understand
how to close the G700, until I realized that the
exact same outward
pull on the keyboard wings that opened the keyboard also
closed it.
That is a very clever and user-friendly feature, and I congratulate

the Belkin engineers on how smoothly it all works.

height="350"/>

The keyboard feels slightly smaller than
standard, but purports to be almost
full size (17 mm keyspacing,
about 89% of full length). The keyboard feels
slightly flexible,
even on a hard surface. The individual keys depress smoothly
(2 mm
of key travel, the box says) — in fact, too smoothly for my taste: I

prefer some sort of a click to inform me the key has been depressed.
The driver
software has a setting to add an audible click, but as
you will see later, I
never had a chance to enable that
feature.

height="350"/>

The CD-ROM contains the keyboard drivers and a
PDF manual, not too badly
translated from Chinese. Thankfully, the
drivers are accessible from my
Macintosh rather than using a
proprietary Windows-only installer (by the way,
the Clié
T615C works like a treat, without third-party drivers, on all my

USB-equipped Macintoshes running either Mac OS 9 or OS X and Palm
Desktop 4.0).
Double-clicking the driver (FoldableKB.prc) queues it
up for installation during
the next HotSynch, which I proceeded to
do. Surprisingly, installation of the
Belkin driver required a
restart of the T615C, which also went without incident.

height="160"/>

At this point my excitement was mounting. I was
already planning a trip to the
local coffee shop to work on some
manuscripts in WordSmith on the T615C using my
new keyboard. Hoo,
boy! Alas, this was never to be.

After plugging in the T615C
to the keyboard (the adaptor is hinged and tricky to
plug in
correctly), I typed a few words into a new memo:

"This is a test of the new Belkin keyboard.

"It feels pretty flexible, and the space-bar is not
centered.
"Does this even work for longer than one or two
sentences? It seems like the
driver is VERY flaky.
"Gee,
this might not be so good a keyboard, after all.
"Does this
seem to be working more smoothly now? The driver seems to be the

major problem. Hmmm…."

The problem —
that is not reflected in the memo above — is that, after five or six

seconds of inactivity, the keyboard would cease responding, and no
more text
would be transferred to the screen. Only by unplugging the
T615C from the
keyboard, turning it on and off, and replugging it
into the adaptor could I
resume typing. That is, until I paused
again for more than a few seconds. This
effectively made the G700
completely unusable.

More recently I learned that Belkin had
made two new drivers for the G700
available on their

Web
site. I am sorry to report that neither driver improved things,
although
"
2FoldableKB_SleepingHsync_twice.prc"
seemed to work for a few minutes.
Sadly and ironically (in light of
its name) though, the new driver was unable to
resume typing after
the T615C awoke from sleep. Sigh.

Sony has recently shipped
their
own version of the Think Outside Stowaway
keyboard for the
Clié T series of Palm portables. I have one on order now, and
I look forward to giving it a more favorable
review than Belkin’s
ingenious but failed effort.

Price:
$79.99

Pros:
Clever butterfly
design
Good keyboard size
Can recharge while
typing

Cons:
Tricky adaptor
plug
Off-center space bar can interfere with touch
typing
Buggy driver
Impossible to type more than three or
four words at a time before driver fails
Driver interrupts
HotSynching
Driver fails after sleep

Filed in categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: Folding, Keyboard, Palm, Palm OS related

Belkin G700 Keyboard for the Sony CLIE T Series Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 26, 2002 at 12:00 am.

Product Requirements:
Device:
Palm III series, Palm V series, Palm VII series,
Palm m100, 105, Palm m500, m505, 27k
Handspring Visor Deluxe, Prism, Platinum, 27k
HP Jornada 525, 540, 560 series, 70k
Compaq iPAQ 3150, 3600 series, 72k

Since I reviewed the original Stowaway keyboard for the Palm
V series, Think Outside has
created several other versions of their keyboard that I thought people would
like to know about. This review looks at the Handspring Visor keyboard, Palm III
series keyboard and the Hewlett Packard Jornada Pocket PC series keyboards. 

The Stowaway folding keyboard has been a very popular product, selling 10-20
times the original estimate. In the first 7 months of availability, it sold
several times more than all the competition combined over the past 3 yrs. 

FYI: The portable keyboards are sold thru Targus.

Stowaway for the iPAQ 3600 series
by Julie Strietelmeier

The Stowaway folding keyboard for the iPAQ Pocket PC is a great addition to the
best Pocket PC currently available. And, I was really anxious to get my hands….er… fingers on one as soon as
possible!

This keyboard is pretty much identical to the HP 540 series Stowaway. The only obvious difference is the connector used to interface it with the
iPAQ.

