Related
Hi to All,
Apart of "phone pad" problem I discovered yesterday, I have just found new "feature" on my Qtek9100. When I use hardware keyboard typing SMS messages, occasionally (again) I have put my keyboard in state like I permanently hold "blue point" button, i.e. I can write all "blue" symbols (e.g. digits, ~, ! etc.), and in order to write letters I have to hold down "blue point" button. It is very annoying I must say. First I thought, that I put my device in some short-cut mode by pressing combination of keys, but according to user guide, there is not such state.
So my question is - anybody experiences the same, and if yes, any cure available?
Thanks in advance,
Regards
A quick double-press of that key acts like a "lock" - like a caps lock, if you like. To disable it again, double-press it.
Same goes for the shift key.
John
Thanks very much jko.
I just wonder, why those handy tips are not described in the user guide, but of course this is rhetorical question :wink:
if you haven't done so yet, do the tweak that shows you whether you have the FN on or caps on(keyboard indicator I think its called). its in the big all tweaks topic and also included in the optimizer/wireless G .cab
How is the keyboard tactile feedback? Can you type without quickly getting your fingers tired? Is it backlit?
Are number keys intelligent
unlike Jasjar/ Universal I do not see any dedicated number keys at the top row. Are the number keys intelligent to automatically identify number fields or do I have to press some function or blue key etc to activate numbers?
manu407 said:
How is the keyboard tactile feedback? Can you type without quickly getting your fingers tired? Is it backlit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No backlit
Heijdemann said:
No backlit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it mean don't have light on keyboard? How to type in the dark?
cornelius said:
Does it mean don't have light on keyboard? How to type in the dark?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's very surprising...Not backlit!?!? However, when you consider that it has a whopping 5" screen glaring down onto the keyboard, you may also see that there is no point in backlighting the keys.
After using the keyboard, I can say that not having backlit is not an issue at all as there is already a hugh torchlight (the screen) shinning on it. The feel and feedback is also acceptable. The biggest weakness is the way keys are set out.
1. there should be a row of number key in addition to the keypad style layout.
2. the numeric keypad should have followed the computer and calculator style (with 7 8 9 on top and 123 at the bottom) instead of mobile phone format (where 123 is on top and 789 is at the bottom). The commonly used spreadsheet/calculator symbols such as + - * / ( ) are normally used at the sakme time. The should be activated by the same special function key. The should be laid out to be as logically as possible rather than all over the place as currently the case.
3. The most common punctuation marks should be accessable without having to first press shift or special function key abd should be tyoed by the right hand. All other punctuation marks and special characters should have been activated in the sane way as capital letters.i.e. via the shift key. In other word, when the shift key is pressed, we should be able to access all symbols and capital letters. It is radiculos to have to keep switching between pressing the shift key and special function key now.
4. the letter Z must go directly below A to have any chance of fast typing. All keyboards are done that way except this one.
In my next posting, I'll show my preferred keyboard layout.
This might help. Lots of opinions on the keyboard, and some suggestions on alternatives.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=303399
I have a question on how to make this phone better... I've never used the iPhone really, other than to jailbreak it for my fiancee. Now that I have the Vibrant, I noticed ridiculously difficult it is to place your cursor in a particular spot. You can't use a stylus, there's no "magnifying glass" like the iPhone has, and there are no arrow buttons on the on-screen keyboard (as there was on my HTC Touch Pro 2). Basically, it'll take me 5-6 taps (or more) to get the cursor where I want it.
Is there any app or hack that can fix this?
If you are using samsung keyboard, then keep pressing the "123" button until more controls shows up, theres cursor control.
You can flash or wait for froyo release it comes with a cursor
Thanks to both of you. The 123 option is a PITA, but it's something. Good to know that Froyo is gonna have a cursor. Thank goodness....
Flapjack said:
Thanks to both of you. The 123 option is a PITA, but it's something. Good to know that Froyo is gonna have a cursor. Thank goodness....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't the 123 option to work. When I press the 123 button, I get four pages of symbols... no directional cursor movements. What am I doing wrong?
