Windows Phone Thoughts: Freedom Bluetooth Keyboard: Extra Row, Less Money

The Typing Experience
I’m a touch typist, and I’m able to tap away at my normal speed with no problems. The driver was able to keep up with me with no delays, and I was able to momentarily freak people out at work with my “Magically Updating PDA Screen.” In the course of my practical jokery, I discovered that I could reliably use the keyboard from up to 25 feet away. Normally I’d just put the thing on the stand a few inches away, but those of you who are REALLY far sighted may find this a useful feature. ;)

The keys themselves are slightly smaller than the standard laptop keys; the surfaces measure 13mm wide and 11mm high, with key travel approximately 2mm with excellent tactile feedback. I tend to type with my fingertips at an almost perpendicular angle (no fingernails :)), so the smaller size is not a problem for me. However, those of you who type at more of an acute or “relaxed” angle may find that you’re not able to get up to full speed. Hunting and pecking will be just as fast as it ever was. ;)

The Amazing 123 Key Keyboard
Each key on this keyboard has up to 4 different functions.


Figure 15: Cryptic markings.

These are accessable via the Ctrl, alt gr and fn keys. While most of the keys are fairly straightforward, there are a few that left me scratching my head. Thankfully, there are 10 pages worth of explanatory tables in the manual. These cover all of the possible key combinations for all supported operating systems. Generally speaking, the blue symbols are device shortcuts, the grey symbols are accessible via the number lock, and the orange symbols signify special characters.

Bluetooth: Easy on the Batteries
All I can say about battery life is that I’ve been using the keyboard quite a bit over the last two weeks, and the batteries are doing just fine. Bluetooth does a good job of being stingy with power, so I wouldn’t expect to have to change the batteries very often. It’s sort of a “leave it and forget about it” situation. The battery drain to the Pocket PC is slight as well, and is significantly less than what you’d experience with a Bluetooth GPS. In short, battery life does not seem to be an issue on either side of the equation.

Interoperability: Network with your Cat! (Not really)
As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the killer features of the Freedom Keyboard. It can be used with just about any Pocket PC that has a Bluetooth radio and uses the Widcomm (now Broadcomm) stack. This means that you won’t have to buy a new keyboard every time you buy a new device, and you won’t have to worry about lining up a fiddly little mirror/wand with an IR port. You’ll also be able to use the keyboard with your Smartphone (as long as it has the Smartphone 2003 OS), most Palms, and a good chunk of the Symbian phones. No, you really can't network this keyboard with your cat, so don't even try.

Conclusion
This may be the last portable keyboard you’ll need to buy. It works as advertised, looks great, and sips battery power. It’s also reasonably priced at $119, a full $30 less than the number row-less ThinkOutside keyboard. Highly recommended!