keyboards - page 5

This review is slightly unusual: We already published a review of the same device a couple of weeks ago: the Logitech Easy-Switch keyboard. I liked the look of it so much that — on Killian’s recommendation — I went out and bought one of my own. Or rather, I bought one, returned one and searched the internet high and low for another one.

So why the “duplicate” review? Because I use a keyboard in a different way than Killian. Where he sits at the dining room table surrounded by iDevices and Macs, I work not only in different rooms but in bars (cafes), on buses, wherever I might be. So I figured I’d write a very different review.

Interested?

Our Killian Bell tossed around words like “terrific” and “impressive” when he reviewed the Nuu MiniKey for the iPhone 4/S two years ago. Now, the little backlit Bluetooth keyboard-case has almost arrived (it drops March 15) for the iPhone 5, with a whole slew of improvements.

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – Unless you love the cramped, sweaty quarters of a netbook keyboard, I’d advise you to stay away from the Logitech Ultra Thin keyboard case for the iPad mini. It looks great, and as a keyboard, it makes and excellent case.

But as soon as you try to type on it you’ll wish you’d saved your $100.

When we spotted Luvvitt’s backlit Ultrathin iPad mini keyboard cover last month at CES, Luvvitt CEO Eli Altaras told us we’d see a version for the iPad at some point. It’s just popped up on Luvvitt’s website, packing the same rainbow backlighting as the mini version, in the same ultra-light profile. And it’s got a beefed-up battery to boot.

Remember the Optimus Maximus keyboard from Art Lebedev? No, me either. But if I did I’d probably recall the LED keycaps which had two distinct functions: One, to display a tiny image on top of each key and two, to send the cost of the keyboard through the roof.

Today we bring you the e-ink keyboard, which is the same kind of thing, only way more practical.

Archos, maker of dodgy, hard-to-use MP3 players back in the 1990s, is hopping on the Bluetooth keyboard bandwagon.

Its offering is mostly standard, with one (literally) standout feature.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Are you ready to have your mind blown? Three words: Bluetooth Clackety Keyboard. More words: without the clack.

That’s right. Matias, maker of the non-clicky Quiet Pro, has released a tenkeyless version of the mechanical-switched keyboard, and it has Bluetooth, which means it works with the iPad.

“Click!” You hear that? It’s the sound of an iPad turning into a Microsoft Surface, with the help of the Nibiqü keyboard cover.

Now that we see it, it’s obvious that this product was completely inevitable. And almost equally inevitable is the fact that it comes by way of Kickstarter.

Despite Tim Cook’s revelation that he uses the iPad’s virtual keyboard most of the time, anyone who writes for a living will still be using an external keyboard. And today’s test subject is the Brydge+, a $220 Bluetooth keyboard which does its best to turn your iPad into a tiny notebook.

Believe it or not, Black Friday has already come and gone. Pretty soon the Christmas season will begin, and we’ll mark this midwinter festival by getting together with friends and family and continuing to drink and eat far too much.
Meanwhile, we also buy gifts for those same friends and family members, whether they want them or not. Luckily, we’re here to help, and if you follow our festive advice, your gifts just might make it into the “wanted” category.

From now until Christmas, Cult of Mac will be putting together holiday gift guys full of ideas for the special ones in your life, no matter what their interests or your budget. Today, we’re looking at gifts for people who have an unnatural love for their iPhones. Freaks.

The short form: Zagg’s Pro Plus has got to be the best compact iPad keyboard I have used (and I have used a lot). It is also backlit, incredibly light and doubles as an iPad case.

But it has one fatal flaw – your iPad 3 or later will probably fall out.

Believe it or not, Black Friday has already come and gone. Pretty soon the Christmas season will begin, and we’ll mark this midwinter festival by getting together with friends and family and continuing to drink and eat far too much.
Meanwhile, we also buy gifts for those same friends and family members, whether they want them or not. Luckily, we’re here to help, and if you follow our festive advice, your gifts just might make it into the “wanted” category.
From now until Christmas, Cult of Mac will be putting together holiday gift guys full of ideas for the special ones in your life, no matter what their interests or your budget. Today, we’re looking at gifts for the lovely laydee in your life.

