Bluetooth keyboard with iPhone?

[natasha69]

On vacation right now wishing I could be typing emails rather than tapping.

Any updates from vendors when we'll get a Bluetooth keyboard for the iPhone?

[Jamster43]

There's a folding full-sized BT keyboard out there that I've seen people use with PDAs/Smartphones. If the feel is good, I'd go for that in a second. It folds to the size a bit bigger than an old floppy disk but thicker, so it would fit in my pocket with ease.

There are silent or very quiet keyboards out there. Chicklets or membrane keyboards really suck except for extreme and occasional uses.

I had a Cingular 8525 with a pull out keyboard. They are marginally useful.

I'm with the guy that said he'd rather take a BT keyboard and iPhone around than a cell phone and laptop. Many people could do a lot with just the iPhone (opened to new apps) and a BT keyboard. And Apple is looking to compete with Blackberry for the business market.

[zainjetha]

You dont deserve to own iPhone if you want to use a BT keyboard...

So sorry but it just destroys the beauty of the iPhone, i can type full emails on it without trouble and have my entire 3gb mailbox on it.... it is my blackberry and it performs well when out on the go.... considering i reply to 6 different emails per day when out of office touchscreen is pretty good

[kdarling]

Originally Posted by natasha69

On vacation right now wishing I could be typing emails rather than tapping.

Perhaps one day you'll be able to get an external 800x480 display and keyboard, as with the Redfly Companion for WM phones.

Any updates from vendors when we'll get a Bluetooth keyboard for the iPhone?

Rumor says Apple has hired some new Bluetooth folk for Leopard, so hopefully their expertise will trickle down to the iPhone as well.

[emotion]

The bottom line is that the Bluetooth software stack on the iPhone is currently very limited. The iPhone was clearly rushed to market and this is one of the things that suffered because of it.

I expect a more fully featured BT stack will appear when it's considered a priority by Apple.

[rezwits]

Enjoyed a keyboard on the forearm. Like the halfkeyboard and this other one I don't have a link for. These keyboards aren't bluetooth yet but still, a battery re-chargeable bluetooth keyboard for my forearm would be great. You would just hold your iphone in your right hand and turn to your forearm and type in a few words, a url, or a chat msg and then go back to your iPhone. For speed...

Laters...

[nilk]

I didn't think I'd like the touch screen keyboard as much as I do. The first time I used it I was disappointed. But I spent an hour in the store getting used to it before I decided I could live with it. Now after owning an iPhone for a few weeks I think its the best keyboard interface for a small device. What I really like is that it allows you to be inaccurate and still get the words out that you want. I couldn't imagine going to a cramped physical keyboard after this.

That said, I really want some kind of external keyboard (preferably Bluetooth support for it) for the iPhone. Every other smartphone has this. I touch type, and on the iPhone I could never match the 50-70 wpm speeds I can typically achieve with a regular keyboard.

When the 2.0 firmware comes out we will probably have things like SSH clients (and we already have that on jailbroken phones). The iPhone touch keyboard, as great as it is for English language, is just not adequate for command-line stuff and coding. And yes, I want to do things like that with my iPhone. I occasionally even have to type out some code in my e-mails. I want to be able to leave my laptop at home more often, and having a compact but large enough Bluetooth keyboard for my iPhone would make me need my laptop much less often.

To make matters worse, the iPhone doesn't even support tethering (a feature even many low-end phones have). So even if you have a laptop with you with its full keyboard, you can't even use your iPhone as a modem (without jailbreaking). I bought the iPhone accepting the fact that I may have to jailbreak to get the features I want.

I am against the iPhone ever getting a slide-out keyboard, though. The touch screen keyboard is better than any miniature physical keyboard. That would be a waste of space and would ruin the design.

[barcodebawtv]

I want a phone with a full keyboard for texting - iPhone

I also need a simple computer/ laptop for notes in school - thinking Asus EEE PC

Rather than spending $700 for both, that'd be great if I could use an external keyboard and just get the iPhone

That's what I'd do with a bluetooth keyboard

[Stardotboy]

Originally Posted by SFC Archer

Might as well adapt now. Within the next 5-10 years, keyboards (as we know them now) will be a thing of the past, just like 56K modems, serial printers and all of those other "wire" peripherals will be gone.

I bet you my iMac that you're wrong!

[winterspan]

Originally Posted by GCY

With apple, u never know. I'm not saying to replace the current version but to come out with another version. Now how would it be big and clunky??? The next iphone would probably be as thin as the touch, fitting a qwerty keyboard would probably make it a little thicker then the current version.
if apple really want to takeover the smartphone marketshare, they would come out with some sort of hardware keyboard. A bunch of ppl hate the iphone because of this.

