The FrogPad is a one-handed keypad designed to provide all
the functionality of a full keyboard in a small form.  The
designers intended to provide a comfortable, productive device that could be
used by those with disabilities and to relieve or prevent carpal tunnel stress. 
After a year of marketing the USB version, the
eponymous company has just released a
Bluetooth version called the
iFrog. 
This makes the FrogPad portable and allows it to pair with PDAs and
SmartPhones in addition to PCs and Macs. 

The iFrog measures 5.60” x 3.73” x 0.66”; smaller than a
paperback book and only slightly larger than my beloved iPAQ 3850. The unit
weighs 6.4 ounces.

It fits easily in the pocket of my Mobile Pants, although
it is not something I would want to frequently carry there because it is a bit
bulky. 

The iFrog comes in a white-on-white color scheme, although
the keys and the rest of the unit are not quite matching shades of white. 
It has a removable cover which can slide onto the bottom for convenience. 
But doing so changes the height of the keys slightly. 
In my day-to-day use, I prefer to set the cover aside.  There
are anti-skid rubber strips on both the keypad and the cover. 
The iFrog body is made of plastic instead of ABS. 
This has led some users to complain that the unit looks “cheap”. 
I disagree.  I think the smooth plastic finish is
classic looking and comfortable.  Overall construction is
solid.  There is no bend to the unit and only some minimal
creaking when the sides are squeezed.

The keys are the same size as those on a standard desktop
keyboard, but shaped more like those on laptops.  The travel
(the amount of up-and-down motion) feels more like that of a standard keyboard
than a laptop’s.

The FrogPad comes in both left- and right-handed versions. 
These are distinct models with different hardwiring, so you cannot switch
from one mode to another.  I opted for the lefty because I
liked the idea of mousing with my right hand and typing with my left. 
Apparently, I was not alone.  Linda Marroquin, the CEO
of FrogPad, says they were initially caught unprepared for the number of people
who want left-hand models.  They have since instructed the
manufacturer to produce a greater number of lefties, so availability should not
be a problem.

The FrogPad relies on pressing combinations of keys to
produce a single character output.  Specifically, those
letters marked in black are activated by a regular press; those letters in green
are activated by simultaneously pressing the Space key and the letter key. 
The layout of the keys is based on analyses of the most common characters
used in regular English text.  Thus, the letters to spell the
word “the” are at the center of the board.  All the vowels
are typed with the index finger.  According to the website,
“unlike chording keyboards, 86% of the time you only have one key to press. You
never press more than two keys at one time, similar to the shift on your current
keyboard.”  Take it from me, those figures only hold for
conventional text.  Typing in a programming language is a
whole different proposition.

You enter numbers by pressing the Number key and then
keying the number.  The number keys are laid out like a conventional number pad.  The Number key is
“sticky”; it stays activated until the key is pressed again. 
This makes using the FrogPad quite easy to use for spreadsheet entry. 
Unfortunately, they also made the Symbol key sticky; you have to give a
second press of the Symbol key to turn it off after every single symbol entry. 
When programming, this is a real irritant.

In addition to numbers, letters, and symbols there are
directional keys, backspace, delete, Control, Alt, and all the other things one
expects on a standard keyboard.  Is anything missing? 
Yes: the function keys.  Ah well, there are only so
many things one can do with 20 keys.

There are lights on the bottom five keys to help you keep
track of what mode you are in (Shift, Shift Lock, Number, etc.). 
The Ctrl and Alt lights at the top of the unit also do that for those
functions.  This is particularly helpful because the Control
and Alt functions don’t turn off until you press a letter key to go with it
(e.g., Ctrl-C).  So if you press Ctrl-Alt-Delete, the Control
and Alt functions are still enabled.  You have to re-press
each of them to disable them and resume normal typing.  Three
of the four lights on the side are controlled by the host computer: 
the Num Lock, Caps Lock, and Scroll Lock.    The Hand
light is illumined if the <Right> or <Left> key is activated. 
These are almost never useful in and of themselves. 
However, the Num Lock light can be useful for indicating when the iFrog has a
connection to the computer; if there is no BT connection, none of the lights on
the pad will light up.

Then there is the Mac Command light. 
When using this with a Windows PC, pressing some combination of keys will cause
the Apple Symbol light to start flashing continuously and annoyingly. 
Pressing Space-Mac Command will turn it off, although the manual does not
tell you this.  And the light will still resume blinking
shortly afterward.  I have taken to just covering the light
up with a small piece of opaque tape.

