Targus PA820U Stowaway Portable Keyboard for HP Jornada
See it at Amazon.com for $19.98Average Customer Rating
(5.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First (5 out of 5)Definitely A Good Buy
While this keyboard is in no way a perfect piece of equipment, it certainly comes very close. I'll go ahead and start with the pros. Ease of use is incredible. Within minutes of unpacking it, I was typing happily away. Driver installation is a piece of cake, unfold this beauty, dock your Pocket PC, and you're set. Sure, it is not incredibly sturdy on your lap, but as long as it stays on something hard (briefcase, desk, airplane table tray, whatever), it feels just like you're typing on a premium laptop keyboard. There are gobs of shortcut keys built right in, Today, Inbox, Contacts, Word, Tasks, to name a few, and with the software you can create so many more to satisfy your every need. A lot of people feel that it is too flimsy, and while it does feel as such, it certainly isn't. The only thing that really bothered me is the dock for the actual PC, another reviewer put it very well, "feels as if it's a toothpick holding up an apple". No problems though, so I suppose that I really can't complain.When you're done, pull off your PC, stick the dock down, fold it up, and you're off to your next class, seminar, meeting, whatever. If you're looking for something to make data entry much faster and easier, then you definitely need to get this keyboard. Great piece of work here, Targus. Keep it up.
(5 out of 5)Great Product !
This product out ranks the traditional compact keyboard. Both my HP and Keyboard fit in my small handbag - great for adhoc meetings.
(4 out of 5)Not bad, but not as sturdy as I'd like
I owned my Jornada 548 for about a month before I broke down and bought a keyboard. After laying out about $500 for the Jornada, another $100 for a peripheral seemed pretty steep ... until I started trying to use the handwriting tools (not bad if you have consistent handwriting habits) and the on-screen keyboard. Neither seemed to work really well for me, so I broke down and bought a Targus keyboard. It really has worked well for me, but it's not as good as it could be.
The concept is great - the keyboard folds up to the size of the 548 when it's not in use, but unfolds to the size of a laptop keyboard when you're ready to use it. The keyboard has a connector that sits at about a 45-degree angle and plugs into the Jornada, plus a little metal bar and plastic piece that supports the Jornada when it's plugged in. There is also a place to plug in a power supply so that you can keep your Jornada plugged in, and two small wells in the corners of the keyboard to hold a stylus.
The keyboard itself works well, with function keys for some common commands across applications (OK, Esc, power off) and other keys that can be programmed to start up specific applications. In addition, certain characters like the forward and backward slashes (/ and \) cannot be written in the single-character recognizer because the stylus strokes are used for other purposes, so the keyboard helps take care of that. Because the keyboard is laid out like a laptop keyboard, you don't need to relearn most of your typing, as long as you remember that you can't use function keys like you do on your laptop.
One thing it won't do, however, is select menu items with shortcuts, as you can do in Windows proper, but this is a Windows CE issue, not a keyboard issue. Another slight drawback is that the Jornada interprets your use of the keyboard as using the on-screen keyboard, so it displays the on-screen keyboard for you, which then takes up the lower third of your screen.
I've also had a couple of issues with the keyboard - one is that the support for the Jornada is not great, so you have to use two hands to turn it on with the power button, and the other is that the keyboard occasionally freezes up. I've been able to correct it either by activating the special keyboard application, disabling the keyboard, and re-enabling it, or by using the on-screen keyboard to type a letter. Neither is a real show-stopper, but they certainly are annoyances.
Overall, the keyboard is a great time-saver, and it will certainly draw attention, especially when you fold it up and store it. The size of the keyboard and PC combined may be a drawback for some, and the way in which it works could be a little better. I'd still recommend it if you intend to do a lot of typing on your Jornada.
(5 out of 5)very good keyboard
I use this to take notes in class and it has worked very well. It is actually quieter than most notebook keyboards and more like a standard keyboard in the way it feels. You can make it almost completely silent if you place a magazine under it. The space bar is split into two keys, which took me a little while to get used to because my thumb is used to hitting the space bar right where the split is. Of course, the FN keys are also missing, but I haven't needed to use those for years anyways.
It folds and unfolds easily and quickly. Its very sturdily build and of high quality. The little wire and plastic flipout that props up the journada seems flimsy at first, but I've had no problem what so ever with it. One minor drawback is that you do need a flat surface to make it work. You can't use it on your lap. Other than that, this is just like using a full-sized keyboard except that you can fold it up and put it in your pocket!
(4 out of 5)Compact, Usable Keyboard
If you don't mind using a (full-size) laptop keyboard, then this is a great companion product for the Jornada. While not having the full key-stroke of a desktop keyboard, it's full-size keys make it easy to type for even extended periods of time.
The only downside with this product is that its case scratches VERY easily. I've had it just over a week, and already it's covered in scratch marks.
Overall, if you're not too worried about aesthetics, this product turns a Jornada into the smallest, lightest, most usable laptop available.