"a bunch" of people also HATE small plastic worthless keyboards, like the ones that graced all the smartphones I have owned. The modern slide-out boards are a bit better than the tiny Blackberry/Treo keyboards, but they are still a major PITA.
I really wish people would give the iPhone a try first before bitching about the keyboard. Touchscreen keyboards in the past have been total crap --- the software was bad and the touch screens were not of the CAPACITIVE variety, which made them all but useless. However, and a BIG HOWEVER, the iPhone keyboard is actually a joy to use. I was hesitant at first, but once I tried the iPhone, I almost immediately got used to it and definitely saw the light. After having an Ipod Touch for a few months, I can easily type email on it TWICE AS FAST as my old Treo 700W.
It's disappointing to think that there are probably thousands of Treo and Blackberry users that won't even give it a try from their previous bad experiences with "soft keyboards".

Originally Posted by zainjetha

You dont deserve to own iPhone if you want to use a BT keyboard...
So sorry but it just destroys the beauty of the iPhone, i can type full emails on it without trouble and have my entire 3gb mailbox on it.... it is my blackberry and it performs well when out on the go.... considering i reply to 6 different emails per day when out of office touchscreen is pretty good

? Thats a pretty stupid thing to say. And how would an aftermarket, external add-on "destroy the beauty" of the iPhone? No matter what you or anyone else says, a full-size bluetooth keyboard is much faster to type on than a "thumb-board" like the iPhone. I have used a fold up keyboard before, back in the day of "pocket PCs", and they work pretty well.. although those were not wireless. A portable bluetooth keyboard matched up with a little foldable stand that holds the iPhone in landscape mode on the table would be great for people who wish to leave their laptop behind, but do alot of writing. College kids taking notes in class, journalists, writers in a coffee shop or traveling, etc would love to have something like that. Even the new Apple BT keyboards are nice and almost small enough to carry around in a backpack. It would awesome if they made a half-size iPhone version with the same styling.

[natasha69]

Originally Posted by zainjetha

You dont deserve to own iPhone if you want to use a BT keyboard...

So sorry but it just destroys the beauty of the iPhone, i can type full emails on it without trouble and have my entire 3gb mailbox on it.... it is my blackberry and it performs well when out on the go.... considering i reply to 6 different emails per day when out of office touchscreen is pretty good

if you can do 120wpm on your iphone, i'd be amazed. personally i use the iphone for email on the go. but on trips, you sit down and sort through yoru email quickly. you can't thumb type replies to 200 emails quickly...

also, not sure why you're downloading your email to your iphone. use imap and only get the headers. much better performance.

[zainjetha]

Get a BlackBerry, Natasha, if you find yourself doing Email alot...

Natasha:
Sorry dumb q. I use Gmail IMAP and all mail is sorted into folders subfolders etc. When i view on iPhone are they actually downloading to device or am i viewing on server? and if i do on MBP with Mail.app are they downloaded to HDD or am i viewing directly off their server the same way i would be doing if i would be if I was thru the horrid Webmail?
Sorry i really need to know the answer to this Q. Sorry to divulge topics.

[agahran]

The lack of a bluetooth or other keyboard option is definitely a dealbreaker for me with the iPhone right now. I'm a journalist, and I'm looking not just for a cool camera/web phone but for pro-quality all-in-one handheld reporting tool.

It sounds like the next-generation iPhone will probably have real GPS and be 3G compatible (two other must-haves, for me), but I'm disappointed that there's still no word on the bluetooth or other keyboard.

I've demoed the iPhone's touchscreen keyboard several times, and I absolutely detest it for anything more than typing a few words at a time. It's definitely not something I could take notes with or write a real blog post on while in the field, and I'm sick of lugging a laptop plus a camera, voice recorder, etc.

I had a brief, torrid affair with the Nokia N95, which was exactly what I wanted -- interface wasn't as intuitive as the iPhone, but the functionality and features were, for my needs, far superior. However, the very first firmware upgrade from Nokia bricked my N95, and since I was facing a tight refund deadline from Amazon and Nokia would take 2-3 weeks to fix/replace and return it to me, I reluctantly decided to give up for now.

I'm an avid Mac use and I'd love for the iPhone to catch up with what I really need -- but if the N95 or forthcoming N96 becomes available from a local retail outlet so I could get more immediate service if needed, I'm running back to Nokia. I think they have a better handle than Apple so far on what kind of device mobile content creators (rather than consumers) really need. So far.