This is the first Bluetooth device that I have owned, so I
am unable to compare the ease of setup with other BT items. 
I have had no trouble pairing with my desktop PC at work running Windows 2000 or
my daughter’s laptop (WinXP).  While I was able initially to
get a pairing with my wife’s desktop (also WinXP), I had problems subsequently. 
But after reloading the BT software on the PC, everything is working
okay.  So I chalk that up to a PC error rather than the iFrog.

One complaint I have is that the BT pairing button is
extremely small and recessed.  You need a paper clip or
PDA stylus to press it.  See the little dot in the middle? 
That’s it.  I worry about eventually poking through
that button and damaging the unit.  The designers should have
taken that into consideration.  The on/off switch is to the
left; the charging cable slot is to the right.

One reason I wanted an iFrog was so I could do data entry
on my PDA.  This represented forward thinking on my part
since my iPAQ doesn’t have Bluetooth.  Yet. 
(“But honey, I have to get a new PDA in order to maximize the
FrogPad investment.”)  FrogPad is providing a single set of
device drivers via e-mail free with each purchase. 
Additional drivers can be purchased separately.  Not wanting
to waste my single set on my wife’s BT-enabled iPAQ (and just how did it happen
that she has a more advanced PDA than me?), I have not tested this connectivity. 
Results reported by other users have been (to be charitable) “mixed.” 
Drivers for many devices are still being developed and debugged.

Battery life is pretty good.  After the
initial charge, I used the iFrog every workday for two weeks before it ran out
of juice.  Unfortunately, there is no indicator on the unit
to indicate battery charge or warn of imminent power loss.  A
Zip-Linq USB charger cable is included with the iFrog.  If
you think you might be getting low on power and don’t mind sacrificing the
freedom of mobility, you can plug the unit into either the computer or the power
outlet converter.

The advertised working range is 30 feet. 
My test worked at well over that distance, plus having a wall in between. 
Of course, there is the question of why one would want to be
typing that far away from the screen.  But it’s good to know
that you can.

The FrogPad website claims “new users can reach 40 words
per minute in 10 hours versus the 56 needed with QWERTY”.  My
experience is that this is a large exaggeration.  I’ve been
exclusively using the FrogPad at work for three weeks now.  I
am only getting 20 words per minute (down from 55 wpm).  At
this point, I know the key layout by heart for all the letters and symbols that
I use regularly.  But I am still making frequent mistakes in
my chording when I try to speed up too much:  that “L” that I
want comes out as an “H” instead. (I am now very familiar with the
Backspace key combination.)   By analogy, I’m at the stage of
speaking a foreign language where I know the words I want to say, but still have
to think about the syntax.

One important word of caution: don’t use the FrogPad at the
command line level until you are comfortably familiar with it. 
Within the first couple of hours of receiving the iFrog, I was using it
on a Unix session.  I wanted to type in “rm *.log.” 
But because the period is on the Enter key and I failed to simultaneously
press the Space key, I actually entered “rm *”  and
thus deleted everything in the directory.  Ouch.

Be aware that the iFrog is not a total replacement for your
regular keyboard.  If you have passwords activated, you still
need the other keyboard to enter the password when the machine is booted because
the Bluetooth functionality will not have enabled yet.  I
just keep my old keyboard propped against the desktop box for those rare
occasions.

The FrogPad company maintains a
forum for both technical
questions and general user chatter.  Both can be helpful.

So, will I keep using the iFrog? 
Definitely.  As I mentioned earlier, one of the rationales
behind creating the FrogPad was to prevent carpal tunnel stress. 
While I don’t have carpal tunnel syndrome, there were days when I noticed
stiffness and mild pain in the muscles in my wrists.  Since
using the iFrog, I have had no strain at all.  The small size
and cordless freedom allow me to place the unit in a variety of places on the
desk to minimize strain.  I also like that I can put the
iFrog on a lap desk and work in a relaxed position.  I find
that the additional comfort far outweighs the reduction in typing speed. 
Plus, I am sure that the typing speed will continue to improve. 
At a regular list price of $225, this was a pretty major investment for
me to make in a gadget.  I want to get all I can out of it.

