QWERTY Keyboard for Nokia (and other Series 60) phones

trap4

Russell Beattie has pointed to infrared drivers for Series 60 phones (such as Nokia 3650, 7650 and 6600) which will allow them to communicate with full QWERTY keyboards from Pocketop and Palm.

Together with the other utilities Beattie pointed to (FTP and SSH) Series 60 phones are now damn useful sys admin devices.

Can I ask anyone who already has one of those keyboards (and a Series 60 phone) to try it out and let me know how well it works before I splash out on one, please. Where is the best place to get one? I presume with the exchange rates as they are right now it's best to buy direct from the States?

BTW, a bluetooth keyboard would of course be much better but AFAIK there's none on the horizon, is there?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Jim.
http://eirepreneur.blogs.com

Señor Juárez

hmm, that would be very nice. unfortunately, meh n-gage has no IR port, only bluetooth. so i guess i am screwed in this regard unless nokia specifically produces a product for the phone, am i correct?

flywheel

bluetooth keyboards for desktops are available from the likes of Apple, Mircosoft and Logitech - been several announced 'plans' about portable keyboards but nothing shipping as yet

there was some buzz earlier this month when Think Outside issued a press release: New Bluetooth Keyboard Software Standard: a Royalty-Free Driver for Smartphones and PDAs - although it turned out it was more about highlighting a driver for OEMs - but has made everyone speculate a BT Stowaway could well be on the horizon...

in fact it was issued on the same day they annoued Availability of Symbian Driver for the Stowaway IR Wireless Keyboard...

were wierd goings on with those Symbian keyboard drivers when they surfaced in October, with them appearing and then disappearing from the Pocketop site and then the GPL ones appeared...

BrianG

Señor Juárez

are IR/bluetooth keyboards all manufactured to a standard, or does each individual one have its own drivers? the former would be nice.... anyway, a symbian bluetooth keyboard driver is in order

flywheel

Originally posted by trap4
[BCan I ask anyone who already has one of those keyboards (and a Series 60 phone) to try it out and let me know how well it works before I splash out on one, please. Where is the best place to get one? I presume with the exchange rates as they are right now it's best to buy direct from the States?
[/B]

just tried it out with the ThinkOutside Stoway Keyboard (The PalmOne version) and the Series 60 drivers ThinkOutside provide in their site... (you may have to rename the file to .sis as they had it as a .sys file when I downloaded it)

takes a little getting used to working out what the Select, Back, Exit, keys are though (make sure to download the Keyboard layout PDF file), and you need to increase the screensave timeout and may need to keep the backlight on (with an app like FExplorer - although be careful of battery drain with that enabled) - once you have everything sorted it works a treat

also loaded the drivers onto the P800, Pocket PC and Palm devices and it was great to be able to pop each of them onto the stand adjust the IR arm and have them all working...

if you're around town next week you can have a look for yourself - just drop me an email at the address you have for me

atb,
BrianG

trap4

Excellent news, thanks Brian. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be in your area for a while but the offer is much appreciated. Can you confirm that testing was done with a 3650? If so, it looks like I'll be owing myself a belated Christmas present

flywheel

No worries - I used a 7650 though - might be able to try it with a 3650 next wednesday (If I catch up with a mate of mine who has one).

One thing to note though - they did supply a Symbain Layout for the Keyboard in a PDF file, which has different hot keys 'printed' on the keys of the Palm and Pocket PC versions (they are all the same keyboard hardware wise though and the regular letter, number and symbol keys are the same) - so they may see what the demand / feedback is like before they print the hot keys (e.g. for Calendar, Tasks, Notes etc...) on a Symbian version...

BrianG

flywheel

Originally posted by trap4
Can you confirm that testing was done with a 3650?

ok had a go on a 3650 tonight with the Think Outside based keyboard and it worked ok - bear in mind the drivers are still beta and they might bring out a Symbain keyboard with appropriate icons / labels on the keys (compared to the Palm ones on the model I have)

BrianG

flywheel

Originally posted by marclar
are IR/bluetooth keyboards all manufactured to a standard, or does each individual one have its own drivers? the former would be nice.... anyway, a symbian bluetooth keyboard driver is in order

well currenlty the devices you connect to require drivers appropriate to the keyboard beig used

the Think Outside IR one being talked about in this thread uses specific drivers for each platform, one for Pocket PC, one for Palm another for Symbian etc... the hardware would be the same with a standard IR connector - but the key labels can be customised for each and the keyboard may be branded by the OEM like the version sold by Palm

today they announced their Bluetooth Keyboard due in Q2 '04:
Think Outside, Inc. Announces First Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard for PDAs and Smartphones

BrianG

trap4

Originally posted by DubWireless
ok had a go on a 3650 tonight with the Think Outside based keyboard and it worked
BrianG

Super! Was it easy to keep a consistent connection with the IR on the side of the phone? How did the phone fit in the holder? Did the rounded base make is unstable? Long question short, would you actually recommend it?

Or would you advise holding out for the bluetooth version for someone who isn't in too much of a hurry.

Cheers,
-Jim.

flywheel

Originally posted by trap4
Super! Was it easy to keep a consistent connection with the IR on the side of the phone? How did the phone fit in the holder? Did the rounded base make is unstable? Long question short, would you actually recommend it?

Or would you advise holding out for the bluetooth version for someone who isn't in too much of a hurry.

the keyboard's IR 'receiver' is on an arm that can be positioned in a 90 degree arc, so it works with devices having an IR port at the top or the left hand side - so in that regard the connection was perfect

the base is just a flat ledge with a metal bar that flips so designed with the intention to hold a flat PDA based device - i'd expect moving the keyboard about excessively could cause the phone to move about on it's round base - although there are two rubber 'dots' on the back of the stand to try and keep a grip going... definately won't work on your lap... as the keyboard hinge doesn't snap into the fold-out position - it need to be used on a flat surface

if not in a hurry - then manybe wait and see if they bring out a symbian version of the keyboard - for the reasons of the key labels - drop me a mail and I'll see if I can get this unit to you for a few days to have a go with it

as far as a Bluetooth keyboard is concerned - unless the Bluetooth implementation can be upgraded to include the HID profile there isn't much that can be done to get it working with their keyboard...

BrianG

Dizz

as far as a Bluetooth keyboard is concerned

One for ya here - expected in Q2 2004

Dizz