Targus Universal Wireless Keyboard: a full keyboard in a small package.

I remember watching a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode in which Captain Picard has a short-lived relationship with a new crewperson. In one scene, they're deep in the Enterprise inside a Jeffries tube because it has the best acoustics. He plays his flute while she unrolls a grand piano keyboard and begins to play. The music was lovely, but nay attention was on her mobile piano. The mobility of the keyboard let her take an otherwise cumbersome instrument places she never could have otherwise.

My PDA always felt a bit like a grand piano--but missing the keys. Without a full keyboard, PDA have had to muddle through with awkward substitutes such as on-screen or miniaturized keyboards, Graffiti, or some other method. No longer. The mobile keyboard is here, and it has opened up worlds of possibilities for me and my PDA.

Mobile keyboards aren't anything new. They've been around for several years, usually at exorbitant prices. However, I'm thrifty, so I only recently purchased one to go with my latest PDA, a Compaq iPAQ 3955. The iPAQ solved several issues I'd always had with PDAs (relating to memory, screen brightness, software availability, etc.), so I thought I'd try a keyboard, too. I purchased the Targus Stowaway. It's changed my life--well, at least the way I use my PDA.

Although it solves many problems, the Stowaway still lacked a couple things. The primary problem is the requirement to use a keyboard connector to physically link my PDA to the keyboard. The connector is loose, and I'm forever worrying about losing it. Enter the Targus Universal Wireless Keyboard.

The same folks that made my Stowaway have come out with a universal wireless version that's pretty slick, it solves my problem with the keyboard connector by getting rid of it altogether. The catch is the keyboard uses an infrared (IR) connection.

I'm not saying IR is bad; it works well in most situations, but there are a couple caveats. First, the PDA has to stay mounted in the keyboard's cradle with the keyboard IR arm properly positioned. The bigger issue is you might have to disable other sorts of IR capabilities to use the keyboard. For example, to use the keyboard, I had to disable a global IR exchange program that lets me talk to different types of devices. The IR connection seems to work fine in all types of light, although I wasn't able to test it on the beach on a sunny day.

Design choices

Physically, the wireless keyboard is both larger and smaller than my wired one. It's larger when closed and smaller when unfolded. When closed, it makes a rectangle of 5.6" x 4.2" x 1" Not a bad size, but it's too large to fit comfortably in either my pants pocket or coat pocket. It unfolds in three sections. The top folds up and has the PDA cradle and IR arm. The bottom then unfolds into a two section keyboard with a lock to provide a bit of rigidity. The cradle has a battery compartment for the two lithium CR2032 3-volt batteries that power the IR arm.

I haven't had the keyboard long enough to run out of battery power. The manual suggests closing the keyboard whenever not in use to extend battery life, so I suspect you get a few months to a year or so if you're using your keyboard regularly. Luckily, these batteries are available for just a few dollars at your local WalMart, OfficeMax, or other retail outlet that sells batteries for electronics.

The unfolded keyboard itself is 11.2" x 4.2" x .28". It uses a standard QWERTY layout. The key sizes and their relative positioning are a bit smaller than a small laptop keyboard. I found the Targus Universal Wireless Keyboard a bit more difficult to use than my wired Targus Stowaway, which is larger (14"x 5" x .5"). On the wireless keyboard, for example, the spacebar key is divided into three keys across the two sections of the keyboard. The place where my thumb normally hits to create a space is right between the far-right spacebar button and the middle spacebar button. Again, that isn't a problem I have with the wired version.

The wireless keyboard has a mouse key that's similar to an eight-position analog control from a game system, but very small. It has a single "confirm" button you use to click the mouse when the cursor is where you want it. I found the key board mouse to be clumsy and awkward. It would go too fast or too slow and it took me too long to get used to it. I'd rather have .just used my stylus or arrow keys, but this version of the keyboard doesn't have arrow keys and doesn't provide a location to place my stylus. The wireless keyboard does have a hollow stabilizing nipple to keep the keyboard steady when closed up; you can use this to hold your stylus, although it falls out easily. My wired keyboard has arrow keys and accommodates a stylus.

Even with these problems, this wireless keyboard is light years ahead of Graffiti or any of the other handwriting recognition tools typically available for PDAs. I even wrote the opening paragraph of this article using the keyboard and Pocket Word, just to show you can do real work with it.

The software to run the keyboard comes on a mini-CD. The mini-CD might give you trouble if your CD drive isn't laterally positioned because mini-CDs have to fit into the center of the CD tray. The software installs easily and has versions for several types of devices. I installed it on both my iPAQ and my Palm m505 without difficulty, After you install the software, you get a simple screen through which you can tell the PDA to enable the IR keyboard. As I already mentioned, I had to disable nay IR utility because the keyboard needed control of the port to do its thing; but, I can disable the keyboard and re-enable my IR utility when I need it.

Using the keyboard is simple. lust place the PDA in the cradle (there are several supports that told out of the cradle area to give the PDA support and stability) and position the IR arm over the IR port on your PDA. It just works: Ready, set, start typing.

The keyboard also has four function-style keys that automatically start up Pocket Word, Excel, contacts, calendar, inbox, etc. (or the equivalent for whatever device you're using).

UpShot

I want to like the Targus Universal Wireless Keyboard, but I find I prefer the wired Targus Stowaway. The missing arrow keys, difficulties using the mouse, the spacebar location, and the overall smaller feel of the keys make the wireless version more difficult for me to use than its cheaper wired sibling. I'm also concerned about how durable the IR arm is going to be over the long term and whether or not it's going to break when I drop it (it's heavier than the wired keyboard by 4 ounces). The Universal Wireless Keyboard scores high for cool factor, but there are some issues to work out before I'd use it to replace my Stowaway.

Wired or wireless, PDA keyboards are here to stay. Any way you look at it, portable PDA keyboards are more usable than "traditional" PDA input mechanisms. Although it isn't quite building grand pianos yet, Targus is definitely breathing new life and vitality into PDAs, moving them toward the truly mobile computing tool I've always wanted for my own late nights in the Jeffries tubes.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Targus

http://www.targus.com

Universal Wireless Keyboard

US$79

DIMENSIONS: 5.6" x 4.2" x 1" closed; 11.2" x 4.2" x .28" open

KEY SPACING: .7"

WEIGHT: 12.1 oz

OS SUPPORT: Palm OS; Microsoft Pocket PC 2002/2000/; Microsoft Windows XP/2000/Me/98

BUSINESS BENEFITS

No more tiny keyboard or Graffiti!

(+) Gives your PDA and fully functional, portable keyboard 

(+) Size

(+) Wireless connection means no connectors to lose or get in the way

(-) You must disable any other IR capabilities

(-) Spacebar placement

(-) Awkward mouse

(-) No arrow keys

Larry Whipple, a twenty-year veteran of the IT world, has battled technologies from mainframes to credit card swipe terminals and s aggressively pursuing the dream of truly ubiquitous, easy-to-use mobile technology. He currently serves as the President and CTO of ScanCash Technologies Group, Inc., which focuses on mobile value exchange and data management technologies, [e-mail]; 801 514-1111.