More about my experience with the N95 here:

http://urltea.com/3353

- Amy Gahran

[hand]

I would love to have an iPhone docking station that I could hook a keyboard, mouse and monitor to. If I could do that, my iPhone could very well become my only computer very soon.

[natasha69]

here's hoping that iphone 2.0 firmware supports bluetooth keyboards.....

[neven]

We need a word or something for the category of things that would be great for a certain subset of the market (many but not most users, basically) and which Apple will never do.

Maybe Bluetooth-Sky Thinking

[citron230]

I think having the option to pair a bluetooth keyboard would be awesome. the touch screen keyboard for on the go, and the paired keyboard when you are stationary.

[Consultant]

I have already wrote months ago to apple.com/feedback about it. You should too.

[phinnaeus]

Originally Posted by carfac

That is so wrong on so many levels. Apple will never release a MacBook because that is admitting that a MacBookPro is sub par. Apple will never release a 23" Monitor because that is admitting that a 30" is sub par. Apple will never release a Mobile OSX because that is admitting that Leopard is sub par. Apple will never release an external drive because that is admitting that the drive in an iMac is sub par. Apple will never release a 3G iPhone because that is admitting that EDGE is sub par.

Apple NEVER releases any alternate way of doing anything once they have released on device that does it adequately. Apple NEVER upgrades capacities.

Your analogies don't exactly mesh with what he was saying. Releasing a BT keyboard for the iPhone would be more like them releasing CRT cinema displays because people prefer the resolution/refresh rate or whatever. All the analogies you made refer to simply different sizes/qualities of the same technology. Touch tech is the way of the future, and I applaud apple for embracing it. I do, however, see the appeal in the ability to tether a keyboard through bluetooth.

[rayward]

Palm have been offering a portable, fold-up keyboard with built-in docking station for years:



I see no reason for Bluetooth, as you're going to want to be looking at the iPhone's screen while typing. I think something like the Palm keyboard would be perfect for iPhone.

[thaevster]

Holy crap, putting a keyboard on there would be absolutely counter-productive. Half the reason the iPhone is so desirable is because it just looks/feels so freakin awesome! The keyboard is something that people didn't like at first but are now getting used to.

Besides the fact that it would be a design catastrophe is the fact that the whole interface is based on actually touching the device. If they give in to the keyboard I think they might as well just make users use a stylus too.

[thaevster]

I think BT keyboards would be sweet though, especially if they eventually get to the point in the SDK where users could edit pages/numbers files. This would also be especially useful for users that need to write an email but don't want to sit there and peck it out on the portable device, be it iphone, ipod touch, blackberry, what-have-you.

[rayward]

Originally Posted by thaevster

I think BT keyboards would be sweet though, especially if they eventually get to the point in the SDK where users could edit pages/numbers files. This would also be especially useful for users that need to write an email but don't want to sit there and peck it out on the portable device, be it iphone, ipod touch, blackberry, what-have-you.

This is the point. I have no issues with the software keyboard but - like the keyboard on any smartphone - it is a little tedious to type long emails or (as others have mentioned) blogs. The portable keyboard would be an option for when you are sitting at a desk with a lot to write.

Something like this, with enterprise software and native apps, would mean I never have to lug my laptop anywhere again. A hard keyboard and the existing video out could turn the iPhone into a portable Mac Mini. All of which could be carried in a suit jacket pocket!

[buccsmf1]

um do you people have any idea how many bluetooth keyboards they could sell to students??? Instead of hauling a laptop to and from class all you need is your iphone and a small, fold up keyboard for note taking.... i've wanted one for my iphone since the second i bought it.

[bacaramac]

Originally Posted by rayward

This is the point. I have no issues with the software keyboard but - like the keyboard on any smartphone - it is a little tedious to type long emails or (as others have mentioned) blogs. The portable keyboard would be an option for when you are sitting at a desk with a lot to write.

Something like this, with enterprise software and native apps, would mean I never have to lug my laptop anywhere again. A hard keyboard and the existing video out could turn the iPhone into a portable Mac Mini. All of which could be carried in a suit jacket pocket!

+1, taking notes in a college class or business meeting would be so easy. I think that they could come out with a miniature keyboard like HTC (I think this is a full miniature keyboard) has built into their UMPC.
http://www.htcamerica.net/products/shift/default.html

EDIT: I agree that it does not need to be bluetooth. A dockable keyboard would work perfect.