Price: $225.00

Pros: 

Bluetooth compatible
Compact and portable
Good power charge life
Good ergonomics; comfortable to use
Maximum gadgety geekiness

Cons: 
Expensive
Steep learning curve
PDA drivers are still buggy

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Windows Mobile related, Wireless

Tagged: Keyboard, Palm, Palm OS related, Pocket PC, Thumb

FrogPad iFrog Bluetooth Keyboard Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 11, 2004 at 12:00 am.

Product Requirements:
Device:
Compaq iPAQ 3630, 3635, 3650, 3670
642K driver

Palm devices seem to have keyboards coming out the wazoo (yes, that’s a
technical term)…
There is the Stowaway, GoType!, Seiko ThumBoard, and SnapNType just to name a
few. Pocket PCs on the other hand, lag quite a bit behind with Stowaway and GoType! being the major players as far as full sized keyboards. Until now
though, there were no thumb board style offerings for the Pocket PC other than
the HP Jornada 560 series. The SnapNType 3600 Series keyboard from TT Tech LTD.
is the first iPAQ thumb board. It is a unique snap-on input device that is
compatible with the 3600 series Compaq iPAQ (a 3800 series version is on the
way).

The SnapNType is a very sturdy module that has a thick plastic shell that
doesn’t flex or creak when you use it. The shell portion of the device is mostly
black with a silver front. The sides are painted black to match the look of an
iPAQ with an expansion pack. A black plastic cover protects the cavity and
connector that the iPAQ snaps into when the keyboard is not attached to it.
There is also a connector release button on the back of the keyboard that has to
be pressed in order to detach the keyboard. The thing is, I can’t figure out
for the life of me what that button actually does. Pressing it doesn’t produce
any obvious action that I can see… But pressing it is the only way the
keyboard will come off. Wacky. It’s also important to note that you have to use
an expansion sleeve with the SnapNType. Otherwise the iPAQ will not fit securely
and will flop around in the cavity. I tested the keyboard with the Basic Style Pack,
CF Expansion Pack,
Silver Slider 2, Silver Slider with no
arms, and the Whitney
Backpack mod. Only the Basic Pack and CF Expansion Pack worked due to the
plastic arms around the bottom sides of the iPAQ. Without these arms, the
connection is very unstable.

I didn’t have a problem with actually holding the iPAQ / SnapNType combo.
Although the two items are a bigger handful than a Palm / SnapNType combo, they
are still relatively comfortable to hold and use despite the bulk.

There are 39 individual keys on the SnapNType. All of these keys are made of a
hard rubber material with white and orange silk-screened labels. The keys are
relatively
small, but are large enough to press with the tips of your thumbs. All of the keys are
stiff, but do have a slight tactile feedback to them. The letter keys are laid out in
QWERTY
format which makes the keyboard easy and familiar to use if you are already a
touch typist.

Because the SnapNType covers the joy pad and application buttons while it is attached to the iPAQ, the bottom row of buttons on the keyboard are assigned to the Calendar, Contacts, Windows Start, Q Menu and Q Start. Luckily, these buttons are mapped to whatever assignment you’ve already made for the 4 application buttons on the iPAQ. Before you can actually start using the SnapNType, you must first install a driver on the PDA. This driver allows you to enable and disable the keyboard, enable typewriter type sounds, as well as adjust the repeat rate and delay rate for repeating letters when holding down a key. Unlike some keyboard and Palm devices, you do not need to manually enable and disable the keyboard driver in order to sync and / or beam with the IR port. Overall, regular typing on the SnapNType is probably going to be fine for most people. That said, I did find that I had a little trouble with the placement of a couple of the more important keys. I guess I should start out by saying that I’m really used to a full sized keyboard such as the Stowaway. The keys that I had problems with were the ".", Backspace, and Return keys. The "." key has to be accessed with a function key press. I find this to be very inconvenient. The Backspace key is the rightmost key in the larger horizontal oval key row. That location just doesn’t feel natural to me when I need to use it. I would much prefer it to be located at the top right of the keyboard. The location of the Return key isn’t as annoying to me, but I think I would prefer it to be on the right edge of the QWERTY board instead of being the next to last button on the bottom row of letter keys. Some buttons that would be nice to have that aren’t included on the keyboard would be a SELECT, CANCEL and OK button. As it is, you have to keep your stylus handy to tap the screen when those options pop up.

You also need to keep your stylus handy for the FaceBoard popup. The
FaceBoard is a pick list of smiles / emoticons and symbols that are not
accessible by pressing the symbol button and desired key. Although I find this
to be a nifty addition to the product… especially for emails, it would be
great if you could use the actual keyboard to activate them instead of the
stylus. It would also have been nice if the popup would have included
international characters.

