iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard for PDAs and Handhelds by Think Outside
|
Our Price: $229.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $78.99 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard for PDAs and Handhelds
Digital camera Review: A change of heart
Summary: 1 Stars
It seems that this keyboard acts a little like those gold fish you bring home in a plastic bag from the pet shop. You have to put the whole bag in the tank until it acclimates to it's new surroundings. I went from wanting to love the thing for the sheer coolness factor....to boxing it up to send back when it wouldn't sync to my Axim x50v....to giving it another chance and after it was good and ready to work flawlessly, I now love it again. The keyboard is smaller than standard but very useable. It's great for writing a longer e-mail, inputting contacts, or writing a letter in word, when you don't want to peck at the screen with your stylus endlessly. The construction feels solid and opening and closing is a snap. Pun intended. The only major flaw is with the cradle that holds your PDA. It is removable which is the desired use to space the PDA a little further away from you. But the feet that clip it to the keyboard just don't want to let go. The plastic it's made out of doesn't seem especially robust and I feel certain it will snap off eventually. Also the curved lower part of the cradle that holds your Axim, et al, is a little under developed and if bumped will readily jettison what it's holding. Other than that it works very well and never ceases to make me grin when everyone passing your table at Starbucks has to stop and ask you about it. I previously gave it one star, but now that it's acclimated and working I give it 4 only because of the cradle shortcoming or else it would have been a full 5. I know it shows one star, but Amazon wholdn't allow me to edit the scale.Digital camera Review: A little hard to get started, but works very well
Summary: 4 Stars
I did alot of research on this and was a little worried because a previous reviewer said it wouldn't work with a Palm TX- but it does!
After becoming very frustrated with the manual, website, and that green flashing light on the keyboard, I called customer service. They were helpful and I had it working in minutes. (The problem was that when the palm said "now type password on the keyboard", I really needed to type it before it gave this message instead of after.) So psychics should have no problem with this. It is much easier to just forget all of this and use it without "secure" on.
The keyboard itself is easy to use, the keys are large like a laptop computer, and the stand holds up my PDA very well (on a flat surface)
I don't like how you have to press a "shift-like" key to get the numbers to work, and i find myself typing the keys manually on the Palm instead. But I haven't used the keyboard long enough to get used to this, and I don't use the numbers that much anyway. Also if it meant making the keyboard bigger, or making the keys smaller, I can live without a separate number row.
Digital camera Review: A product to avoid if you own a Palm Treo 650
Summary: 2 Stars
Here is a quick writeup of the issues I've had with this product AND the support people:
I've had this keyboard for several weeks, and I must say that I'm not very impressed. There are several issues with it that I'm hoping someone will be able to address.
Issue 1:
for some unknown reason, the IR Keyboard checkbox is always checked. I keep unchecking it, but it keeps getting rechecked. This issue is minor.
Issue 2:
While I'm typing, the left shift key keeps locking on. This is not, I repeat NOT, a physical issue, it's the software that is causing this.
Issue 3:
Every single time I activate the keyboard software, telling it to connect, it tells me to add the keyboard to my devices list. It's been added since the first time I used it, and it's listed in the secure devices list. The software doesn't seem to know this.
Issue 4:
It keeps losing connectivity. If I stop typing for a short amount of time, sometimes, on a very random basis, the keyboard stops transmitting and I have to reconnect. This happens even if the batteries are new.
Issue 5:
It constantly misses key strokes if I pause while typing. This is completely random. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It always starts working after I hit a key several times, but this is really annoying.
For the money it cost me, I expected more, especially considering that, while slick looking, the keyboard doesn't appear that it will last very long. This is unfortunate, since I use the keyboard to write on the Treo quite extensivly. Also, I noticed in their forums that there were a number of people with the same problem, so it's clear they still haven't addressed it. Plus, when I emailed tech support, I got an out of office response, which, I might add, IS THE EXACT SAME RESPONSE OTHER PEOPLE WERE GETTING A YEAR AGO!
If you can find something else that works, stay away from this keyboard.
Digital camera Review: Adequate, with limitations
Summary: 2 Stars
I purchased this keyboard for my daughter, who has a Treo 680. I was attracted by it's bluetooth connectivity and small size. I'm not usually one to write a negative review, but this product 'pushed my buttons!" (When I intended to push ITS buttons!!!)
First, and most unfortunately in our case, this keyboard is NOT compatible with the Treo 680, although it is supposed to be compatible with most of the other Treos. (Check to make sure!!) The driver for this product caused her Treo to go into the endless reboot loop, and after many vain attempts, including soft resets, it was necessary to do a HARD reset, which required the re-installation of all of her programs, (thank heaven for backups, so her personal data was restored!!)
This keyboard is compatible with the Palm TX, though, which is what I have, so I kept it. However, turning it on is fussy, and it often takes 2-3 attempts to link them up via Bluetooth. Once linked up, it is adaquate as a keyboard, although there is often a small lag (maybe a second or so) in when I type a character and it appears onscreen, which can be annoying, when trying to verify spellings, etc.
The keyboard does lock open, which is great. However the support arm for the PDA needs some sort of locking device for the PDA, the least little jiggle can cause your PDA to fall over or off the arm. Not much of a problem on a table, but if you are counting on the "lock open" feature to help you while "on the road" (car, plane, train, etc.), the instability of your device will be a great impediment making it nigh on to impossible to do any significant work.
Summary: Adequate keyboard, but with several negatives. Wouldn't purchase it if I knew then what I know now: The Stowaway Ultra Slim Bluetooth Keyboard:
* is NOT compatible with the Treo 680
* has Bluetooth linking that usually takes a few attempts
* also takes a few attempts to turn it on and have it stay on
* Poor setup for physically supporting mobile device , the device will slip off the support arm with the tiniest amount of movement...therefore not suitable for use on lap or during travel, inspite of it's nifty "lock open" feature (Satisfactory at a stationary table or desk, though)
On the positive side:
*If you just want to enter data at your desk, and your device is compatible, this would be a nice item to have.
*It is definitely faster than grafitti or the thumbpad (with a smartphone) or tapping it it (with an old-school PDA)
*And, true to its name, it is very slim and compact; it easily slips into a purse or briefcase.
iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard for Blackberry and other PDA/ Handhelds
Digital camera Review: Aggravating packaging, but decent product
Summary: 4 Stars
I've used the keyboard several times; it makes my Treo 700wx usable as the PocketPC its manufacturer and Microsoft intended it to be. Indeed, I can see myself leaving my notebook at home and just using my Treo--something that I would never have considered without this keyboard and the Bluetooth mouse from the same manufacturer (the total experience really requires the mouse).
But, there were a couple of aggravations. The first is the plastic shrink wrap--the kind that destroys non-industrial shears when trying to remove a product. The second was the instruction wrapper encircling the closed keyboard. The wrapper seemed to have had epoxy glue welding it to the case and to the keys that came in contact with it. I tried the usual ways of removing it. Used alcohol combined with elbow grease; cooking oil combined with the remaining elbow grease; and, finally, fingernail polish remover. That, of course, worked but at the cost of the attractive finish on the case.
The keyboard itself requires some getting used to. That's the cost of getting so much capability in a keyboard with essentially three rows of keys. I see no other way of achieving a full sized typing surface in such a diminutive size when folded-up.