If you are using the Swype keyboard, drag your finger from the Swype info button (bottom left corner) to the SYM key (next one to the right). Several cursor control options there, plus a few other handy items.
Also, if you didn't know, dragging from the Swype info button to the "F" key will switch the keyboard into a number keypad.
Flapjack said:
I couldn't the 123 option to work. When I press the 123 button, I get four pages of symbols... no directional cursor movements. What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to hold 123, not just click it.
BronzedDroid said:
You need to hold 123, not just click it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. Thanks for the help. It's exactly what I needed. Will hold me off until Froyo.
Alternativelly you can use the HTC_IME (which is the HTC keyboard) and set the volume buttons to work as up and down. Pretty handy when you want the cursor to skip a few characters. Though indeed the lack of cursor buttons always visible on the keyboard is kind of irritating especially if you come from an HTC.
stormrain said:
Alternativelly you can use the HTC_IME (which is the HTC keyboard) and set the volume buttons to work as up and down. Pretty handy when you want the cursor to skip a few characters. Though indeed the lack of cursor buttons always visible on the keyboard is kind of irritating especially if you come from an HTC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually went through the process of installing the HTC keyboard, which I loved on my Touch Pro 2. It was laggy as hell and basically unusable. I also did not notice any directional arrows.
I've been meaning to try that keyboard again, since I did the one-touch lag fix. I'll do that right now.
**EDIT**
I can't find the option to use the volume buttons to move the cursor. It's also nowhere near as fast as the Samsung keyboard. Not sure why, but I have to seriously slow down my typing to get it to recognize each key press individually. I was hoping it would be better once I did the lag fix. I guess it's a separate issue...
Flapjack said:
I actually went through the process of installing the HTC keyboard, which I loved on my Touch Pro 2. It was laggy as hell and basically unusable. I also did not notice any directional arrows.
I've been meaning to try that keyboard again, since I did the one-touch lag fix. I'll do that right now.
**EDIT**
I can't find the option to use the volume buttons to move the cursor. It's also nowhere near as fast as the Samsung keyboard. Not sure why, but I have to seriously slow down my typing to get it to recognize each key press individually. I was hoping it would be better once I did the lag fix. I guess it's a separate issue...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm I do not have any lag issues with the keyboard.
Have you tried Calibrating it? That option is in Settings (within the program, activated by long pressing the language toggle key)>Text Input>Calibration tool.
Unfortunatelly, indeed, there are no directional arrows in the layout.
The option to set the volume buttons is in Settings (again, within the keyboard itself)>User Interface>Volume Keys.
EDIT: I don't really have any opinion about the default samsung keyboard as it does not support my language (go figure lol) so I have never used it.
Bluetooth Keyboard Shortcuts on Samsung Vibrant
(And Possibly for Samsung Galaxy Tab)
Smartphones now come in bigger screens of up to 4 inches or more. It is no longer uncommon for a phone to have a 1 Ghz processor with storage of up to 32 GB on an external sd card. With these improved features, it is now convenient to use the smartphone as a replacement for the desktop PC or a laptop.
There is, however, one drawback. The built-in buttons and keyboards, whether slide-out hardware keyboard or screen keyboard on the phone, are too small to allow for easy typing. This is where a Bluetooth keyboard becomes a very useful tool. With the upswell of tablets and tablet wanabees on the market recently, this could also be possibly applied on tablets.
In my case, I have a Think Outside Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard which I am using with a Samsung Vibrant, aka Galaxy S or Samsung T959. I originally used the keyboard with a Nokia N82. When I bought the keyboard, it required drivers specific for the Nokia phone. Luckily, I was able to download a driver from the iGo website (iGo bought Think Outside). With that, I was able to use all the features of the keyboard. Although I haven’t had the chance to try it, these shortcuts might also be usable on a Galaxy Tab.