Attaching the iPAQ to the keyboard proved to be the slightest bit more difficult than attaching other PDAs to their keyboard. I’m not sure what the problem is except that the connector is small and requires
precise movements in order to guide it into the slot. I did find that the iPAQ with a
Silver Slider sleeve and a Vaja iPAQ + Silver Slider case could be used just fine with the keyboard. 

In order to allow the iPAQ to recognize the keyboard, you must install a driver
which comes on a floppy disk. Once you install the 72K driver on to your iPAQ, pop the iPAQ onto the connector, and press the power button and you’re good to go. 

As with the all the other versions of this keyboard, typing is a dream. As a touch typist, I really appreciate the large keys and the excellent travel depth. I didn’t have any problems with
key presses not registering or skipping. 

As with the HP version of the Stowaway, this version also has assigned function keys that launch different
applications such as Notes, Word, Excel and Money. There is also a function button that will power off the iPAQ which I think is pretty cool.
Too bad that there isn’t one to power the PDA on. You can even assign your own
function key / # key combos to launch the programs of your choice.

The driver allows you to also change the key repeat rate and key repeat delay
rates. The key repeat rate can be set from as fast as 30ms to as slow as 300ms.
The key repeat delay rate can be set from as short as 150ms to as long as
1050ms.

This version of the keyboard comes with a short adapter cable that you can plug into the AC adapter port on the iPAQ
and charge the battery while also using the keyboard. The actual AC adapter cable plugs into the other end. This cable is so small that you can easily stuff it in the zippered case that comes with the keyboard.

For everyday use, I didn’t find any major problems with the keyboard driver. No matter if I had the iPAQ on or off when I connected it to the keyboard, it would be recognized. Even
resetting the iPAQ and connecting it to the keyboard, resulted in the keyboard being recognized. I only found one instance where the keyboard was not recognized. If
I did a Activesync to the PC and then connect to the Stowaway without turning off the iPAQ first, it
would not be recognized. By simply turning the iPAQ off and then on again, it solves the problem. I don’t find this to be a big deal but wanted to mention it anyway.

I love these Stowaway folding keyboards, the cool factor alone is worth the $99 price tag, but the amount of
productivity that you can get out of one of these babies is priceless!

Price:
$99.00 (?) Not on sale yet so I’m not sure about the pricing.

Pros:
Compact
Full sized keys

Cons:

None

Stowaway for the Palm III / VII series
by Julie Strietelmeier

As you may have read, I have already used and reviewed the Palm V series
keyboard. It is a great accessory for a Palm device and I love it. But, I have
to say that if you have a Palm VII or Palm VIIx, it’s a super terrific
accessory. The Stowaway turns your Palm VII/x into a traveler’s dream. 

I recently went on a business trip and did not want to lug a laptop with me
in order to read and reply to email. Instead I took my Palm VIIx and the
Stowaway. This combo allowed me to lighten the my gadget bag and at the same
time it allowed me to use a full sized keyboard to respond to emails. I’m a
touch typist, so a full sized REAL keyboard is very important to me. This
keyboard is the best portable keyboard hands down. And the fact that it folds up
into a unit that is almost as small as the Palm VIIx, makes it that much
better. 

The Palm III / VII series version works great and is made extremely well.
Looking at the keyboard might make you think that it is fragile, but I assure
you that this device is tough. 

If you need a keyboard for your Palm device, look no further than the
Stowaway. I can’t praise it enough. I love this thing…

Price:
$99.00

Pros:
Compact
Full sized keys

Cons:

None

Stowaway for the HP Jornada 540 series
by Jeff Kirvin

I’m the proud owner of two Pocket PCs, an HP Jornada 548 and a Compaq iPaq. When I got the devices, I expected the iPaq to get the lion’s share of the use, due to the nicer screen, faster CPU and longer battery life. Yet in day to day use, I’m finding the iPaq sitting in hibernation, and the Jornada is never out of arm’s reach. The difference? For the Jornada, I have a Targus Stowaway keyboard.

At first glance this keyboard is no different than the Targus Stowaway for the Visor or the Palm Portable Keyboard. Same high quality construction, same great feel on the keys. The only physical difference is the connector (the connector pops up while the little stand pops out, adding an extra step to setting the keyboard up) and there’s a tiny little power jack just to the right of the connector, right at the middle fold. This allows you to run the device off external power while typing, a great idea for a device with
rechargeable batteries.

There’s some other minor differences, mostly having to do with the keyboard being designed for use with Windows CE rather than PalmOS. The Fn key in conjunction with the left, right, up and down arrow keys now maps to Home, End, PgUp and PgDn, respectively (I like having Home and End keys), and the little quick launch buttons on the right edge map to Inbox, Contacts, Calendar and Tasks, with Fn to Notes, Word, Excel and Money. The really nice thing about this keyboard that neither of the Palm foldables have (although the GoType does), is a numlock key. Press that and from 7 down to / becomes a 10-key number pad. Very, very handy, especially on a device that comes stock with Excel.