What could be classier than adding a few extra millimeters to the height of your keycaps whilst simultaneously collaborating in the death of a walnut or cherry tree? Nothing, that’s what. Which is why these Lazerwood keys for Apple keyboards are pretty much the best thing ever.

I have a feeling that there are going to be many, many misguided attempts at making iPad Mini cases. Exhibit A: The Rubata Mini case from Padacs, a cheap and extraordinarily ugly keyboard case which turns the little iPad into a tiny laptop.

Where am I going with this? One word: netbooks.

Remember when people used to say that the iPhone was useless for e-mail as it doesn't have a hardware keyboard? Think back: it was a while ago, around the same time that the iPhone was doomed for not supporting Flash.

Got it? Well, apparently some people somewhere still think that way, and this post is for them (if you know one of them, perhaps you could print out this article and fax it to them or something). Yes, you can now turn your state-of-the-art iPhone 5 into an also-ran BlackBerry.

Matias, maker of clicky, mechanical-switch keyboards, has spent the last two years perfecting a new clicky mechanical keyboard switch. The twist? It’s almost silent. If you want the feel of a proper, burglar-killing keyboard but love the (lack of) sound of your modern, slimline notebook keyboard, then this $150 monster might be just the ticket. It’s called — fittingly — the Quiet Pro.

Click-clack-CLUNK! That’s the sound a Transformer makes when it, uh, transforms. And that’s the sound I imagine the Jorno makes when it transforms from stout, ugly black box into miniature-but-not-too-tiny Bluetooth keyboard.

Over at the IFA tradeshow in Berlin. Zagg has launched a couple of new iPad keyboards. And one of them, the Pro Plus, has something I have missed ever since I took to typing on my iPad in the corners of dark and seedy bars: a keyboard backlight.

Ugh. That was my first reaction to the CruxSKUNK, a case which turns the iPad into a laptop-shaped-object. Then I got onto the name, which is equally clunky. Then I saw the price, which appears to be around $155-$250. Oh, and this case? It comes with its own case. Nice.

What use could you possibly have for a washable keyboard? The obvious hand-shandy jokes write themselves here, but there are other reasons that you might want this easy-clean keyboard from Logitech.

Despite being noisy, big, heavy and hard to type on, clackety keyboards like the DAS are hot fashion right now, despite their impracticality (isn’t that always the way with fashion?). I kid. I actually use a DAS keyboard with my iMac, although to be honest I almost never use the iMac these days.

The only thing that really drives me crazy about the DAs, though, is the lack of media keys. F15 and F16, or whatever the last keys are in the top row, control screen brightness out of the box, but volume, media keys and other OS X essentials are lacking, leaving rather kludgy third-party fixes as the only way to add them back.

Now, the Model S Professional and Professional Silent models sport proper media keys. Three word: At frickin’ last.

The new Zaggfolio keyboard and case for the iPad 3 is a very weird little number. At first glance it looks like any other folio case, a protective book which holds the iPad in one side and has a keyboard embedded behind the front cover. But this one is modular, with a removable keyboard. And it comes in colors, although the plastic used to do this looks like it has been cut by (a shaky, alcoholic) hand.

And if you want to use the case without the keyboard (which is actually possible, as they’re available separately) then you’re going to end up with the dumbest-looking case around.

Despite all this, the Zaggfolio is actually pretty great.

Oh man, I can totally see myself taking this mechanical Bluetooth keyboard to the local bar and clackety clacking out a few posts every morning. It’s called the KBtalKing Pro and it is a rather clever little beast, a pro keyboard which is designed to work with – and switch seamlessly between – up to ten of your devices.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YP5goKA4dQ

Blind? Then you’re most likely reading this post on an iOS device, because no other platform has quite the same great level of accessibility options built-in. But that still doesn’t help you when you want to write (unless using Voiceover to find the individual keys is your thing). But I bring good news! Fleksy is a new app which takes predictive text to a ridiculous new level.

I’m totally used to the iPad’s soft keyboard, but when I go back to my iPod touch it drives me crazy. I miss the letters, I hit enter when I mean to hit shift, and I generally get angry. I would not, however, buy a phone with a keyboard ever again.

But I might consider the Spike, or more likely, the Spike 2. Both are iPhone cases with flip-open keyboards, but the Spike 2 improves on the formula by getting out of the way when you don’t need it.