It is important to note that, even without an installer, the keyboard will work with other devices but this will be limited to simple typing of text. When my Vibrant phone was updated to Android 2.2, I was able to use my Bluetooth keyboard. While tinkering with it, I was able to devise some shortcuts to replace what operations would have been possible only with an installer. Please see the following:
First of all, observe that the keys in the Think Outside or iGo keyboard are color coded. If you press any of the keys, what appears on the screen re the default applications. For example, if you press “Q”, what appears is the letter “Q”. But if you press the blue “Fn” key and press “Q”, what appears is the number “1” which is color blue under the letter “Q” key. And when you press the green “Fn” key and “Q”, what you get is “!” which is color green on the “Q” key. And so on. But not everything works right. That’s what this piece is about. We will discuss some workarounds.
A word of caution. I cannot guarantee that this will work with other devices. Let us be clear about what hardware I am using: Samsung Vibrant and Think Outside Stowaway ultraslim Bluetooth keyboard. The keyboard is also known as the iGo Bluetooth keyboard. My phone is on Android 2.2. As for software, I am using Documents to Go v3 for document creation and editing. Being done with that, let’s get underway.
Most important shortcut: Green Fn key+Home.
These two keys are beside each other. This replaces the “home” button on the phone. Wherever you are on the phone, pressing these two keys brings you to the default home screen. You will find why this is the most important shortcut in the following.
Add applications shortcuts to the home screen. You will see that on the keyboard, highlighted in blue, are the following applications: Calendar, Contacts, Inbox, Notes, Word, Excel, IE. Simply pressing on these keys won’t work. What you do is press green Fn+home. If you have already placed shortcuts of the said applications on the home screen, press the direction arrows on the keyboard to get to the application you want to launch and press enter.
Illustration: Let’s say you’re browsing a webpage and you want to open the calendar. Press green Fn+home and you’re at the home screen. Scroll to calendar and it will launch. This presumes that you had earlier placed a calendar shortcut on the home screen. Of course, you can cut it anyway you like to suit your taste.
Home Screen Menu. On the phone, you press the menu button to get to settings, set wallpaper, add item etc. On the Bluetooth keyboard you press blue Fn+A, press the arrows where you want to go and press “enter”
Google Search. Press Alt+A or press green Fn+A
Call log. Press blue Fn+D
Put phone on sleep mode immediately or to wake from sleep mode. Press blue Fn+F or press green Fn+end
To reboot phone. Press together Ctrl+Alt+Delete
To bring up the symbols table. Press Alt THEN press space bar. Do not press both keys at the same time.
Documents to Go shortcuts. With Documents to Go open, you can perform the following operations:
Blue Fn+A = open menu
Blue Fn+Esc = save, discard or cancel document
Press shift twice = all caps
To highlight text to cut, copy or edit etc, press shift while Pressing the arrow button in the desired portion to be highlighted.
Miscellaneous.
Camera – You can use the keyboard as a remote camera shutter for self portrait. Set the phone on a tripod etc. Go in front of the phone bringing your Bluetooth keyboard. Press enter to click the shutter.
On a webpage, pressing the spacebar scrolls down.
In Android Market home page, simply type what you're looking for; it automatically goes to the search bar.
Searching for other shortcuts is still a work in progress. Your contributions will be most welcome. I hope this contribution is helpful to you and others.
larrisa12002 said:
In my case, I have a Think Outside Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard which I am using with a Samsung Vibrant, aka Galaxy S or Samsung T959. I originally used the keyboard with a Nokia N82. When I bought the keyboard, it required drivers specific for the Nokia phone. Luckily, I was able to download a driver from the iGo website (iGo bought Think Outside). With that, I was able to use all the features of the keyboard. Although I haven’t had the chance to try it, these shortcuts might also be usable on a Galaxy Tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forgive me, I'm very curious but a little unclear how you created these shortcuts in Android. I am using a Dsi Mini Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse (WKB-1500) so it may not apply. However, if you are referring to an Android App/driver, then perhaps I'll find something similar for my keyboard. Regardless, thanks for the post. I'm looking forward to seeing the Galaxy S replace my laptop.
