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Help Bluetooth Keyboard for Droid - Faster Typing

Wow, great to know. Thanks for the info. I'd been wondering about direct-from-browser downloads for a while.
 
Hunting around for a new external keyboard, and it appears that
a few in mmgtony's list are discontinued, and/or don't
show up in a Google search. Can mmgtony or anybody
else give us a steer on what products are in fact available?

Like others who have posted, very interested in this capability,
which I had before on an old Palm Tungsten
 
rogermantissa said:
Hunting around for a new external keyboard, and it appears that
a few in mmgtony's list are discontinued, and/or don't
show up in a Google search. Can mmgtony or anybody
else give us a steer on what products are in fact available?

Like others who have posted, very interested in this capability,
which I had before on an old Palm Tungsten
Click to expand...


You are right some of these keyboards are old and discontinued. I've have most of these for the last 3-4 years and they still work as i use them for driver development for various platforms. If you find one specifically "Freedom Uni 1, Stowaway Shasta (STWBBBT), BK600 Smartkeyboard" I would jump on it as these were the better ones i ran across.

I placed a link for the Freedom Universal 2 keyboard in a previous post. The Freedom Uni 2 is just new version of the Freedom Uni 1 and is the newest keyboard i know of. There are other manufactures coming out with these portable keyboards but thats about all i can say at this time.

I hope this helps...
 
ndoren said:
@mmgtony: I would think putting the driver on the android market would mean mass visibility and potential future wealth :). Why would you do a deal with a particular keyboard vendor only? I'm not questioning your logic. As a potential developer myself, I'm purely curious as to your philosophy regarding "market vs. independent distribution channel."
Click to expand...

I totally agree about the Android Market however this is such a niche
 
Arien157 said:
ThinkGeek :: Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard

A little pricey, but definitely the coolest keyboard you could get. It's virtual!
Click to expand...


Yep... I'm in contact with the manufacture here as well. I'm trying to get them to send me a keyboard for testing and development. I had one for 2-3 years and used it to create my Blackberry and Windows Mobile drivers.

btw, if you look at their existing Blackberry drivers its the one i did for them a year or two back.
 
Been waiting for a while to be able to use an external keyboard on Android since I switched over from the Treo. I'm shopping for an SPP keyboard now. In the meantime, what is anyone's experience with delay/lag using this driver and one of the Freedom keyboards?

I type around 40-50wpm so am looking for something that can keep up.

any info or experience appreciated.
 
wow, nice.
too bad I have a Stowaway XT.

do you support foreign language layouts, German to be specific?
if not, I just buy an UK keyboard :)

lg
Berny
 
kanzlr said:
wow, nice.
too bad I have a Stowaway XT.

do you support foreign language layouts, German to be specific?
if not, I just buy an UK keyboard :)

lg
Berny
Click to expand...


Yes i can make foreign language layouts.

However this is the problems:

1. I need to know which keyboard supports QWERTZ layout.
2. If your QWERTZ keyboard is from same manufacture that i already support, then I just need an image of the QWERTZ layout on your keyboard.

I've done this way for other device and it seems to be easy enough to duplicate for Android / Droid provided that the scan-codes "key codes" are the same for the QWERTZ and QWERTY versions of the keyboard.

Most manufactures just print different layout on keys and leave the scan-codes the same.
 
wow mmgtony, thanks.
ok, I will buy the freedom universal keyboard in QWERTZ then and will send you a photograph!! :)
 
@mmgtony

I have the Droid, and I bought the Apple Bluetooth keyboard last night. I would be happy to test your app for you.
 
kanzlr said:
wow mmgtony, thanks.
ok, I will buy the freedom universal keyboard in QWERTZ then and will send you a photograph!! :)
Click to expand...

okay just let me know when you are ready to work on this...

You will have to be the beta tester on this as i will have no way to test except using the QWERTY version of the keyboard.