You can actually type pretty quickly with the SnapNType. Of course, if you
are a touch typist, it’s not going to come close to the same speed (at least not
for me). I think the SnapNType is a good input solution for tasks such as short
email writing or on the go memo editing. I’m not sure I would personally want to
use it for lengthy input sessions though. For those tasks, I really prefer a regular
sized
keyboard such as the Stowaway. However, the
SnapNType is a good alternative to the Stowaway when you do not have a flat
surface available to you.

The SnapNType is a well made unit at a pretty good price. If you find yourself yearning for a compact style keyboard, you
just might
want to give this one a try.
 

Price: $49.99

Pros:
No batteries required
Solid construction
Compact

Cons:
No access to international characters
Typing a "." requires a function key press
Still need a stylus to select items etc.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Keyboard, Pocket PC, Thumb

SnapNType iPAQ 3600 Series Thumb Board Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 25, 2002 at 12:00 am.

Product Requirements:
Device:
Palm V/Vx, m500, m505, m515
19k .PRC driver (included on Floppy)

Just when you thought that there couldn’t possibly be another
thumb-style keyboard available for the Palm, I’m here to tell you that you’re
wrong! Seiko Instruments Inc. now has their own thumb board for the Palm V/Vx,
m500, m505 and m515 that has been conveniently named the ThumBoard. I was sent
the m505 version to review.

At 2.68" x 3.94" x .91" and 1.8 oz, the
ThumBoard is very compact. It is made entirely of plastic and although it feels pretty
solid, it does flex a little if you try to squeeze the front and back while the
PDA is not inserted. Like other similarly styled input devices, the PDA slides
into the device allowing you to use your thumbs to type on the small
keyboard while holding it between your two hands.

But before you can use the ThumBoard, you have to install a 19k application /
driver on to the PDA (this driver is included on a floppy disk). Once this is installed, you use this application to
enable and disable the keyboard. You can also use it to change the settings of
"Key Repeat Rate" and "Delay Until Repeat" as well as test the repeat settings.

It is important to mention that while the driver is enabled, you can not beam
data via the IR port or hotsync with the cradle / cable. You must manually disable the
driver first. Also, if you have the driver disabled and snap the keyboard onto
the PDA, it will power on the PDA and try to initiate a hotsync. It would be much nicer
if the driver could automatically enable and disable itself when needed. It
should also be noted that when you attach or detach the keyboard, it causes the
PDA to power on regardless of the on/off state of the driver.

After you’ve enabled the driver, you can slide the PDA into the ThumBoard. When you do this, it actually covers the hardware buttons
and entire graffiti area. Although this makes for a small easy to handle combo, I
just couldn’t get used to not having the graffiti area available to me. I was
constantly wanting to access it even though all the functions I needed were right
there on the keyboard.

The keyboard is laid out in the familiar QWERTY style. It has 58 small soft rubber keys which I think is the
largest number of keys of any
keyboard of this type that I’ve seen thus far. It actually has dedicated numeral
keys instead of keys that have to be accessed with an additional function
key press. This is a real plus in my opinion.

The keys are easy to press; although people with very large thumbs may find
the key spacing to be a little cramped.  Decent tactile feedback helps to
insure that you know you’ve pressed a key when you’ve pressed it. Some keyboards
that I’ve used have had the tendency to make my hands cramp up. I did not have
that problem with the ThumBoard. It is comfortable to hold and use.

The top row of keys are replacements for the hardware buttons and silkscreen
buttons in the graffiti area. From left to right, there is the Power, Apps list,
Menu, Calculator, Find, Datebook, Address Book, To Do, NotePad and a Command
button. The only button in that row that has a 2nd function is the Power button
which when pressed after an Fn button press, is also the backlight toggle.

This keyboard actually has almost every key / function that you need in all
the different applications. Although most of these functions take 2 key presses
to activate, they are available to you. Key combos for Done, Cancel, Ok,
Details, etc are all easily available. You can also enter extended characters
via a popup pick list which is displayed when you press the Fn / V key combination.
The only problem is, that you have to have your stylus handy to press the
character you desire from that pick list.

Using the keyboard to type up memos and notes was quick and easy. I really didn’t
have much trouble with the keyboard layout. The only key that felt like it was
out of place was the ENTER key. 

