The…

ThinkOutside Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard for PDA

…has been around since December 29, 2004 according to Amazon.  But, having had disappointing experiences with various other Stowaway keyboards (I have a bunch piled up including iPAQ and Jornada specific ones as well as the infrared versions), I avoided buying the Bluetooth version until this past week. The one I bought is the older Universal model (larger than the Sierra model). Its price had dropped to around $85 and I felt the urge to write using a Windows Mobile Pocket PC or Smartphone. So, it seemed like the right time to try another near full-size keyboard.

It arrived today and I paired it with an HTC Advantage 7500 (Windows Mobile 5) Pocket PC Phone Edition after downloading the latest drivers from the Thinkoutside (iGo) website. The software installation and Bluetooth pairing went surprisingly smoothly. I say “surprising” because I remember how the infrared keyboard’s drivers had messed up a Pocket PC so badly that I had to perform a hard reset to get it working again. Testing it with Word Mobile went well. The keyboard feels pretty comfortable. And, the keyboard has all the right keys (Windows key, OK key, etc.) to work with a Pocket PC.

So, I’m nearly three years late to the Bluetooth keyboard game. But, I figured one or two other people might be in the same boat as me and find whatever I note in the next week or two useful. More later on this BT keyboard testing.