Send me your keyboard MAC address along with a CLEAR image of every key on the keyboard so i can get you a registration key to unlock the driver.
 
barry99705 said:
It's a HID keyboard, won't work.
Click to expand...

barry99705 is probably right on this.

Honestly speaking I don't know what the Apple keyboard looks like, nor have I seen it or read the specs.

Since you already bought the keyboard you can try the driver if there is still doubts on what profile it supports.

Worst case the driver will not recognized the keyboard.
 
mmgtony said:
You are right some of these keyboards are old and discontinued. I've have most of these for the last 3-4 years and they still work as i use them for driver development for various platforms. If you find one specifically "Freedom Uni 1, Stowaway Shasta (STWBBBT), BK600 Smartkeyboard" I would jump on it as these were the better ones i ran across.

I placed a link for the Freedom Universal 2 keyboard in a previous post. The Freedom Uni 2 is just new version of the Freedom Uni 1 and is the newest keyboard i know of. There are other manufactures coming out with these portable keyboards but thats about all i can say at this time.

I hope this helps...
Click to expand...


Hi mmgtony,

Do you have any experience with the "Freedom Bluetooth" (*not* Universal) keyboard: Amazon.com: Freedom Bluetooth Keyboard for PDA and SmartPhones - Blackberry Palm Treo HTC Samsung Motorola iPAQ Nokia Dell HP: Electronics ?

The reason I ask is because I purchased it when I first heard about your SPP bluetooth driver for the droid. BTW, it works! :-)

HOWEVER, I do notice that the keys don't always register; they misfire quite regularly -- enough so, where it causes much annoyance. I can type 90wpm using a conventional keyboard, but using the Freedom BT, I am down to 20-30 (which is still much better than finger/thumb typing, so it's still worth doing). In order to attain good accuracy (no missed keys), I have to be extra careful to strike each and every key with a good amount of force, which adds to yet another annoying "feature" of this KB: it doesn't lay flat; it's like a trampoline! :-)

In any case, this is my first fold-able / portable keyboard, so I do not know if this is accustomed behavior. Do you know if the Freedom *Universal* (2) keyboards perform better?

Thanks for all your good work!
Chris
 
I have been investigating KeyPro for use on a Palm Pre.

The manual on the mymobilegear.com website refers to a utility
InstallAPK that can be found on a site androidguys.com

I can't find this utility on the site. I have located a version of
InstallAPK elsewhere, but when I run it, it does not recognise the
phone as being connected through the USB port.

Has anybody else succeeded with a Palm Pre?
 
Sorry, I don't have a Palm Pre, but this question did remind me to mention to others who have the Motorola Droid (and perhaps HTC Eris): There is an app in the Market, called apkInstaller, that made installing the drivers a snap!
 
kitso said:
Hi mmgtony,

Do you have any experience with the "Freedom Bluetooth" (*not* Universal) keyboard: Amazon.com: Freedom Bluetooth Keyboard for PDA and SmartPhones - Blackberry Palm Treo HTC Samsung Motorola iPAQ Nokia Dell HP: Electronics ?

The reason I ask is because I purchased it when I first heard about your SPP bluetooth driver for the droid. BTW, it works! :-)

HOWEVER, I do notice that the keys don't always register; they misfire quite regularly -- enough so, where it causes much annoyance. I can type 90wpm using a conventional keyboard, but using the Freedom BT, I am down to 20-30 (which is still much better than finger/thumb typing, so it's still worth doing). In order to attain good accuracy (no missed keys), I have to be extra careful to strike each and every key with a good amount of force, which adds to yet another annoying "feature" of this KB: it doesn't lay flat; it's like a trampoline! :-)

In any case, this is my first fold-able / portable keyboard, so I do not know if this is accustomed behavior. Do you know if the Freedom *Universal* (2) keyboards perform better?

Thanks for all your good work!
Chris
Click to expand...


Image of keyboard is for the Freedom Universal keyboard. The Freedom Universal 2 keyboard is the same keyboard at least from looks of it. I have both in front of me and they look and feel the same to me.
 
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