Home > Consumer Reviews > Belkin Universal Infrared Wireless PDA Keyboard

I bought this Belkin keyboard to use with a Mitac Mio 338 Pocket PC 2002 PDA. This PDA is one of the listed machines that are meant to be compatible with the board (see belkin.com).

Installation was a doddle, just as described, and the keyboard is very easy to use. There are no problems with IR alignment via the reflective metal panel.

The keys are positive in action and touch typing was very easy to do (after some practice). This keyboard is the easiest way to get text etc into the PDA and makes using Pocket Excel more of a reality.

Upsides: keyboard build excellent, positive keystrokes, short cut keys a plenty, interfaces very well with Pocket PC, AAA battery claimed 360 hours.

Downsides: the stand for the PDA looks a bit flimsy and doesn't look like it's built to last. However, it's probably strong enough if care is taken. Second, the keyboard is slightly small but touch typing is entirely possible with a bit of practice.

Pretty good buy for a good price. Adds value to PDA ownership.

4 Stars because keys are a gnats small, but for the money its excellent. Definately recomended

Does what it says on the tin. Took seconds to install on my Ipaq hx4700. Works without stand nicely upto about 20-30cm away. The lock on prop/legs on the back of the stand is a little flimsey, but like i said works fine without a stand. The keys do feel a bit wierd but are only a fraction smaller than laptop keys. Keybd is quite big, same thickness as my IPaq but about 1cm wider all round.Central hinge doesn't seem as flimsey as people say. Alloy outer shell is quite nice too. keystroke is a gnats short. Feels like a laptop. Reconnect time is instant. plenty of function keys. Seems excellent to me so far, will see how it fairs in day to day life! (i'm using it for taking notes in lectures)

Definately worth the £27 on amazon, even the £35 elsewhere and i would say it's not worth paying double for a thinkoutside one unless you need one you can touch type on without getting used to it.

It looks to be quite a nice keyboard with decent keys and a nice metal case. It folds down nicely too and is nice and slim. The big problem however is that the hinge doesn't lock and so you just can't use it on your lap! Try and it folds down and you can't type. The PDA holder also is separate and so the whole thing is useless without a table, something any portable keyboard really should handle. It's a real shame as it isn't a tough feature to add and would have made it doubly useful.

For the price this keyboard is unbeatable. I had a little trouble setting it up at first as I uploaded the prc driver for the Tungsten through my Mac, this meant that the automated Windows installer on the software disc didn't work and I had to select the driver I wanted manually (if you have to do the same, the Tungsten works using the Palm system 5 software). Adjusting the little metal mirror was also tricky and I had few anxious moments before I got it set up. To put it simply you put your PDA in the cradle, adjust the mirror, then open the 'Keyboard' application on the PDA, here you select 'enable' to get the software running, then tap the space under 'Test' and get a cursor. You then put the keyboard in place so the IR sensor (next to the battery compartment) is in-line under the mirror. If you press both 'shift' keys at once you should see a small red icon appear in the bottom right of the screen, this lets you know that the PDA and keyboard are communicating. If it doesn't work first time keep fiddling with the mirror and the position of the keyboard until it does (it sounds worse than it is). You can then type in a bit of text to test the connection. Or, you can buy some software from a third party to rotate your screen, this means you can flip your PDA over so the IR sensor is at the bottom facing the keyboard and you don't have to fiddle with mirrors at all. You don't even need the cradle. I bought 'Rotation' from a company called Mobile Stream and it seems to be working fine. A good fallback if the cradle gets lost or breaks.

Wasnt too optomistic about this product but gave it a shot as i got a Palm Tungsten TX as a present and had got bored of graffiti and tapping. However i am more than impressed. Very easy to set up and use. I can now leave the laptop behind!