Re: Fwd: The $20 Android tablet

On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 6:25 PM, Voytek [email protected] [peditors]
<[email protected]> wrote:
> On May 10, 2014 12:21:50 AM GMT+10:00, "dmccunney [email protected] [peditors]" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>The unanswered question is whether rooting it will also permit use of
>>an external USB keyboard.  The device FAQ says no, but whether this is
>>a limitation of the unrooted version of the OS, or a hardware issue
>>where USB host mode simply isn't present is unclear.  If the latter,
>>no USB keyboard, but I'll live. While it would be nice, little of what
>>I do on the tablet really needs it.
>
> There is always a Bluetooth keyboard? I bought a Motorola keyboard/mouse combo when I was using Xoom and Atrix, but hardly used it, if ever.

There would be if this device *had* Bluetooth.  Unfortunately, it
doesn't.  It's a USB keyboard or none at all.  (Lack of Bluetooth
looks like a "design to cost" move.  It's a low end device aimed at
the budget market, and every penny saved in making it means it can be
priced cheaper.)

I'm philosophical.  I'm finding enough to do with it that I can live
without an external keyboard.  Those are extraordinarily useful and
even necessary if you need to enter any volume of text, but little I
might use it for will.

(Thanks again for the Hacker's Keyboard recommendation.  If I have to
use a virtual keyboard, it's about the best I could deal with.)

> Reminds me of several Palm keyboard I still have.... hardly if ever used. But, they're cute and well made.

I got a Targus folding keyboard for my original Handspring Deluxe and
later Handspring Pro, and a Palm IR keyboard for my Tungsten E,
Tapwave Zodiac, and current TX.  They got used.  I thought about a BT
keyboard for the Zodiac, but as far as I could tell, BT was "one thing
at a time", and if I used a BT keyboard, I wouldn't be able to do
anything else with BT while I was using the keyboard. That gave the
nod to IR.

I still use the keyboard occasionally.  I got it in the first place as
a companion for WordSmith, the best WP app I found for PalmOS.  Apps
like Documents to Go and QuickOffice would let you view/edit Word
documents on the Palm, but assumed you would *create* them on the PC.
WordSmith was the best app I found for creating documents on the Palm,
and had excellent external keyboard support.  (So does pedit, but I
discovered WordSmith first.)
______
Dennis
https://plus.google.com/u/0/105128793974319004519