As far as problems, I only experienced two. For some reason, the dedicated
TAB key would only work if I pressed the Fn first. And the other
problem that I had was that sometimes the Arrow keys would allow me to page up
and down while other times I had to press the Fn first.

All in all, I enjoyed using this keyboard. I’m still a big advocate of the Stowaway
keyboards, but if you need a solution that does not require a flat surface in
order to use it, the ThumBoard is a nifty little input device.

The ThumBoard is available at
StylusCentral and other find retailers

Price: $39.99

Pros:
Does not require batteries
Individual number keys

Cons:
Must manually enable and disable driver to hotsync or beam
Covers graffiti area

Filed in categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: Keyboard, Palm, Palm OS related, Thumb

Seiko ThumBoard Keyboard Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 18, 2002 at 12:00 am.

Product Requirements:
Device:
Palm m500, 505 requires 24K of RAM

The Targus ThumbPad is a clever little device which, at 1.2 oz is barely
noticeable in your trouser pocket, yet it provides the full functionality of much
larger, heavier and more expensive keyboard via the standard universal Palm
connector.

Featuring 38 keys in standard QWERTY / QWERTZ layout (available localized for
German speaking markets) plus a navipad cursor or "cross" key. Most, if not all,
functions required during text input are readily accessible.

The Thumbpad’s CD driver is requires 24K and is not FlashROM compatible.
After being installed, your Palm will immediately recognize the ThumbPad. The
driver disables/enables automatically. However, hot-syncs will take some time to
start when the driver is enabled. It seems as if the Palm has to sort out
exactly what is attached to the connector before it decides "yes Sir, that’s my
cradle" and starts the syncing process.

When the driver is enabled, the keyboard can be used to send SMS via
infrared. In essence, the driver is "always on", keyboard attached or not
(unless you manually disable it).

Although small, the tactile feedback, metallic keys
are sufficiently spaced to allow error-free typing even for those of us with
wider thumbs – and you will have to use your thumbs as it is extremely difficult to use any
other finger for input since they are all are busy holding your PDA. Holding the
Palm is fairly
easy but tiresome for extended periods of time, since the keyboard has to compromise
ergonomics for size, after all.

You hold the combo by the keyboard – unless you’ve got an "acrobatic thumb",
that is. It is impossible to put it on a table and type because the Palm is top
heavy, which lifts the board off the table surface. When held in the hand, the
ThumbPad is amazingly comfortable. There is no squeaking, due to its solid
casing.

The ThumbPad is not "hard case compatible", even a leather sleeve case will make it
awkward to use: the optimum balance is achieved with a bare naked Palm. When the
ThumbPad is attached, it feels like it won’t stay on your Palm – but it does,
and quite well. The keyboard extends to 1/2 in under/behind the Palm, and the
connection/support is quite solid.

I should also mention that
the keyboard driver does not like ShiftHack at all. Caps functionality is provided,
but using "all caps" or "all numbers / special characters" is impossible when ShiftHack
is activated.

Input is, all things considered, quite comfortable and fast. I did not use a speed
check program, but this review was written with the ThumbPad, and writing it was
considerably faster than would have been possible with Graffiti. An added bonus
is that the
mistake rate is extremely low using this keyboard. Even experienced Graffiti
writers know their personal "enemies", characters that simply are hard to get
right every time, anytime – but they are no problem with the ThumbPad.

Price: $39.90

Pros:
Extremely lightweight
Easy input
Good tactile feedback

Cons:
Driver incompatible with at least one Hack
Slight hot-sync delays when driver is activated

Filed in categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: Keyboard, Palm, Palm OS related, Thumb

Targus ThumbPad for Palm m500 Series Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 19, 2002 at 12:00 am.

Product Requirements:
Device:
Visor, Visor Deluxe, Visor Neo, Visor Platinum,
Visor Prism, Visor Pro
SnapNType.prc 7k
FaceBoard.prc 30k

The SnapNType T101 from TT Tech LTD. is a
unique snap-on input device that is compatible with all of the current
Handspring Visor PDAs excluding the Edge model. This thumb-type keyboard is
reminiscent of the popular RIM Blackberry style keyboards.

The SnapNType is a sturdy little module. It has a thick plastic shell that
doesn’t flex or creak when you use it. The shell portion of the device is clear
with a grey rubberized front. A clear plastic cover protects the cavity and
connector that the PDA snaps into when the keyboard is not attached to it. I thought
it was a nice touch to include this cover with the product, but I would probably
end up losing it in a short period of time.