The Stowaway driver for the Pocket PC is a standalone application, which means it has an annoying tendency to be shut down automatically by the OS as an idle process when not used for a while. It might be a good idea to add it to the Start Menu, just for quick access. Once enabled, it provides the same quick response found on the Visor, and the Palm with the latest beta driver. There’s no lag that I can see. It works in every application, and is independent of which input method you have selected. I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand, I’d like to see a version of the Stowaway driver that adds itself as an input method in the OS, so the system will quit disabling the driver as an idle process. On the other hand, I like the fact that I can type and make quick, ad hoc corrections with Transcriber a the same time, neither method taking up any screen real estate at all.

The driver comes with built-in text macros for date (Fn+D) and time (Fn+T), and it allows you to assign a Fn macro to just about any other key. You can also remap the launch keys to any app you want, if you don’t use the defaults much.

One very nice advantage of with using this keyboard with your HP is that you
can also use a compact flash modem at the same time.

At $99 retail, the Jornada Stowaway is a little pricier than the PalmOS versions, and it’s about $20 more than the GoType for the Casio models. Still, it’s the best
money I could have spent on my Jornada, and it makes my
Pocket PC a completely viable alternative to a much more expensive laptop. I love the fact that I have Pocket Word on my Jornada, but the Stowaway is what really makes it useful.

Price: $99

Pros:
Portable, about the size of the Jornada itself
Full-size, Thinkpad-quality keys
Charging capability while typing
Extra keys and macros in the driver add to convenience

Cons:
Pricey at $99
Not transferable to other Pocket PCs (would prefer to see a universal
connector)

Stowaway for the Handspring Visor
by Don Damiani

The Targus company is marketing the Handspring Visor version of the Stowaway
keyboard. This basically the same keyboard as the Palm keyboard, except that it
has the Visor connector interface. I’ll refer to it henceforth as the "Targus
Keyboard". Since Julie has already reviewed the keyboard for the Palm V, I
will not repeat everything that she put in her other review, but I have some
comments and observations of my own.

First of all, this is an excellent keyboard! With regard to typing, it is
everything that I hoped it would be. In fact, since the keyboard is the same
size as my laptop, I don’t even notice that there is any difference in typing
between the two. (This review was typed on the Targus Keyboard, and then I
beamed it to Julie.)

When I first studied the Palm V version keyboard, I thought that although it
was an engineering marvel, it should have had a stiffener to lock in the center
of the keyboard. (The sides lock into place, but the center hinge doesn’t). But
since I have been using it now for 3 weeks exclusively to type memos, I have
noticed that there have been few instances where I would need to have the center
hinge locked into place. I rarely use it when it’s not on a flat surface, and
when I use it on a couch or in bed, it still sits flat enough to not cause any
problems.

One of the features that found very useful was the 4 application buttons on
the far right of the keyboard. The good news is that all you have to do is push
the button and it will pop up the Date Book or Memo application. The bad news is
that it pops up whatever application that you have "assigned" to the 4
application buttons on the front of the Visor. But this, for me, is a good
thing. I rarely use the "To Do" list, so I have my Bible program tied
to the "To Do" button on the Visor. Now, when I want to open the Bible
program, all I have to do is hit the "To Do" button on the keyboard.

The scroll buttons, and all of the Function buttons, work fine on my
keyboard. The typical cut, copy, and paste keys all work too. (Ctrl-x, ctrl-c,
ctrl-v)

One advantage to using this keyboard with your Visor is that you can also use
a Springboard slot modem at the same time.

The only negative thing that I have found at all with this keyboard is that
sometimes, when I connect the Visor to the keyboard’s connector, the Visor
doesn’t recognize the keyboard. The solution is to navigate with the stylus to
the keyboard app and go in and then go back out. I have noticed this problem
more when I first got the keyboard, and the connector was not broken in. In
order to get the Visor on the connector, I had to insert it on an angle. For
some reason, inserting it on an angle caused this problem every time. I seemed
that the keyboard was expecting to hit all of the pins at the same time. After a
while, the connector got more broken in and I can now insert the Visor straight
onto the connector and the Visor recognizes the keyboard right away.

It’s a great keyboard, and if you have a Visor and need to type out things
like memos or email on the Visor, you need to have one. Now what I really need
is a spell-checker on the Visor

Price:
$99.00

Pros:
Ability to use Springboard modules and keyboard at the same time
Application buttons

Cons:
Occasionally doesn’t recognize the keyboard
Tight connection

Filed in categories: Gear

Tagged: Folding, Keyboard, Palm

Stowaway Portable Keyboard Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 16, 2001 at 12:00 am.

