KeySonic Nano Keyboard For N560

Hi,

I've been looking around for a small keyboard to use with my FSC Loox N560. There are several foldable boards to choose from, that either use infrared or Bluetooth for communicating with a PDA.

Unfortunately, they're not cheap, and they require batteries.

However, I recently visited Maplin (yesterday, in fact), and I found a miniature USB keyboard for £20, so I bought it!



Details:
Manufacturer: KeySonic
Product: Nano Keyboard
Model Number: ACK-3400U
Dimensions (WxHxD): 218x15x103 mm

Retailer: Maplin (Product Page)

Description:
A light and compact USB 1.1 keyboard with 77 short-stroke membrane keys (proper keys, but they press on a rubber membrane underneath).



Review:
I bought the keyboard without knowing for sure that it would work with the N560, a slight risk, but Maplin are usually pretty good with regards to returns...

The board itself is very small. Not as compact as a folded up keyboard, but thinner instead. The construction is pretty solid, and the unit is very light. Obviously, it has the disadvantage of requiring two cables - the USB connector sticking out of the keyboard, and the USB host cable you need to use to connect it to your N560.

Then again, it doesn't need any batteries, so as long as the PDA is working, you have a working keyboard (which can also be used on other (non-IR/BT PCs).

Due to its compact size, the keys are pretty small and close together, this makes speed typing very difficult (if accuracy is important!). In addition, I found that the 'tactile feedback' is not great. It is pretty easy to hit a key only to find it didn't register - you need to press with certainty in order to avoid this problem.

I plugged the keyboard in, and the N560 happily powered it up, causing the three blue LEDs to flash briefly. There are no special drivers required, you can just start typing away.

The keyboard layout is UK, so a shifted 2 yields a " while a shifted 3 will give you a £. However, the N560, by default, uses the US layout - a shifted 2 yields a @ while a shifted 3 will give you a #. This is a bit of a pain. I vaguely remember reading about a software package to remap the keyboard keys, so if it bothers me *that* much, I will fire up Google!

The keys that don't quite behave right are shown below:

KeyShift-KeyYieldsShift-Yields
2"2@
3£3#
#~\|
'@'"
\|NothingNothing
``~


Interestingly, the F6 and F7 keys will increase and decrease the system volume, respectively, while the ESC key will close the dialogue, regardless of the App you are currently using…

Although the keyboard does not have full sized keys (like some of the foldable ones), and the key presses are not as positive, it is far quicker than using the built in keyboard, or handwriting recognition.

There are three bright blue LEDs that indicate Num Lock, Caps Lock, and Sroll Lock, respectively. I really wish manufacturers would stop using blue LEDs thinking that they look ‘cool’. The blue wavelength scatters more than (say) red, and, given how bright the LEDs are, are very distracting. They also draw attention from other people due to the scatter. In addition, blue LEDs consume more power than the more traditional colours. It would be much better to have soft, green LEDs like any normal keyboard!

The main reason I wanted the keyboard was to make life easier for SSHing into my server for various tasks. All of the important keys are there ( > < | \ / ~ ` ' " $) as well as the usual alphanumerical keys.

The only other problem I've found is that the keyboard (or the Loox?) doesn't like hotplugging the keyboard. When you first plug it in, it works fine. If you either unplug the keyboard and plug it back in, or if you switch off the loox (standby mode), then switch it back on, the keyboard is dead.

Pressing the Caps Lock, Num Lock, or Scroll Lock keys does not illuminate the blue LEDs, so I am assuming that the Loox has basically powered down the USB host, and doesn't power it back up again.

The only way I've found to resolve this, is to turn the Loox off (properly - press and hold the power button for a couple of seconds), then power the Loox back on. It doesn't matter if the keyboard is plugged in or not when the Loox is powered on though...

A bit of a pain, especially if you have a short idle time before automatic standby. I expect that it should be possible to reset/rescan the USB host via software, but I haven't taken the time to look (yet!).

The board is definitely not as good as my old Palm Vx foldable keyboard from Think Outside (anyone got a Palm to USB converter?), but, for £20, I think it is well worth it.

A.