Ben
7th June 2005, 03:06 PM
Since buying the Nokia 6680 my poor thumb has been taking the brunt of my obsession. During the first few days, before I wrote the full review, I actually bruised my thumb I used the damn thing so much. I've never pushed so many buttons on a phone in my life!
Anyway, to make extended use of Agile Messenger, telnet, email and SMS easier I decided to give the Nokia Wireless Keyboard SU-8W a whirl. It's about the same size as a medium sized wallet (I'll get some pictures later) and is finished in a matt silver metal with white rubber strips for traction.
Pushing a small button on one side of the keyboard releases the clam design (it squashes the keys so it springs open) and you are presented with 4 rows of keys. Yes, four - the fifth row, being numbers and special characters, is irritatingly shared with the top row of letters. To use this row, you need to press Fn (a light comes on to show it is active), and then press it again to turn it off. I'd have preferred just having to hold Fn down rather than pushing it for on-and-off, but it works. After a few tries I've already started to get used to doing it, but if I ever say to you "You moronQ" then I did of course mean to use an exclamation.
The unit takes two AAA batteries (provided). Pairing the keyboard with the handset was extremely easy. I launched the application on the handset (mine was preinstalled but the keyboard comes with a 32mb RS DV MMC containing the drivers you need) and pushed the power button on the keyboard. I selected to search for the keyboard, and voila - it found it. Then I entered a passkey on the phone, and typed in the same passkey followed by the return key on the keyboard. Done! Now every time I switch the keyboard on it immediately connects and I can start using it :D
The keyboard features a Menu key, a Messaging key, and keys for both softkeys and the central key on the phone. This makes navigation of the handset via the keyboard incredibly easy! The keyboard also boasts a pull out section on the left hand side which neatly folds out into a phone stand, with adjustable angle, so you can position the phone for optimal viewing while you use it.
The spacebar has suffered slightly, being in two halves, which catches me out every now and then as I hit it somewhere between the two, and quite a few keys, such as return and delete, are smaller and different shapes to what you would expect. However, I do have the fortune of being able to compare this keyboard to the HP iPAQ folding keyboard and can draw the following observations:
The Nokia keyboard has better key travel and sturdier keys.
The Nokia keyboard keys always make contact and the character appears on the screen - unlike the HP one with my iPAQ!
The Nokia keyboard benefits from having its own battery supply so it does not draw extra power from the handset.
The overall construction of the Nokia keyboard is superior, though the HP keyboard has a cleverer design.
I'm yet to see how much I'll actually use this device, so I'm not going to tell you all to run out and buy one - but it certainly does the job it was intended to do well.
Final thoughts:
Sturdy and stable - excellent construction.
Easy to set up and use.
Getting used to the Fn key takes a while and will slow you down.
Keys travel excellently and a fast typing rate, when not using characters obtained via Fn, can be achieved.
Duplicates the phone's softkeys for seamless integration with what seems to be every application.
Anyway, to make extended use of Agile Messenger, telnet, email and SMS easier I decided to give the Nokia Wireless Keyboard SU-8W a whirl. It's about the same size as a medium sized wallet (I'll get some pictures later) and is finished in a matt silver metal with white rubber strips for traction.
Pushing a small button on one side of the keyboard releases the clam design (it squashes the keys so it springs open) and you are presented with 4 rows of keys. Yes, four - the fifth row, being numbers and special characters, is irritatingly shared with the top row of letters. To use this row, you need to press Fn (a light comes on to show it is active), and then press it again to turn it off. I'd have preferred just having to hold Fn down rather than pushing it for on-and-off, but it works. After a few tries I've already started to get used to doing it, but if I ever say to you "You moronQ" then I did of course mean to use an exclamation.
The unit takes two AAA batteries (provided). Pairing the keyboard with the handset was extremely easy. I launched the application on the handset (mine was preinstalled but the keyboard comes with a 32mb RS DV MMC containing the drivers you need) and pushed the power button on the keyboard. I selected to search for the keyboard, and voila - it found it. Then I entered a passkey on the phone, and typed in the same passkey followed by the return key on the keyboard. Done! Now every time I switch the keyboard on it immediately connects and I can start using it :D
The keyboard features a Menu key, a Messaging key, and keys for both softkeys and the central key on the phone. This makes navigation of the handset via the keyboard incredibly easy! The keyboard also boasts a pull out section on the left hand side which neatly folds out into a phone stand, with adjustable angle, so you can position the phone for optimal viewing while you use it.
The spacebar has suffered slightly, being in two halves, which catches me out every now and then as I hit it somewhere between the two, and quite a few keys, such as return and delete, are smaller and different shapes to what you would expect. However, I do have the fortune of being able to compare this keyboard to the HP iPAQ folding keyboard and can draw the following observations:
The Nokia keyboard has better key travel and sturdier keys.
The Nokia keyboard keys always make contact and the character appears on the screen - unlike the HP one with my iPAQ!
The Nokia keyboard benefits from having its own battery supply so it does not draw extra power from the handset.
The overall construction of the Nokia keyboard is superior, though the HP keyboard has a cleverer design.
I'm yet to see how much I'll actually use this device, so I'm not going to tell you all to run out and buy one - but it certainly does the job it was intended to do well.
Final thoughts:
Sturdy and stable - excellent construction.
Easy to set up and use.
Getting used to the Fn key takes a while and will slow you down.
Keys travel excellently and a fast typing rate, when not using characters obtained via Fn, can be achieved.
Duplicates the phone's softkeys for seamless integration with what seems to be every application.