Wireless Keyboard, Useful PDA Tool
Turn your PDA into an Extremely Portable Computer with Accessories
A wireless keyboard is an extremely useful accessory for your PDA. Forget the frustrations of on-screen data entry and start to enter text quickly and easily.
Many of the latest generation PDA's come with Infrared, WiFi and Bluetooth included. This provides numerous benefits, but not least the ability for the PDA to communicate with a wide variety of other devices and accessories. Both Palm and PocketPC PDA's are available with Infrared, WiFi and Bluetooth.
One such accessory that is a useful addition to your PDA is a wireless keyboard. These little keyboards fold up and are little more than the size of your PDA, however they allow text to be entered quickly and easily without the need to get frustrated with 'graffiti'! Most people can type quicker than they can write with pen and paper - and many people find writing with 'graffiti or other on screen text entry systems very cumbersome.
The combination of a PDA and a keyboard is an immensely useful tool – allowing the user to take advantage of such software as ‘Documents to Go’. Documents to Go enables users to be able to work on Microsoft Office documents direct from their PDA and a keyboard allows memos, reports, presentations etc to be prepared quickly and easily without worrying about on-screen data entry.
Saying that, wireless keyboards are not without their ability to frustrate. The keyboards are typically much smaller than those on a computer or even a laptop, and as such flying fingers may result in a lot of gibberish. When first using a wireless keyboard remember to type slowly and keep an eye on where your fingers are to avoid mistakes!
The wireless keyboard needs to be set up so it communicates with the PDA. Different keyboards and devices communicate in different ways. The Belkin wireless PDA keyboard, for instance, has a separate stand which the PDA sits in and a reflector is used to reflect the signal between the devices.
To save on space most keyboards to not have separate number pads, instead having the single row of numbers like a standard keyboard. If you wish to do a lot of numeric entry then a number key pad is available separately
There are many different types of keyboard available. Besides the keyboards mentioned above which are familiar in appearance to a normal keyboard, there are also fabric keyboards which roll up and even infrared projector keyboards which project a keyboard in front of the PDA and you 'type' on the table. This is a new innovation and whether people find the sensation of apparently typing on nothing more than a table top a little strange remains to be seen.
The price of PDA keyboards are becoming increasingly more competitive and are certainly a feasible option for your PDA and no longer an expensive gimmick.
Have you considered reading e-books on your PDA? We have more about what is available in the way of e-books and readers in this Suite101 article here.
