Portable Keyboards for Light Travel

Posted on June 26, 2007 by Bruce Keener

Using a Portable Keyboard with a Pocket PC

Ever since we mentioned the upcoming Palm Foleo, I have thought about using the portable Palm keyboard that I had stashed away. So, I drafted this article using it. Doing so brought back some interesting memories:

  • Six years ago, I drafted the entire initial version of my Keen PDA website using a very similar keyboard with a Palm m505 PDA.
  • There have been plenty of business trips where I have used the Portable Keyboard with either a Palm or Pocket PC, instead of bothering with my laptop.


Portable keyboards and a PDA can be effective laptop replacements, especially for one or two-day business trips, and save you from lugging your laptop around.

The keyboard I am using works on my Dell x51v Pocket PC, as well as on my Palm TX. It uses an infrared interface. The Bluetooth alternatives are generally nicer, but after looking for mine I realized I included it as a bonus gift for someone who bought one if my older Pocket PC’s. I wish I wouldn’t do stupid things like that … it would be nice to have my bluetooth keyboard to experiment with, and I could probably use it with my Dash, whereas my Palm keyboard won’t work with the Dash.

Portable keyboards generally have nice shortcut features, such as a way to quickly launch your favorite applications:

Launching Apps with a Portable Keyboard and PDA

For example, I used the above interface to set up my keyboard so that pressing the Function+1 keys launches Agenda Fusion and pressing the Function+3 keys launches Excel Mobile. I have 10 apps set up for quick launch.

Do you make use of a portable keyboard when you travel? If not, it is something you might want to consider. I know a couple of managers that frequently use travel with the portable keyboards instead of a laptop.

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  • Prashanth

    I can vouch for the Think Outside: have been using it with my Pocket PC for more than a year now. Sure beats poking the screen with a stylus.
    But the killer app for me would be this: http://www.spectec.com.tw/sdv841.htm
    a video-out so I can connect to a nearby TV/projector/screen :)

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    Video-out does look like it would be neat.

    Thanks for sharing.

  • Spinosum

    I have been using both the Stowaway BT KB as well as the Freedom BT KB; but I still highly recommend the Stowaway KB because of the full sized keys; although there is no individual number keys (as compared to Freedom KB), I don’t use them as much during normal typing, therefore having full sized keys is more essential than having a 5-row keyboard!

    I pair the KB with both my Dell x50v and Palm TX seamlessly. Frankly speaking, it is a real “laptop replacement” than getting a Foleo! ;)

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    Thanks for comparing the two. A full-size keyboard does sound nice, and I may go ahead and get the Stowaway. The Palm Keyboard is okay, but not BT, and it does take a bit of getting accustomed to, since it is not really full-size.

  • capo

    Funny you should mention this – I’ve been musing about pulling my x50v out of mothballs and getting a BT keyboard to use with it. I bought a copy of Snoopsoft WebCalendar a few days back so I can still keep my gig calendar with me and I was looking for a less clumsy input device. The Think Outside was a bit too expensive though, considering how little I use the x50v now. I really wish Apple would revive the Newton. MS has been doing CE/PPC/WM – or whatever it’s called this month – for years, and it’s still not what it could/should be, IMNSHO. Why does it always seem to take Steve Jobs to get product design right?

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    “Why does it always seem to take Steve Jobs to get product design right?”

    Amen. Rave reviews of the iPhone are starting up, for example : it is being called a game changer by Mossberg, which of course is no surprise given how he likes all things Apple. But, it is starting to sound like a game-changer.

    Yup, once I dug my keyboard I had to wonder why I had let it set around so long. You can accomplish a lot with one and a PPC/Palm.

    Well, it’s bed time for the old man. See you folks tomorrow.

  • capo

    The iPhone is a good example, Mossberg or not. It really doesn’t contain much that’s really new, it’s just a slick convergence of already existing technologies. Convergence wasn’t a new idea – it’d been talked about for ages, but it took Apple to do more than just talk about it. Now of course, it’s a no brainer and similar units are sprouting up from other quarters. But for Pete’s sake, how long have we had Windows Mobile phones and PDAs? How much would it have taken to make a WM phone the approximate equivalent of an iPhone, (in the same way a Zune is the approximate equivalent of an iPod)? Not much, but MS never took that step and WM devices are still clunky in oh so many ways. Come on, Microsoft, get a little vision. Their Surface computing device is pretty cool, for example, but how many people are going to be interested in it? Not many. It’ll have very limited appeal outside of commercial environments.

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    I’ll probably post tomorrow on my disappointments with technology. When you think of what could be done versus where we are at with mobile computing, the gap is enormous. Part of the problem is no doubt as you suggest: lack of vision within Microsoft I would add lack of vision with the cellphone manufacturers and the carriers. Finally, given the size of the companies involved, I would say there is a correlation with lack of innovation and company size.

  • capo

    Oi, don’t even get me started on the carriers. Verizon (the carrier I’m currently stuck with) purposely cripples existing functionality on phones to try to force users to use their prescribed data paths and accessories and thereby increase their profits. Now I have absolutely nothing against profits – I’m a capitalist to the core. But how would it hurt the big V if I used bluetooth to sync data to my phone locally rather than buy their clumsy cable/software kit for $39 to achieve the same functionality? No, they cripple the Granted, they wouldn’t be able to sell me the data kit then, but it’s no loss since I’m not going to buy it anyway.

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    Sounds like you are as ticked with all of this crap as I am.

  • capo

    Just the usual. Verizon’s tagline is “we never stop working for you”. I’ve found them generally to have all the caring customer service appeal as the IRS. What about the other players? Anybody have great things to say about AT&T or T-Mobile or…?