There are 39 individual keys on the SnapNType. All of these keys are made of a
hard rubber material with white and orange silk-screened labels. The keys are
small, but are large enough to press with the tips of your thumbs. The only
buttons that I found to be somewhat harder to press were the small round
application buttons at the bottom of the keyboard. All of the keys  have decent tactile feedback. The letter keys are laid out in QWERTY
format which makes the keyboard easy and familiar to use if you are already a
touch typist.

Before you can actually start using the SnapNType, you must first install 2
drivers on your Visor. The driver allows you to enable and disable the keyboard
as well as adjust the repeat rate and delay rate for repeating letters when
holding down a key. You must enable the keyboard with this driver before
attaching it. If you don’t do this, none of the keys will be recognized. You do
not need to disable the keyboard to hotsync, but it is important to note that you can not beam via the IR
port while the SnapNType driver is enabled.

After the two driver files have been installed and the keyboard has been
enabled, you can then attach the SnapNType to the Visor. This requires you to remove the protective cover on the
back of the keyboard and also the Visor’s plastic screen cover. You can then
slide the Visor into the cavity on the back of the module. The hotsync connector
on the Visor will snap into a mating connector on the keyboard. When the
keyboard is in place, it covers the Visor’s application buttons, power button
and graffiti area. The actual display area is left unobstructed. To turn on the
Visor, you press the I/O button on the keyboard.

(Visor Prism and Visor Deluxe)

I was able to test the SnapNType with a Visor Deluxe and a Visor Prism. I
found that the keyboard module fit better on the Prism than the Deluxe. By ‘fit
better’, I just mean that the combo felt more solid in my hand. With the Visor Deluxe,
the PDA tended to wobble just a little in the keyboard cavity. The Prism / Keyboard combo
was also easier to hold due to the ‘fin’ at the bottom of the Prism. I found that
my index fingers rested on that fin making my grip feel more secure. You hold the combo between your two hands and leave your thumbs free to press
the keys. It is actually quite comfortable and easy to use in this position.

Overall, regular typing on the SnapNType is probably going to be fine for
most people. That said, I did find that I had a little trouble with the
placement of a couple of the more important keys. I guess I should start out by
saying that I’m really used to the RIM 950 so that might be why I question the
location of some of the keys on the SnapNType… The keys that I had problems
with were the Backspace, and Return keys. The Backspace key
is the rightmost key in the larger horizontal oval key row. That location just
doesn’t feel natural to me when I need to use it. I would much prefer it to be
located at the top right of the keyboard. The location of the Return key
isn’t as annoying to me, but I think I would prefer it to be on the right edge
of the QWERTY board instead of being the next to last button on the bottom row
of letter keys.

One other thing that I really like with the RIM that this keyboard doesn’t
have, is the ability to hold down a key to get the capitalization of that key.
With the SnapNType, you have to press the shift key and then the letter that you
want to capitalize.

Some buttons that would be nice to have that aren’t included on the keyboard
would be a Done and Ok button. As it is, you have to keep your
stylus handy to tap the screen when those options pop up.

You also need to keep your stylus handy for the FaceBoard popup. The
FaceBoard is a pick list of smiles / emoticons and symbols that are not
accessible by pressing the symbol button and desired key. Although I find this
to be a nifty addition to the product… especially for emails, it would be
great if you could use the actual keyboard to activate them instead of the
stylus.

You can actually type pretty quickly with the SnapNType. Of course, if you
are a touch typist, it’s not going to come close to the same speed (at least not
for me). I think the SnapNType is a good input solution for tasks such as short
email writing or on the go memo editing. I’m not sure I would personally want to
use it for lengthy input sessions though. For those tasks, I prefer a regular
keyboard such as the Stowaway. However, the
SnapNType is a great alternative to the Stowaway when you don’t have a flat
surface available to you.

The SnapNType is a well made unit at an affordable price. If you don’t care
for graffiti and find yourself yearning for a compact style keyboard, you might
want to give this one a try.
 

Price: $39.95

Pros:
No batteries required
Solid construction
Compact

Cons:
Must manually enable and disable driver
Can not beam with IR while driver is enabled
Location of Backspace key might be less than convenient

Filed in categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: Keyboard, Palm, Palm OS related, Thumb

SnapNType Visor Keyboard Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 19, 2001 at 12:00 am.