I didn't actually do any technical stuff, just trial-and-error punching keys and combinations of keys and observing results. I also tried copying keyboard presses of a phone with a hardware keyboard. Thats how I discovered that double pressing shift brings up all caps.
Understood. Trial and error often provides the first documentation. Thanks for the effort.
Any chance you could tell us what, if anything, the keyboard suggests the Fn+ buttons normally represent (shown in blue above the normal character). For instance, on my keyboard Fn-Left sends the Home key and Fn-A sends the ~ character. These should be the keystrokes being received by Android and then mapped to the results you found.
I tried find that driver on the iGo site but all I saw was drivers for Pocket PC and Blackberry. Do you have a url for the driver?
Thanks
Working driver for Stowaway
hlwilliams (and anyone else trying to use Stowaway keyboard with Android devices):
I had given up all hope and found BlueKeyboard JP. It's available in the Market.
Follow the instructions on the developer's blog site. (sotolog.net SLASH bluekeyboard SLASH 2010 SLASH 06 2010 07 2010 log3 DOT html) and you can probably go to work within minutes. (Sorry but I am not yet allowed to post URL's. The developers's blog is also specified in the Market page for BlueKeyboard JP.)
I have gotten it working on the Galaxy Tab running 2.2 and Nexus One running 2.3.3. And they worked exactly as documented immediately.
Caution: My partner tried with the HTC Desire and it seems to have had bad interactions with his Motorola Bluetooth stereo headset. (Headset now only plays music in phone headset mono mode.) We have not (yet) narrowed down whether this is an interaction with HTC Sense, the Android ROM version, this particular Motorola model, etc.
So I've had mine for a few weeks now, and I can still count the number of times I've used the physical keyboard on one hand lol. I'm not even sure why. It's fine when I use it, but the onscreen one is just -so- fast and responsive. I can type much much faster with the onscreen one.
On the flip side I like that it's there just in case I need it for some reason (needing to type something really specific, etc).
But yeah, how much do you use it?
anything more than a few words and i whip out the physical board. even if the screen view is locked to portrait.
weatherx said:
anything more than a few words and i whip out the physical board. even if the screen view is locked to portrait.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here, mainly because for some reason the fact that my phone has a smiley button is hilarious to me. Also, just a little fun fact, the keyboard backlight will turn on when you click on an area to enter text, but otherwise stays off. Nifty, ehhh?
I use my keyboard A LOT. I never entered text using the on screen keyboard, that is, until my screen light decided to start cutting off whenever I slid it out. Now I have to use the on screen.
Me too... I use it almost every day. Just can't seem to get the hang of the soft keyboard.
I use it every day, almost every single time i type something. it is just faster and more accurate.
Anything more than 5 words and I use the keyboard
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
i use my often as well for sms, sometime use voice to sms too, no cutout
Anyone care to tell me how to type a star (*) with the hard keyboard? I don't seem to find it anywhere....
Thanks
resol341 said:
Anyone care to tell me how to type a star (*) with the hard keyboard? I don't seem to find it anywhere....
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to use the symbol key and then touch the right arrow key on the onscreen keyboard that pops up to get to it - pretty much the same way you would with the onscreen keyboard (&123 key then right arrow)
By the way, in case some don't know this, you can enter the blue (fn) function characters just by holding the physical key just a bit longer. Saves us from having to fiddle with the fn button everytime.
cmphone said:
You have to use the symbol key and then touch the right arrow key on the onscreen keyboard that pops up to get to it - pretty much the same way you would with the onscreen keyboard (&123 key then right arrow)
By the way, in case some don't know this, you can enter the blue (fn) function characters just by holding the physical key just a bit longer. Saves us from having to fiddle with the fn button everytime.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot!
Best!
I also found something today. Long pressing the sym can switch input method. In my case, I can switch between English and Chinese. I might just be too retarded to find out earlier ~