INTRODUCTION
It never ceases to amaze
me that at events attended by other mobility site bloggers,
I’ll see a majority of them taking meeting notes on
full size laptops. I’m usually the one that gets the
odd looks because nine times out of ten I’ll be
keying my entries into a mobile device. But let’s
think about it for a moment…if one is mainly
taking notes in a meeting, the same things done with
a laptop can almost as easily be done with a
thumboard enabled PDA, such as an i-mate JasJar or
Palm Treo 700wx. The obvious difference, other than
a larger screen and five or more pounds of dead
weight to lug around after the meeting, is the
easier means of text entry provided by the larger size
keyboard. The quest then, is to find the most portable larger sized
keyboard possible, to use for entering data into a mobile device.
While portable
keyboards in various incarnations have been around
for some time, the one I’ll be looking at today is
one of the more imaginative that I’ve tried; it’s
made of fabric, and it can be rolled into a tight
little package which will easily fit in a bag’s
pocket. However, portability
should not be the only consideration when choosing a
keyboard. We’ll take a look at the benefits as well
as potential trade-offs for this type of text entry
device. Read on for the review!
WHAT’S HOT
The idea behind the Just Mobile RocKy
Bluetooth enabled fabric keyboard is that it will
offer
a much larger typing space for entering text into a
mobile device. The beauty of it is that it doesn’t compromise portability,
because it rolls up when not in use and can be
stored in its included stuff-sack. Let’s take a look
at the specifications…
- Compatible with many platforms, see System Requirements on Page 2 of this review
- 63-key QWERTY format with full size cursor keys
- Shortcut key combination functions
- Materials – Sensor – Nylon/PU, Plastic Casing – ABS
- Power – 2 AAA batteries (included), no power feed
required from target device - Typical Battery Life – 10 hours continuous typing
- Bluetooth
SETUP
Included in the package are the keyboard,
a mini driver disk, two AAA batteries, a plastic universal device stand,
a stuff sack for storing the keyboard, and a paper getting started
guide.
(all images link to higher resolution)
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Installing the drivers involves running the
mini-disk and choosing which type device will be
used. I loaded it on the WM5 Treo 700wx, and this is
the new Fabric Keyboard program icon that will show.
The mobile
device’s Bluetooth radio should be turned on, and
the device should be made discoverable from within
the Bluetooth connection manager. The passkey
0000 should be entered, and the a new port should be
created.
Once that has
been done, the program can be launched by
clicking the Fabric Keyboard icon,
which will launch the connection to pair the device
and keyboard.
Once the two
have been paired, the keyboard will be ready for
calibration…
After calibration is complete, the
keyboard will be connected and ready for use. Now is
as good as any time to take a look at the actual
hardware involved…
PRODUCT FEATURES
The RocKy is primarily composed of a
nylon fabric keyboard with molded fabric buttons
that have white silk-screened identifiers. The left
side of the keyboard has an ABS plastic battery
pack, which holds the two included AAA batteries.
There is a round plastic button at the top which
when pressed turns on the keyboard, and when pressed
and held starts the
pairing process. A green LED below the button
indicates what process is occurring, as it will glow
green during pairing and blink green during
operation.
When completely unfurled, the keyboard measures
13.5" long x 4.5" wide (5" wide on the plastic end)
x 0.5" thick on the plastic end. The fabric portion
of the keyboard is perhaps 2mm thick, and it does
not offer a lot of cushioning. The keys are
differentiated by the ridges molded around them, but
there are no landmarks for those that rely upon them
when typing.
An approximately 5.25 x 1.2"
plastic stand is included which opens to hold just
about any of the standard size mobile phones or
PDAs.
The stand has plastic grips on the
two arms which hold the device, and it will prop the
PDA so that its screen can be read while typing.
Here’s another shot of the stand,
which shows how it grips the PDA being held.
In theory, these three items
are all that’s needed to create a mobile office.
From inside any application
where typing is allowed, the keyboard can be used to
input text. The
online user manual outlines many special
characters which can be created with the keyboard,
and keying is surprisingly accurate, although it
does feel odd to be typing on a bit of cloth.
When done working, the keyboard
can be rolled around the battery pack…
…and stowed inside the included stuff-sack.
As seen here.
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HELP SUPPORT SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS BUGS AND WISHES A user manual for the Just type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
PURCHASING
The included getting started
guide really just points the user to the online
site, and the user manual on the included driver
disk is quite helpful, but I found that the one
question I had during setup was actually answered
from within the Help file loaded onto the PDA.
Overall, installation is quite straightforward and
pairing is easy to accomplish.
The RocKy Fabric Keyboard supports a wide variety of
operating systems and devices, including those running Windows Mobile 5
Pocket PC and Smartphone, Pocket PC 2003, Windows Mobile 2003
Smartphone, Symbian S60 v2.0 or 2.1, UIQ v2.0 or 2.1, Palm Garnet 5.4,
RIM Blackberry v4.0 or higher. On a WM5 Pocket PC device, the memory
requirement is 1.49 MB, and the program will run well from an external
memory card.
Overall, the Fabric Keyboard performs as promised,
because it is a highly portable keyboard solution.
The one place that I felt it really let me down was
the actual act of typing. The keyboard must be laid
upon a perfectly flat surface in order to type, and
typing on it feels like you are tapping your fingers
upon a hard surface covered in a similar fabric to
neoprene. While there is some padding, I can’t
honestly imagine keying in this manner for several
hours. Maybe it’s that the keyboard is too flat, or
maybe it’s that I miss the tactile feedback of a
traditional keyboard. Maybe it’s just me, and others
will feel differently about the experience.
Mobile RocKy Fabric
Keyboard can be downloaded
here.
The Just Mobile
RocKy
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