Windows Phone Thoughts: Breaking the Mold: The HP iPAQ 4350

The Keyboard
The keyboard is certainly one of the highlights of the 4350. It's a standard QWERTY layout in three rows, designed for use with the thumbs, or some other single finger. There is a special 'FN' key, denoted by a blue dot in the lower left of the keyboard, which you use to access most of the numeric and special character keys. There's only one SHIFT key, on the left side of the keyboard, just below the A key, so it's difficult to do capital A's and Q's, unless you try to press both at the same time.


Figure 9: Graphic of the 4350 showing detail of the keyboard.
(Courtesy of HP Web site)

Generally, I liked the feel of the keyboard, but I felt that the keys needed a bit more spacing, since my thumbs (which are not huge) were covering multiple keys. I didn't get any miskeys while using it though, so I guess they've raised the keypads enough to prevent 'cross-keying'. Generally, I found I could go as fast as I used to on my Jornada keyboard cover, using both thumbs and cradling the unit in my palms.

The backlight for the keyboard automatically comes on when the first key is pressed. It's a bright blue -- similar in colour to the Bluetooth indicator LED. There's a setting available to determine how long the backlight stays on after the last key is pressed.


Figure 10: Keyboard settings for the iPAQ 4350.