Saturday 1st January 2005
PalmOS Keyboards
Graffiti is great when you need to quickly pull out your PDA and enter a note, to-do or whatever. But when it comes to bashing in large quantities of text the Palm's native text entry interface can be slow and tiring.
Luckily there are a number of alternative text entry solutions:
- Stowaway Keyboards
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By far the most spectacular of the add-on keyboards, the Stowaway Infrared Wireless Keyboard (aka Palm Wireless Keyboard) is hinged in the middle and folds up in a 'V' shape. Although the keys are full-sized and on a 18mm spacing the keyboard folds down to 99mm x 139mm x 13mm and weighs only 160 grams.
- Landware GoType! Keyboard
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The original add-on keyboard for the Palm, the GoType! doesn't fold but provides just about the cheapest solution to touch typing on the Palm. Unfortunately it doesn't appear to be available for any machine newer than the V.
- Matias Half Keyboard
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About the size of a Palm, the Matias Half Keyboard is literally a minimalist keyboard cut down the middle. Only the left hand keys and a half-sized space-bar are provided.
The left hand types as normal. To type the right-hand keys the space-bar is used to toggle the key mapping and the left hand is used to do the typing. It sounds unwieldy but the PC demo available on the Matias site shows that, although practice is needed, it is easier to get up to speed than you might expect.
- CyKey Chording Keyboard
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The CyKey chording keyboard uses MicroWriter chords (where two or more keys are pressed simultaneously) for single-handed text entry. The keyboard is only 125mm x 80mm x 6.5mm, little bigger than a Palm, yet provides full text entry using easy to learn keystrokes. Also see our more detailed article .
- UniMount RoadWriter
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The RoadWriter is part of a modular system of vehicle mounting kits for Palm handhelds and cellular phones. This rugged and touch typeable keyboard has serial pass-through ports and allows the Palm to be charged in place. A wide range of fitting kits allows the keyboard to be attached to an arm secured to the vehicle floor, passenger seat, dash or window.
- Man & Machine FX100 Keyboard
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Man & Machine's sealed silicon flexible keyboard is water and dust proof. It can be rolled into a small cylinder and weighs only 68 grams, making it extremely portable.
- Man & Machine Happy Hacking Cradle
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The Happy Hacking cradle allows a PS/2 keyboard to be plugged into a Palm. A serial port allows a modem to be plugged in at the same time as the keyboard.
- Fellowes PDA Micro Keyboard for Palm V & Handspring
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A small keypad providing a square array of hunt and peck keys suitable for two finger typing. Larger than a thumb board but considerably smaller than a full keyboard.
- Seiko Thumboard Keyboard for Palm m500
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Thumb boards are small keyboards that extend from the bottom of the PDA, typically no wider than the PDA itself. The keys are small and the idea is to cup the keyboard in both hands and use both thumbs to type. It is a technique that proved very successful on early Psions, for example.
- iConcepts Thumb Board For Palm M500/505/515
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Another thumb board that fits on the bottom of the PDA and is designed to be typed on with both thumbs. Can provide quicker text entry than is possible with Grafitti, but adding little to the bulk of the PDA.
Posted by frogplate.