Product Requirements:
Device:
Palm V series, IBM WorkPad c3 
keyboard driver (included) 

The Accufeel G300 from Acer Communications &
Multimedia is a small “thumb keyboard” that plugs into the HotSync port of a Palm V series PDA. Acer
is actually a distributor for the device, which is made by Darfon
Electronics, who calls it the ThumbPad G300.

I saw a picture of the G300 in the New Gizmos section of this web site, and thought it would
be a nice keyboard like my RIM 950 2-way
pager. So I took a chance. 

Hardware Specifications: 
Dimensions: 2.8″ x 3.9″ x 0.6″ 
Weight: 1.4 ounces (39 grams) 

The G300 comes with the keyboard, a floppy with the driver to install on the Palm, and a simple user’s manual. While the box was rather
securely packaged, it came in enormous box full of peanuts (a bonus, I guess). 

The G300 has a nice, small footprint. It’s just slightly larger and thicker than the Palm V, which isn’t bad. Carrying it in a pocket
would not be obtrusive. It also does not require any batteries, as it is powered by the Palm. 

After installing the keyboard driver, it needs to be enabled before you insert the keyboard into the HotSync port. An updated driver is
available at http://www.acercm.com/drivers/input_drivers.html 

The keyboard is very light (probably the lightest out there), but it’s solid, and slips into the Palm Vx to where it’s flush with the base.
You can actually hold the unit by the keyboard alone, giving it a feel like a RIM 950/957. Not bad. 

Because of it’s light weight, the G300 quickly brought me to its first disadvantage. Despite the solid design, the Palm makes the
entire unit a bit top-heavy, so setting it on a desk to type quick notes during a meeting is impossible. It’s best to have it in your
hands, using your thumbs to type. 

The keys are a rubber sheet instead of the more solid plastic ones on the RIM. That makes for several mis-types, as the buttons occasionally
slide over instead of striking the proper letter. Additionally, the space bar, while rather large, requires that you hit it in the middle.
If you’re a typing slob like me, hitting the side of the space bar should work just as easily. Unfortunately, sloppiness is not tolerated. 

Maybe I’ve gotten too used to the way my RIM 950′s keyboard works, as I have not tried other Palm keyboards. My first gripe is that holding
down the DOWN arrow/CAPS key does not allow you to type a single upper-case
letter. You have to hit the FN key along with the CAPS key to set CAPS LOCK,
type your letter, then hit FN-CAPS again to release it. Not very
convenient. 

And forget about using ShiftHack (a favorite of mine since I prefer
writing abbreviations instead of full sentences — I don’t write full essays on my
Palm). ShiftHack disables the ability for the G300 to set CAPS at all. You have to disable
SwitchHack to get any CAPS functionality. 

The driver has an Enable/Disable status, has a keyboard click check box, and the typical “Delay until repeat” and “Keyboard repeat rate”
settings. It also comes with a handy text area to test your settings. 

While the AccuFeel driver was stable in itself, able to recognize the keyboard when enabled and inserted, it’s sensitivity settings
still left me with several iiiii’s & ttttt’s which left me cross. I downloaded the updated driver (above), but with little effect. 

Lastly, forget about using most cases with the G300. My Palm V Hard Case has saved my Vx from several parking lot and tile floor
attacks with no sign of injury. Using it with the G300 is like having a satellite dish attached to the side of my Vx, getting in
my way and preventing me from using it on a table, which was my original goal: to type meeting notes faster than my 4-year-old
Graffiti skills. With all the other problems, I think I can top its speed. 

Of course, I don’t believe there are any Palm keyboards that tolerate a case, so I’d give it a break here. But besides the hassle of
removing the case each time I wanted to use the G300, I’m concerned that it would weaken the solid fit it currently has. 

Unfortunately, I am returning the G300. It was a fun toy to get in the mail, but that’s about it. Too bad. If they use a plastic
keyboard like the RIM 95x, and find a way to make single capital letters without enable/disabling the CAPS feature, I’ll try it again. 

Price: $49.95

Pros:
Small, light 
Solidly built 
Nice ergonomic design 

Cons:
Rubber keyboard is unreliable 
Driver sensitivity is finicky 
Doesn’t sit flat on a table

Filed in categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: Keyboard, Palm, Palm OS related, Thumb

Accufeel 300 Palm V/Vx Keyboard Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 12, 2001 at 12:00 am.