The Best of Both Phone, and Tablet-
"Easier to use a stylus, and drains batteries even off" on by dgad
Pros: A good basic keyboard for typing in word or excel
Cons: Drains battery while off, can't navigate the screen
Summary: I very much wanted the keyboard to work for me but too many issues make it useless.
First, even once it is off, it drains the batteries. I take out the batteries every time I am not using it. What a pain. Others have mentioned the same issue.
Also you can't navigate to the home positoin or end positions or through fields easily. There is also no touchpad. I find myself picking up a stylus constantly to go to different fields. In the end it is just easier to use the stylus.
It would be effective if you are typing a word document or a long email but beyond that I don't find it practical. It is a great idea but needs to be fine tuned more. -
"No working with HX4705" on by Alexenk
Pros: Portable and saves the devices's screen from damaging by writing on with the stlylus, this in case it works.
Cons: Running with Windows CE2003 simply does not work. Poor support from HP.
Summary: After several months trying to up-date drivers and asking for support from several sites it has not been possible to pair the keyboard to my HX4705. I got this since I am a frequent traveller and use my HX4705 with very good performance and results but, when trying to make it faster and easier to work with by buying this keyboard it has not simply been able to pair even after downloading 3 up-dates of software. To be fair with this device I may complain more of the HP support rather than the device by itself.
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"missed one thing but it's the most important" on by desharri
Pros: number keys, key size, lock open, compact enough, rechargable batteries
Cons: pairing, user manual, device holder, price
Summary: It's a 2 year old, you have to pay attention to IT or it won't behave. This is useless in meetings or other start and stop settings because the pairing is lost and you have to start from the beginning to repair it. This means I have to pay attention to my HP bluetooth keyboard not my meeting. This is especially noticable in 1 to 1 meetings. This problem renders the device useless.
The device holder is flimsy and doesn't have a front holder so the device constantly slides onto the keyboard or if trying to type on your lap it does falls on the floor. It would be better if I could use my device iPAQ 211, landscape, but again minding the device not my business.
The manual is incomplete. It doens't have a good trouble shooting guide, it doesn't have good instructions for regular use situations or for features of the keyboard. On-line is just the same manual. HP support site doesn't even have my ipaq or keyboard listed which makes the problems all that much worse because I paid the premium price and I'm getting service off the back of a truck. -
"Pretty good, but there's probably better" on by tghounsell
Pros: Fairly good integration, easy access to special char's.
Cons: Flimsy, no shortcuts for app. menus, start-up tiresome
Summary: Construction:
The keyboard is quite comfortable, but it's a bit rattly, and seems like it could break very easily. The battery cover fits somewhat loosely. Compared to the keyboard I used to use with a PALM V, this one is very flimsy. There is a slider for locking the keyboard so that it doesn't fold in on you if you want to put it in your lap. The slider is difficult to slide and seems like it would just as soon break as slide. Personally, I don't think this is sturdy enough for me to consider keeping it in my lap.
Typing Usage:
The keyboard has built in 3rd character keys that are used in conjuction with the right-hand ALT button to give you tildes, currency symbols, and a few french or spanish characters with ease. That's handy. I like the layout and the easy access to most characters.
Built-in Shortcut Access:
It has built in short cuts to launch most of the standard applications including Excel and word. Some shortcuts are shown on the keyboard as function keys/icons, others are only found in the manual. CNTL-N will launch a new document but the documentation doesn't mention this, so maybe other hidden ones.
No Application mMenu Access:
Other than CNTR-N, there doesn't seem to be any way of accessing on-screen application menus (Edit, Tools, View, etc.) without reaching for the stylus. Maybe the applications themselves were written without keyboard shortcuts. Whatever the issue, it does slow things down a little bit having to touch the screen. Perhaps all keyboards have this issue - I dunno. Once you have tapped an onscreen menu, you can navigate that one menu with up and down keys, but you cannot move from that menu to another menu within the application.
There are programmable hot-keys, but these can only be programmed to open an application, not open an onscreen menu nor have it type a special character or frequently used phrase.
Start up:
If you normally leave bluetooth turned off, you're going to have to make a point of turning it on and restarting the keyboard's application each time. If you leave bluetooth and the application running, you can just flip open the keyboard, turn it on and start typing.
Overall:
I would have preferred a keyboard with a bit more heft to it. I would have preferred a physical connection over bluetooth for simplicity and to avoid extra batter wear. I'm a bit disappointed that I can't access the application menus from the keyboard. If I looked around more I might have found a cheaper keyboard that avoids the cost and complexity of bluetooth. -
"i recommend it" on by thomas lai
Pros: full size keyboard
Cons: the lock does not really make a big difference
Summary: i brought mine at compusa for 69.99, the keyboard is great, but could anyone help me?
for some reason i can't use this to play games!? what should i do? also, about the battery power, does it really drain the power when it is not on?
thanks
HP Bluetooth Foldable Keyboard user reviews