Program Requirements:

Device:

Palm Connected Organizers, and Handspring Visor

25 K free RAM

The Stowaway Portable Keyboard by Think Outside is the coolest accessory I’ve seen so far for the Palm Connected organizer. I’ve gotten quite a few comments when people see it in action.
Comments such as “no way!”, “you’ve got to be kidding”, “wow”, and “I want one!” come to mind.

What makes this keyboard more special than any of the other keyboards available for the Palm? There are two reasons. The first reason is that the Stowaway is a full sized keyboard unlike the other options out there presently. The second reason is that it folds up to the size of two stacked Palm V’s.

There are several versions of the Stowaway. There is a version for the PalmPilot/Palm VII/Palm III series PDAs, a version for the Palm V/Vx and a version for the Handspring Visor. Think Outside is also going to have a version for the WindowsCE Palm-size PC.

Specs:

Key size dimensions: ~.710″ x .710″ in.
Size closed: 5.000″ x 3.625″ x 0.865″ in.
Size opened: 13.625″ x 5.000″ in.
Weight: .510 lbs.
Power: Draws power from the PDA that is attached to it.

The Stowaway arrived in a black faux leather zippered case. When I took it out of the case, it looked and felt smaller than I thought it would be. It really isn’t much larger than two Palm V PDAs stacked on top of each other. The back and front of the folded keyboard is made of a light weight metal. To open it, you slide down a latch on the right side. Once the unit is unlatched, it opens like an accordion and then unfolds flat. At this point the keyboard is separated into three sections. You then slide the two outer keyboard edges to the center to create a full sized keyboard. When you do this, it makes the coolest sound… sort of a swoosh-click. Sorry, I’m weird.

When the Stowaway is in the ready-to-type position, is not a one piece rigid keyboard. If it isn’t on a flat surface, it will bend in the middle. So, using this keyboard on your lap won’t work all that well. It would have been nice if there were some type of sliding splints that would make the keyboard stay flat on any surface.

Before you can actually start using the keyboard, you have to install a small 25k driver program on your Palm PDA. This is an easy to use program that allows you to turn the keyboard software on/off, key click sounds on/off, set the key repeat rate, set the delay till key repeats, assign up to 9 CMD keys and view keyboard shortcuts. I found that leaving the keyboard software enabled made my Palm V quite sluggish when the keyboard wasn’t attached. So, I would advise that you disable it when you’re not using the Stowaway. Also I found that if the
keyboard software was not enabled on the Palm, plugging the Palm into the Stowaway would initiate a hotsync. I was using beta drivers during my review so by the time they actually start shipping they may have a fix for these small problems.

To plug your PDA into the keyboard, you pull out a small popup stand. The PDA then slides on to the connector. The connector has clips so you don’t have to worry about the PDA falling off while you’re using it.

Typing on the Stowaway is very comfortable. Even though the key travel (distance the key travels when pressed down) is shallow, typing is very natural. The keys are large and easy to press. It feels much like a IBM ThinkPad type keyboard. If you are a touch typist and found the GoType! keyboard to be cramped, you’ll love the Stowaway. The key layout is pretty standard. The only differences are that the `~ key is not located next to the 1! but is to the right of the spacebar. There are also additional special keys like a Fn key, Done key, and 4 application keys. The application keys are a fast way to launch the built in applications. You can also set 9 CMD keys to launch other applications. Using the Fn key in combination with other keys allows you to access commands like Menu, Details, Delete, Done, Cancel, and Ok. This makes it really easy to navigate applications while the PDA is plugged into the keyboard.
If only there was a way to select an entry. For example, if you bring up the Memo app, you can’t select a memo to open via the keyboard. You have to tap on a memo to open it.

The Stowaway is really a design marvel. The tooling that went into it must have been incredible. I really like this keyboard. It’s very easy to touch type on and I love that it can fold up into such a small package. The only “concerns” that I have about the Stowaway are as of yet unfounded. I’m a little worried about the fragility of it. Some people might not realize that a
keyboard is device that uses electricity. The Stowaway uses a very thin circuit board that also can bend when the unit folds up. I’m wondering how many times this flexible circuit board can fold and unfold without being damaged.

(The flexible circuit board between the keyboard sections)

Other than that, the keyboard is very well made and I feel that it is the best one available at this time. If you need a portable keyboard for your Palm PDA, then this IS the one to buy.
Price: ~$100

Pros:

Super compact keyboard that opens into a full size keyboard.
Very comfortable to touch-type on.
Doesn’t require batteries.

Cons:

Have to use on a flat surface.
Carrying case needs to include a pouch for the PDA.

Filed in categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: Folding, Keyboard, Palm, Palm OS related

Stowaway Portable Keyboard Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 25, 2000 at 12:00 am.