After searching the forum in vain I decided to post this thread.
Obviously anyone using the onscreen keyboard knows what a pain it can be and what a godsend a decent bluetooth keyboard can be, however there is a lot of choice and I was wondering if anyone else who’s using an external keyboard with Codea would like to share their thoughts.
Currently I’m trying to decide between the following;
A standard Apple Wireless Bluetooth keyboard
A Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 (ergonomic / curved layoyut)
and the Targus iPAD Bluetooth Tablet Keyboard
There only seems to be about £5 in difference between the Targus (£33) and MS one (£38) whereas the Apple one is about £20 more (£57).
The Targus one is a traditional flat layout with chiclet style keys and is a little smaller than the MS one (28.5 x 12 x 2cm vs (at it’s widest) 35.5 x 16.7 x 1.59) although the MS one is thinner and has a nice ergonomic style curve to it.
I’m edging toward the MS one but as I haven’t tried one “in the flesh” I’d appreciate any feedback (or alternative suggestions) from people who do.
According to the review, the keys feel nice to type on as well. (It also looks like it stands the iPad up in portrait orientation, which would be great, but unconfirmed.)
Thanks for the quick response, I’d seen the logitech cover but I’ve discounted it as I’ve already got a nice leather Belkin folio cover and I want to be able to use the pad as nature (or Steve) intended for normal use and keep the keyboard separate and purely for Codea
I’ve used a standard Apple keyboard happily, as well as a program on the Mac that lets you switch it easily between Mac and iPad. A good option for anyone with one already.
I’ve actually gone for the Targus keyboard - whilst I love the styling (and the thinness) of the MS keyboard, the Targus one is considerably smaller (28.5 vs 35.5 cm at the widest point) and would fit into a bag better.
The killer point though is that the Targus one is actually designed for the iPad and whilst the MS one appears to work perfectly (if you remember to use Win+C, Win+V for copy / past as opposed to Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V) the Targus one has specific features mapped to short cut keys (home, search, lock etc).
I’m hoping to take delivery early next week so I’ll update this (maybe even using the keyboard ON my iPad accessing the forums directly via Codea - which BTW is INSPIRED!) when I do.
Update : Got the keyboard today (I’m using it to type now) and so far I’m very impressed, it makes using Codea a LOT easier. The keyboard was a doddle to connect and worked first time.
There are a number of iPad specifc keys to access the home, lock screens etc. etc.
All in all I’m very impressed and for £35 (inc postage) from Amazon I’d have to say I can heartedly recommend it!
Just found this thread - I wish I had seen it earlier. I just got the standard apple bluetooth keyboard which works fine with my first gen iPad. There is a bit of lag but it is much better than using the onscreen keyboard.
I have the Apple iPad KeyBoard Dock but I prefer using Codea in landscape rather than portrait.
When I upgrade I like the look of the logitech keyboard - has anyone actually tried it?
@Reefwing, I am using Logitech’s solar folio keyboard and I like it. There are some nice keyboard shortcuts for stopping/starting music, changing volume, etc. It works nicely as a dock and a keyboard. I expect the other models are equally good.
and I want to be able to use the pad as nature (or Steve) intended for normal use and keep the keyboard separate and purely for Codea